Shinji’s creates fried chicken cocktail
New York bar Shinji’s has launched a menu categorised by flavour profile and style, including one serve inspired by Japanese karaage.
The menu opens with Experimental Shots, featuring the Frozen M&M and the Hot Cold Toddy. The latter is a continuation from its previous menu and is presented at two different temperatures simultaneously, designed to give guests a ‘surprising sensation of two opposing experiences in one glass’.
No- and low-alcohol serves take prominence, including the Not a Martini, which is made with Seedlip Grove and a blend of botanicals to mimic traditional Martini flavours. Green Jacket, meanwhile, combines St-Germain elderflower liqueur, Limoncello di Capri, fino Sherry, Prima Pave Blanc de Blancs, lemon verbena and matcha.
The majority of the menu is divided into flavour profiles, including Citrusy and Clean and Spiced and Complex, with a selection of dessert-inspired cocktails to conclude.
In the Savoury and Spirited section, culinary-driven cocktails ‘blur the lines between food and drink’.
“If we’re doing a drink inspired by food, it doesn’t just taste like that food – it incorporates the actual ingredients into the prep,” said beverage director Jonathan Adler.
One example is the Karaage, which uses chicken in multiple ways including fat-washing Tequila and a chicken skin cracker for garnish.
“The Old Fashioned-style drink is savoury and tastes like fried chicken, but not in a way that is too overwhelming,” added Adler.
Garnishes are given prominence throughout the menu. The Middle Ground is a serve described as ‘a cross between a Negroni and a Sazerac’, which features beet greens, liquorice and mushroom. The waste beetroot is repurposed to make a garnish that ‘looks and tastes like a Twizzler’.
Elsewhere, the Undead Hemingway blends a Hemingway Daiquiri with a Zombie. The cocktail features grapefruit zest, cinnamon-infused spirit and an oolong and freeze-dried lingonberry tea. It is garnished with a spoonful of grapefruit frozen in liquid nitrogen and dusted with powdered lingonberry.
Other serves remaining from the previous menu include the Tropicana, a play on the Screwdriver that is served inside a frozen orange; the Latte Martini; and the bar’s take on a Ramos Gin Fizz, which is shaken for just five seconds due to a complex preparation.
Shinji’s was recently recognised with one Pin in the Pinnacle Guide.
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