TRULY decadent liquid lunches are a thing of the past, we are constantly being told – that lost world of Fleet Street’s Lunchtime O’Booze and Mad Men’s Don Draper. So when Hawksmoor, whose bar can mix it with the best, invited ToM to try its new Three Martini Lunch we were there before you could shake a cocktail.
OK, they’d laid it on a bit thick in their spiel: “An epic lunch is an event to be reckoned with and not consigned to history. Long sprawling meals were the setting for diplomacy, business, philosophy, an occasional revolution or just plain old good conversation. One such conversation between Hepple Gin and Hawksmoor has led to the revival of the Three Martini Lunch.”
So three martinis at a bargain £25 a go. It’s available at the upmarket steak chain’s Deansgate restaurant until Sunday, April 30 “hoping to fuel and inspire a new generation of peace, law and deal makers.” Oh, and dedicated food and drink journalists, naturally.
You can match the martini trio, all based on gins from Northumberland-based distillers Hepple, with the main a la carte menu. Equally there’s a certain symmetry in pairing them with the Express Menu – £25 for two courses and £28 for three courses available until 6pm and after 10pm Monday to Saturday and all day Sunday – and really making it last!
It’s terrific value. I chose bone marrow with onions and steak fillet tail (£5 supplement), my spirited companion beetroot and hazelnut salad with horseradish creme fraiche and rump steak, both of us finding the sticky toffee pudding (below) hard to resist for dessert.
The selected martinis – chosen in collaboration between Hawksmoor’s best bartenders, and judged by Hepple Gin, are (in the appropriate order:
Walter Riddell (Hepple Gin, Cocchi Americano, Jurançon & Lavender)
Smoky Valentine (Hepple Gin, Lapsang Port, Noilly Prat & Rosemary)
Strangeways (Hepple Gin, Antica Formula, Prune & Cacao)
The first makes a beautiful palate freshener, the second has the substance to handle steaks (the rump, medium rare, was outstanding by the way), while the prune in the final martini should offer dark fruit to match the sticky toffee. The martinis can also be sampled individually priced at £10 each.
Hepple Gin… is a delightful artisan collaboration, at remote Hepple in Northumberland, between a chef (Valentine Warner), a barman (Nick Strangeway), a drinks developer (Cairbry Hill) and a juniper-obsessed countryman (Walter Riddell). The latter even gets a cocktail name dafter him!
It’s made by a revolutionary new three-stage method. As well as a copper Pot Still, the distillery at Hepple houses two advanced systems. A glass still utilises vacuum distillation to capture fresh, zesty notes from local botanicals, such as young ‘green juniper’. Another system uses high-pressure extraction to release the intricacies of the ripe juniper berries, delivering further tiers of flavour, texture and finish.
It takes five times as long to make Hepple Gin and the unique process, including both mature and unripe ‘green juniper’ has resulted in a unique, addictive taste,
Hawksmoor Manchester, 184-186 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3WB. 0161 836 6980.
