Dubbed the Cocktail Architect, master taste-setter Richard Gillam reboots the Swissôtel’s roster of craft-cocktails with interesting, buzz-worthy results. As always, theatre is balanced with substance at the Gillam party, so the breezy Mangaroma ($15/$25) from the experimental list does the whizz and the bang, served in a tin can, releasing an orange-spiked ‘herbal fog’: Calvados and Belvedere Pomarancza are definitely present, and march in happy lockstep with the mango and passionfruit to make a satisfyingly boozy summer punch, with a spicy depth of character that comes from a nip of chilli. ‘I hate chocolate martinis,’ Gillam told us. ‘But people love them, so I had to come up with something I was happy with.’ Chocolate in Still Life ($15/$22) is the answer, which turns the drink’s clichés inside out: instead of a cloy, meek sip, Russian Standard Vodka and nutty cocoa liqueur tell of a sweet but archly robust thighslapper with plenty of temper and volume.
Cocktails from $20.