Laki Kane, a tropical escape bar, has launched a new autumn menu set to transport your taste buds to a tropical paradise.
Laki Kane is centred around escapism through the flavours and culture of tropical islands combined with Pan-Asian dishes. A very welcomed as we head into the cold and rainy season here.
The bar features modern Tiki décor with bamboo, palm trees and rather intricate vessels for the drinks. They put great detail into the theatrics around the cocktails, and of course the flavours themselves. Everything is focused on transporting guests away to a tropical escape, or their favourite holiday beach destination.
Laki Kane uses ingredients not often seen on a UK cocktail menus, including acerola cherry, cupuaçu, sapodilla and stone apple.
The new menu features 14 new cocktails, mostly focussed around rums as is the Tiki Bar tradition. Created by Georgi Radev and his team, the menu has several rifts of classics but with a tropical twist.
It was impossible to try all of them obviously, but here are some that we did try.
Jungle Nutter – Four Roses Bourbon & Laphroaig whiskeys, Metaxa Greek brandy mixed with Lillet Blanc vermouth, Lucano amaro, mango, agave and peanut butter.
It is clarified, stirred and served over a clear beautiful ice block. The cocktail tasted something along the lines of a Manhattan but with the bourbon giving the raw spirits hit at the back of the throat.
Metaxa and raisins added some sweetness, combined with Lillet florals and apricot and amaro bitterness. It was a strong drink complimented by a dark chocolate spoon and a mini cookie.
We also got to try Georgi’s favourite drink from the new menu, the Pinup Zombie. A blend of Bacardi Añejo Cuatro, Plantation Isle of Fiji & Pusser’s Gunpowder rums, shaken with cherry and mountain pine liqueurs, exotic syrups, falernum liqueur, citrus and flaming La Fee absinthe.
We were told Pinup Zombie is a more fruity twist on the original Zombie from the Don the Beachcomber bar (founding farther of Tiki culture). The cocktail is a more feminine version of the Zombie ,but the ABV is as strong.
It arrived with a great theatrical fire show by Georgi himself as you can see on Foodepedia Instagram. After the fire we sipped the fruity liqueurs in the platano chip on top and got sampling.
The strong spirits are well hidden in the tropical and moreish flavours, rather deceptive. It was my friend’s favourite. I enjoyed it too, but not as much as the Fatal Attraction.
Served in a mermaid glass with Elements 29 vodka shaken with RinQuinQuin peach aperitif, white wine, lychee, acerola and coconut water. It was light and fresh with pleasant hints of lychee. And I think ecerola cherry.
Although, I’ll be honest I don’t think I have actually tried acerola cherry before. I know of the cherry from Korean peel-off acerola masks that I always order for my mum from South Korea.
The cherry has a unique smell and is praised for its high vitamin C content. I recognised that cherry aroma straight away in the Fatal Attraction cocktail.
We paired our Tiki cocktails with many Pan-Asian sides that Laki Kane specialises in. I was particularly fond of jumbo deep fried shrimps and pork buns. The shrimps were juicy with a crisp salt and pepper coating and a garlic hint. A generous size too.
The pork buns had an incredibly fluffy and spongy texture filled with flavoursome marinated pork. To my surprise my friend could not get enough of the vegetable spring rolls. He does not eat many vegetables normally. I believe the pak choi added to their unexpected texture. He loved them.
We also learnt an interesting fact about the ceramic cocktail glasses. All the vessels are designed by the team at Laki Kane and created at their partners’ ceramics factory in Bulgaria who use the cast offs from their ceramic runs to make the intricate vessels.
If you haven’t been to Laki Kane yet definitely pay it a visit. It is a good spot for a date night or friends catch up. They have new sharing cocktails such as Treasure Chest, which Georgi has reimagined from his many years running the former Mahiki Bar.
And custom made shots served on a surfboard for larger groups, we had mango flavoured, which were presented with fun music, sparklers and the staff playing the drums.
Laki Kane, 144-145 Upper St, London N1 1QY