Cocktail stories: Fystiki, Le 300
The hotel bar on the French Riviera transcends the trend for pistachio with its take on the Gimlet as part of its Mediterranean-flavour menu.
*This feature was originally published in the September 2025 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
If you’ve managed to avoid the phrase ‘Labubu matcha Dubai chocolate’, congratulations on being blissfully offline. These are three separate viral trends, with the pistachio-and-filo-pastry-filled Dubai chocolate leading the charge.
Dubai chocolate’s success is part of 2025’s obsession with pistachio. But for a more grown-up expression of the trend, head to Le 300, the cocktail bar at the Maybourne Riviera hotel in the French Riviera.
The bar’s newest menu, Identité, reimagines classic cocktails using the flavours of the Mediterranean. Its pistachio star is Fystiki, a riff on a Gimlet, inspired by Italian gelato.
The serve combines Italian pistachios with a house-made orange blossom cordial, crafted from blooms sourced from Grasse – the “perfume capital of the world”, says the hotel’s head of bars, Julien Lecharpentier (pictured below).
Unlike a classic Gimlet, there’s no lime. “The citrus comes from the cordial, with its floral notes and a touch of acidity,” he says. “The goal is to represent the ice cream.”
While pistachio is everywhere right now, Le 300’s approach is rooted in the region rather than viral trends. “In the South of France, we have a long tradition of desserts made with dried fruits, almonds, and pistachios – as in Italy, too,” Lecharpentier explains. The hotel has a lot of American and British guests, and for Lecharpentier, it was important to share with them some nostalgic regional flavours.
Rather than fuelling interest, the global craze was almost a downside for the bar. “It’s a big trend, and it was complicated to find good pistachios.”
The Fystiki proves that the year’s most viral flavour can be just as indulgent as the Dubai chocolate – and far more elegant – in a cocktail glass.
Fystiki
Ingredients
45ml Pistachio-redistilled Arbory Gin*
15ml Strato Pistachio liqueur
10ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth
30ml Orange blossom cordial**
Method: Stir all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass until well chilled. Fine strain into a chilled Nude Pony glass. Garnish with pistachio powder.
*For the roasted pistachio distillate
200g Roasted pistachios (7%)
1,400g Arbory Gin
Weigh all ingredients and place them in a vacuum-sealed bag. Transfer the contents into a Buchi flask. Fill the water bath at 55°C.
Turn on the rotovap and attach the flask. Select the ‘ethanol’ distillation mode. The rotation should be 150rpm. Start the distillation at 125 mbar and gradually lower the pressure to a maximum of 55 mbar. Monitor the condensation level regularly.
Stop the distillation. Turn off and clean all parts. Collect the distillate and adjust the ABV to 40% using a refractometer. Add demineralised water and mix thoroughly. Store in the refrigerator.
**Orange blossom cordial
470g Evian water
200g White caster sugar
8g Citric acid
2g Tartaric acid
30g Orange blossom water
Stir the ingredients until all the sugar and acids are completely dissolved. Filter using a coffee filter. Vacuum seal, label and store in the refrigerator.
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