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Feature
Shingo Gokan takes on Madrid
Devil’s Cut in Madrid marks the first opening in Europe for Shingo Gokan – we caught up with the globetrotting bartender on how he is settling in.
Operator of 12 venues around the world, Gokan’s celebrated career in the bar industry spans more than 20 years and counting, from New York to Tokyo and Shanghai, however Europe has always managed to avoid the bartender’s gaze.
Devil’s Cut in Madrid, which opened in October, presents his first project on the continent and also perhaps the trickiest of his career, he tells us.
“There have been other challenging situations, but this is definitely one of the most difficult,” he says. “To be honest, it’s been quite hard so far because Madrid doesn’t really have a cocktail culture. Usually when I open a bar in Asia or in New York, it’s pretty busy since day one.”
Madrid’s cocktail scene, in terms of being recognised at an international level, is still developing, and the way people view cocktails is largely different to what he’s used to in Asia and New York.
He explains: “We’ve had the World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony here, which has brought a lot of attention from the industry and the feedback has been positive, but I think it will take a long time to build that local clientele. Of course, it’s my first bar in Europe, nobody really knows me, and it’s different in Asia where I’ve opened bars in Japan and China for a long time, and I have a name there.
“Then I also used to live in New York for a long time, I have a lot of friends and regulars there. It’s easier. This one is really hard to be honest, but I hope in time, it will pick up. The drinking culture in Spain is different. There’s the Sherry bars where you get the €2-€3 glasses of Sherry and then at restaurants with the €3-€4 glass of wine. Not many people are spending big money (€14-€15) on cocktails – the whole cocktail culture is different to the places I normally work in.”
Sherry as the star
To adapt his approach to Spain, Gokan says he has simplified the cocktails at Devil’s Cut to lean more towards classic styles, while also giving a specific focus to Sherry. The Spanish fortified wine is an ingredient that Gokan has always been interested in, starting in his early bartending days when we worked at a bar called Sherry Museum in Ginza, Tokyo.
Then, before he joined Angel’s Share in New York, he also travelled to Spain to learn about Sherry. He says: “Twenty years ago, I was travelling by myself and did the trip to all the bodegas. Sherry is kind of my roots. I won the Bacardi Legacy cocktail competition 12 years ago using a Sherry cocktail named Speaklow.
“Back in the day no one really used Sherry in cocktails, but now it’s starting to become a bartender favourite. When we decided to open in Spain, the fortified wine definitely had to feature. There are various types of Sherry, so it’s hard to summarise, but generally, they enhance cocktails with umami, depth, and complexity.”
The menu is split into three sections and features infusions aplenty, as is Gokan’s style. Angel’s Classics (drinks that he created when he tended the famed bar in New York, with some that still appear on the menu today) and SG favourites (consisting of signature serves from his bars in Tokyo, Okinawa, Shanghai and Hong Kong), make up of the first two.
Of these, Gokan says: “Those timeless drinks – like Evidence (a gin and Earl Grey tea serve from Angel’s Share) – are always good. It’s not always necessary to create new techniques and new ingredients that people have never heard of. I think it’s sometimes good to have that old creation and keep serving to the standard.”
The third section is then dedicated to Devil’s Exclusives, which is where the Sherry cocktails come into play.
Some of the creations Gokan highlights include the Jamón Ibérico Fashioned, which is fat-infused and garnished with Iberian ham, and the PX Highball, which is made up of Pedro Ximénez, fig leaf and tonic water. In addition, he’s also excited about the Devil’s Bamboo, which will land on the menu soon.
The serve is a take on the Bamboo cocktail. Of his version, Gokan explains.: “I found that the Bamboo is originally from Japan and made by American bartenders using Sherry, which aligns perfectly with our concept. I added a Spanish touch with tomatoes and garnished it with a gilda (a popular bar snack in Spain’s Basque region, dashi olive is used here for a Japanese slant). We use a very good Spanish tomato water – basically clarified tomato juice, where it’s diluted with tomato water instead of water, so it has a bit of umami to it.”
New city, new customers
With the cocktail programme in place, Gokan then turns to Devil’s Cut’s location, in Madrid’s Las Letras district. He and his team have taken the site previously occupied by Casa Pueblo, a ‘beloved neighbourhood bar’ opened in 1983 – the year Gokan was born – until it closed last year.
“There are lots of legendary bars around, Salmon Guru for one, and it’s good to be within walking distance of them,” he adds.
One might assume a city like London or Paris, with their reputations as cocktail capitals, would have been the priority for Gokan’s first European venture, but he says his business partner Sergio Bregante – who is based in both New York and Madrid – had already asked him about this concept, and had also already found a space in Madrid.
“I like the city, but I didn’t really think much about the business because I know Spain is not a huge market for cocktails (yet), but it has some room to improve,” he notes.
“But yes, like most people, I like Spain. Opening Devil’s Cut means there’s always a good reason to come to Spain and it’s a place my team likes – so I can send members from Tokyo, Shanghai or Okinawa here to train people. It’s good for the whole team.”
He adds that the space itself has been fitted out with “classic decorations”, led by a tavernous floor, saloon-style mirrors and lights, a wall mural of devils and fallen angels, all backed by a gleaming brass bar. Gokan describes the atmosphere as “cosy and serious, but serious in terms of the drink, for technique and service, and then friendly and casual for the vibe”.
Barcelona might currently be the number-one city for cocktails in Spain, but Gokan is hopeful that Madrid can get there too. “Hopefully [Madrid] gets more tourists and hopefully we can become more like Barcelona as a cocktail city. My partner already found the space here and I asked around and people told me Madrid is more traditional, while Barcelona can get touristy. I kind of agree,” he shares.
“But at the same time, it’s a good challenge and more fun to open up a new market as well. We are probably the first internationally-influenced cocktail bar to arrive here, and I hope a lot more bars and bartenders can come in and join us in the challenge.”
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