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Nipperkin introduces ‘micro-seasonal’ menu
By Rupert HohwielerSubterranean bar Nipperkin, in London, has launched a new cocktail menu to celebrate the three harvest seasons.

Nipperkin opened in the summer of 2023 and is located below Japanese restaurant Niju in Mayfair.
The bar itself was inspired by the ‘listening bar’ concept popularised in Japan, where a curation of the team’s vinyls provide the hi-fi playlist. Other parts decorating the space – from books to photos on the walls – are also selections from the team, chosen to create a more personal connection with guests.
The new menu, led by bar manager Angelos Bafas, is designed to coincide with harvest seasons, and will change every four months in line with the harvest cycle. The team hopes it will mean ingredients are always at their peak, and that only the freshest and most abundant produce is used, all sourced within the British Isles.
The menu shuffles from prep season (September-November) to lean season (December to March) and to plethora season (April to August). The current menu offered is lean season.
Explaining the concept at the menu’s launch last week, Bafas said: “The whole idea is about seasonal and local produce. We also combine local ingredients with Japanese subtleties, and all ingredients, even Japanese ones, are sourced in the UK. We have wasabi from West Dorset, we have sansho peppers growing in Essex. It’s all grown and harvested here in the UK from people we actually know and have relationships with.
“While the menu is about the seasons, it’s not as we usually know them – like autumn, summer and so on. We envision seasons in a different way that helps us as bartenders to create details and make sense with the product available to us.”
Harvest cycles
Talking through the first season, which is linked to scarcity of locally-sourced ingredients, he said: “This is actually the lean season, which is the season we are currently in and runs pretty much until March. It’s the period in the UK where we cannot really find enough produce. You could call it the ‘boring period’, where it’s mainly pears, some apples, some leeks and some mushrooms.
“So it’s nothing exciting in that respect. However, being the lean season, it is also the season that makes us more creative. It really pushes our boundaries. It makes us think out of the box to create unique tastes.”

Making use of earth-bound ingredients such as woodruff, beetroot and truffle, highlights from this menu include the Meech’s Quince & Beeswax. Bafas called this a “nice, subtle take on the Old Fashioned with quince, beeswax and honey notes”.
He recalled that the cocktail’s idea came from his partnering bartender, Maxwell Bowker, and Bowker’s passion for organic beeswax. “I don’t know where that passion came from… but he brought some beeswax down here and we created an amazing Bourbon, washed with organic beeswax, and then we added quince liqueur, which has given it very subtle, aromatic characteristics – we are also using a touch of eaux-de-vie, the good stuff, very expensive,” Bafas added.
Following this, there is the Grilled Leeks & Truffles, a savoury spin on a Negroni with a made-in-house leek spirit, Cambridge truffle gin and pickled vermouth – and the Heritage Radishes & Koji, which is a cross between a Martini and a dry Gimlet, made with radishes from Herefordshire, distillate of koji and shiso leaves grown in Norfolk.
There are also low-and-no options available that spotlight the bar’s house-made, non-alcoholic spirits. These include The Norfolk Mint & Shisho and Sugar Snap Peas & Jasmine Tea, the latter of which features a non-alcoholic snap pea distillate, pickled cucumber and fermented jasmine tea.
Looking ahead to the plethora season, which will begin in April, Bafas said this is a period where fruits, flowers, carrots and more are all available.
“It’s an amazing period to be a bartender or chef, and my favourite season – you can pretty much find everything from ferments to flowers to chillies to tomatoes,” he said.

One cocktail from this part of the menu is the Sundried Tomatoes & Chillies, which has similarities to a spicy Margarita and comprises Lost Explorer Tequila and mezcal, sundried tomatoes, the bar’s in-house-made tomato liqueur, Scottish chillies and preserved apricots.
On how the team makes this, he explained: “It’s based on blend of a Tequila and mezcal. Then we create our own tomato spirit. We get some tomatoes from the Isle of Wight, which besides being very delicious, have a very short season. It probably lasts one-and-a-half months to get the proper quality.
“When we get the tomatoes, we squeezed them, we took the water out of them, and then we got 70% of the spirit and diluted it with the tomato water. We call it proper tomato spirit, so it’s not smashed tomatoes or a Bloody Mary texture. It’s just a very clean white spirit with an intense tomato aroma. The drink is very clean.
“It’s served with a spiced sesame salt. So, we take the Japanese sesame salt with the Japanese sesame spice, we blend it with salt and we have it on the rim – in case you want it a bit more adventurous and a bit more exciting, you can sip that way.”
For the prep season, from September to November, guests will encounter ingredients such as a roasted chestnuts, radishes, wild figs and blackberries.
The cocktails range in price from £15-£20 (US$19-$25).
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