The Weekly Cocktail Recipe – The Ivy’s Strawberry Daiquiri

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food

Having reopened its doors back in June, following an extensive refurbishment, one of the most prominent features of London’s most famous Restaurant is the new central coral onyx Dining Bar. Alongside providing customers the ideal location for a pre-dinner drink, or even a prime position seat to dine from, there’s also a brand new Cocktail list, to accompany, which was assembled by Bar Manager Darren Ball, along with Xavier Landais. The list features plenty of classics, as well as Darren’s modern variations on classics, one of the new favourites is the Strawberry Daiquiri, for which we have the recipe, allowing readers to attempt to make the neo-classic drink at home.

“The origins of the Daiquiri are hazy. Some say that it was invented at the beginning of the 20^th century by an American engineer called Jennings Cox, when he was based in Cuba. Others suggest that a fellow American – Congressman William A Chanler brought the Daiquiri from Chile to New York around the same time. Whatever the truth, we have a variation on the theme at The Ivy, of which we’re mighty proud! Bar Manager, Darren Ball, sweet-talked the much-lauded Pastry Chef, Liza into creating a fresh and creamy Strawberry sorbet for him to use for his Daiquiri. A boule of this sorbet is placed in an elegant, oversized coupe and served with a bijou carafe of Daiquiri on the side to pour over and a teeny wooden spoon. The secret is not to be tempted to guzzle the Rum-soaked Strawberry sorbet before it’s had time to melt and completely infuse into the drink. This is the kind of drink that other drinkers order when they catch a glimpse of it… the beginnings of a Daiquiri cult.”

Photo: David Griffen

Ingredients

Serves One

50ml Havana Club 3 years Rum

Juice of 1 small Lime (ie 2 tbsp or 25ml)

2½ tsp Sugar Syrup

1 scoop of good quality Strawberry Sorbet

A Mint leaf for garnish

 

Method

1. Put all the ingredients into a Cocktail shaker with ice and shake hard. Strain into a small glass bottle or jug.

2. Put a scoop of Strawberry sorbet into a chilled coupe. Pour the Cocktail over the sorbet and serve. At The Ivy, we garnish with Balsamic pearls, a Mint leaf and a wooden spoon. At home, the Mint leaf and a teaspoon would work just as well!

The Ivy can be found at 1-5 West Street, London WC2H 9NQ.