Tropical New Cocktails, Desserts, and Pizzas on Botany’s Badass Spring Menu
Having only been in our lives for approximately one year, Botany, one of our favorite cocktail bars in Sanlitun, is currently celebrating its first anniversary quietly with four new cocktails, a bunch of snacks, desserts, and pizza on a revamped menu.
Before we dive straight into the stunning cocktails, let’s congratulate Botany owner and bartender Frankie Zou for winning the The Diplomático World Tournament (DWT), Mainland China section for rum-based cocktails. The next round, continental semifinals will be held in Venezuela in April and May, where Zou will compete alongside mixologists from New Zealand, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, and Australia. The world final will be held in London in June, with 13 bartenders from each continent fighting it out for DWT's top accolade.
To celebrate spring, Botany has added four seasonal cocktails to their signature drinks, all priced at RMB 100. We got to try them all, starting with the Fujiyama Sour, which features Earl Gray-infused gin, amaretto, cabernet sauvignon, and ginger. The cocktail looks beautiful with three clear and disparate volcanic layers, from the light yellow magma base, to the dark scarlet (representing smoke), and white top (representing clouds). The drink also packs a number of herbal, floral, and almondy aromas, and is worryingly easy to drink. Another drink, the Hipster, falls more on the refreshing, less heavy side, and is made from London dry gin, a maraschino cherry, pickled pink radish, brown ginger, and tonic water.
However, our favorite new cocktail on the menu is the Siam Laksa. Even just reading the name sent us back to the tropical and bustling Singapore, and the cocktail didn't falter in taking our tastebuds along too thanks to a potent mixture of Diplomático Blanco rum, mushroom vermouth, coconut, chili, spices, and curry leaves. The glass is also rimmed with something a little different: fried chia seeds, giving the cocktail a taste not too dissimilar from that of a coconut smoothie – delicious.
The Lala Land also made for an interesting concoction, including house-aged single malt whisky from a cabernet barrel, Thai lime, grapefruit, celery and parsley seeds, and decorated with a Pandora leaf from Thailand. It was also very tropical in flavors, reminding us all that spring is really here.
READ: Beijing's Newest Cocktail Bars to Quench Your Thirst
The revamped menu now includes four types of pizza – salami pizza, salmon pizza with capers and anchovies, Thai sticky mango pizza, and a Thai coconut green curry chicken pizza – priced between RMB 100 and RMB 120; a bunch of snacks, Japanese-style dried fish and squid; as well as a selection of Italian and Spanish ham. There are also three desserts (RMB 85-90) available. The roasted berry custard (pictured at top), not too dissimilar from a strudel, proved especially sumptuous with a layer of pastry wrapped around a berry and cream stuffing.
During our visit, the atmosphere at Botany was as good as always, looking out from the 12th floor of Yoolee Plaza across shimmering Sanlitun, and continuing to make for one of the best spots for a classy afterwork tipple.
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos: Botany, Tracy Wang, Yao Yao
