One year ago, when Mr Button opened in GK3, Delhi’s cocktail scene was changing fast. Speakeasies were popping up across the city at a thunderous pace, and quieter cocktail bars, not high-energy pubs, were where most of the city spent its evenings. The past year has defined the capital’s drinking culture and can easily be crowned the year of speakeasies.
Mr Button, though never hidden, continues to be one of the many trusted destinations frequented by the capital’s tipplers. When it opened, the bar's fascinating feature was its teleporting nature, which took you back to the 1920s and into the London home of the fictional British tailor Henry J. Button. And while everything from the leather-bound menu to the soft lighting and wood-panelled walls continue to resonate with the restaurant’s original concept, today the fascinating feature is its new cocktail menu that has been curated as Button celebrates its first birthday.
I had the chance to sample the new menu and wish the avid traveller a Happy Birthday! More on the sips as you read.
Poured Not Plated: A Four Course Tasting Experience
The menu called Poured, Not Plated, is a limited-edition cocktail collection that brings the world of food to the bar. Inspired by dishes encountered by Mr Button during travels and the culinary memories attached to them, the collection reimagines familiar flavours through the craft of mixology, offering a new perspective on dishes that have traditionally belonged to the plate.
The menu is built around a considered interplay of flavour, aroma, texture and balance. Ingredients such as galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime, nori, wasabi, tomato, basil, peanut and raspberry are transformed through techniques including fat washing, infusion, extraction, tincturing, clarification, carbonation and aromatisation. Rather than simply recreating a dish in liquid form, the cocktails aim to evoke its memory through the glass.
That idea of travel and culinary memory comes through in Tom Yum, inspred by an off-season downpour outside Bangkok's Sampeng Market, where Button ordered the dish after seeing a fellow diner enjoying it. Coconut-washed gin, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime, dry wine, pandan and orange liqueur are layered with Tom Yum soda and served with a rice cracker, bringing the Thai classic's aromatic depth, citrus brightness and heat into a cocktail.
Sushi-Tini travels to a six-seat sushi counter in Shibuya, where food became the language between Button and a chef with whom he shared no common tongue. Sushi rice, vodka and dry sake are paired with nori and wasabi tincture, pickled cucumber, soy sauce mist and pickled ginger, creating a drink built around the restrained umami of sushi.
In Napoli, a conversation about lapels and jacket lengths eventually led Button to Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Naples. The experience left his opinions on jacket lengths unchanged but gave him an enduring appreciation for the Neapolitan margherita. The cocktail translates that memory through tequila, brioche, cheese, tomato water, basil, honey cordial, lime, and a hot honey slice.
The collection takes a playful turn with PB&J, inspired by America's much-loved peanut butter and jam pairing, which Button initially met with scepticism before it became a favourite. Peanut butter vodka, rosé wine, raspberry liqueur, raspberry syrup, vinegar, and a citric acid solution come together, with a Jello shot on the side. This was my favourite drink from the roster not just because I enjoy vodka with red wine but also because I lean towards sweeter sips after an evening full of cocktails. The jello was pure nostalgia in a bite and reminded me of the jelly my mother would prepare only twice in a year.
Well, I initially wanted to start with the last two sips (which are also the ones I ended up liking the most), the server suggested I undertake the experience as a whole since it is aimed to start from the soup course, progress to sushi, then a pizza, and finally the dessert course. Like me, you won't regret listening to your server if he recommends the same to you. So go ahead, linger and sip away the evening.
