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What Salvatore Calabrese can’t tell you
about the lore, practice and protocol of cocktail mixing just isn’t
worth knowing. As head barman at London’s newest member’s
bar, the salubrious Salvatore At Fifty on St James’s Street,
this flamboyantly talented Italian himself inspires a cocktail
of superlatives: he is determined in his outlook, daring in his
creativity, magnetically charming in the flesh. In a nutshell,
he is quite possibly London’s world’s greatest barman.
Calabrese will regale you with vignettes about those who have
enjoyed his legendarily slick hospitality – a cast-list as
varied as Cindy Crawford, Stevie Wonder, Nelson Mandela, Fidel
Castro, Ashley Judd and Her Majesty the Queen (who returned promptly
for a second Martini cocktail, signalling the kind of approval
that really matters). He will eulogise ‘Liquid History’ – a
idea of his own conception in which guests experience the past
in the form of his vintage cognac collection. He will defy convention
at every opportunity. And most vitally, he will ensure you leave
his bar satisfied, delighted and, it’s likely, resolved never
to set foot in a Weatherspoons ever again.
Calabrese’s repertoire is a broad as his CV is long. His
vital statistics tell their own tale: he began working in the licence
trade at the age of 11, and by 21 was the Amalfi coast’s
youngest maitre d’. Over the past 20 years he has resuscitated
the Duke’s Hotel bar and The Lanesborough’s Library
Bar, establishing a gilt-edged reputation for service and style
en route. He has shifted over half a million copes of his nine
books. Behind the bar at Salvatore at Fifty lie an epicurean selection
of 338 spirits - whiskys dating to 1913, rums from as long ago
as 1934. If you have a spare £1,500, Calabrese will pour
you a glass of cognac distilled in the year before the French Revolution.
His experience and vision coalesce into the ‘grand minimalist’ ambience
of Salvatore at Fifty, where his insistence that cocktail mixing
is a form of artistry emerges as a tangible reality, rather than
as a far-fetched contrivance. ‘A chef is an artist at work
- he will use his plate as a canvas,’ Calabrese insists. ‘A
barman is also an artist, I will use that glass as my canvas.’
It is more than his close resemblance to Peter Sellers that makes
meeting Calabrese an unforgettable experience - and you have little
choice about meeting him once you skip up the steps and through
Fifty’s door. It’s instead an élan and a conviction
he brings to the task which, it’s safe to say, few outside
of Italy could match.
‘You have to understand what cocktail is,’ he theorises. ‘It
must satisfy three senses: the eyes, the nose and the palate. Image,
aroma and taste. Let’s be Italian about this - if you see
a beautiful women walk into a bar, everybody stops and looks. Then
there is this wonderful perfume that makes you fly towards her.
But the tastes is the most important thing of all - if she doesn’t
taste good when you kiss her it will be a disappointment.’
His own cocktails display the same adventurousness and intensity
that’s palpable in even the briefest encounters with the
man who makes them. Is that coriander in my glass? Consommé bouillon?
Chilli? And how come it tastes so good?
The overarching flavour, in fact, is of Salvatore’s enthusiasm
for cocktails. ‘I think - sometimes I even dream - about
cocktails long before I begin to mix them,’ he concludes. ‘When
I love in something, I go to any excess or challenge to fulfil
it. If you see this place – the bottles, the glassware, the
arrangement of furniture, the cocktails – these are all the
things that I believe in.’
On this side of Piccadilly in 2005, it’s Salvatore Calabrese’s
world - we just drink it in.
The High Five
The Spicy Fifty
Vanilla Stolichnaya
Dash of Lime juice
Honey
Coriander
Lemongrass
1 Bird’s Eye chilli
A cocktail with truly internationalist character - cultures collide
inside a highball glass. The smooth edges of vanilla, vodka and
honey fuse with fragrant coriander and tangy lime – and yes,
that is a whole bird’s eye chilli floating on top. ‘This
has a real intensity to it,’ Calabrese enlarges. ‘It
was inspired idea by an Asian restaurant that opened up near the
bar. I was fascinated by the fusion, and this has a spiciness and
a sweetness to it - the key with the Spicy Fifty is balance between
the two.’
The Breakfast Martini
Gin
Cointreau
Lemon juice
Tsp Marmalade.
‘This is my one of my signature cocktails,’ Calabrese
says. ‘It has the natural spiciness of juniper, Cointreau gives
it sweetness and lemon juice sharpens the drink. The final ingredient
is a touch of marmalade. I never eat breakfast, and my wife always
says, ‘Have something to eat, you need energy,’ but I
can’t be bothered. One day she gave me some toast with marmalade
on it - I had never encountered the bitter flavour. It blew my mind,
so I took the marmalade to work and created the Breakfast Martini.
I think I may have immortalised myself with this drink. You can go
anywhere in the world and find the Breakfast Martini.’
Fifty St James
Seven-year-old Havana Club rum
Campari
Lemon juice
Guava syrup
Guava juice
One of Calabrese’s most popular cocktails – and a signature
he created for Salvatore At Fifty – the Fifty St James matches
dark spirit with the sweetness of guava and the bitter notes of
the Campari, served over ice in a highball. Salvatore detects a
resurgence in the popularity of darker spirits. ‘People are
asking more and more for dark spirits,’ he says. ‘With
all the uncertainty in the world, they are smooth, warm and comforting.
Bartenders need to understand the importance of the dark spirits.’ Calabrese
recommends this long, smooth cocktails as an after-dinner drink.
The Bull Shot
Vodka
Lemon juice
Consommé bouillon
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco
Celery Salt
Calabrese is frequently asked what time in the day it is acceptable
to have a drink. ‘How long is a piece of string?’ he
often replies. ‘If you’ve had a heavy night, have a
hair the dog that bit you. Bloody Mary can be a great drink to
start the day with. But even better is the Bullshot – vodka,
lemon juice, consommé bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, hint
of Tabasco, celery salt. It’s almost like soup in glass – yet
it is very refreshing. Add tomato juice to make it a Bloody Bull.’
Melon Fizz
Crème de Melone
Infusion of Melone
Cointreau
Prosecco
There may be few instances which the demand the use of the world ‘nectareous’,
but Calabrese’s evolution of the Melon cocktail is not merely
apt but mandatory. The infusion of melone, meanwhile, is all own
work - he created the liqueur at a friend’s distillery on
the Amalfi coast, and has also concocted infusions of wild strawberry,
limoncello, raspberry and fennel. ‘This is a very unusual
cocktail, but it is also extraordinarily popular. It’s is
one of our best-sellers.’
© Kevin Braddock, 2005
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