Alibi Bar Ovolo Woolloomooloo

Alibi, a new restaurant and bar is set to open at hotel Ovolo Hotel in Woolloomooloo. We take a first look at Alibi Bar with Bar Manager David Green ahead of its opening later this month.

David Green

Located on the ground floor of the designer hotel, Alibi restaurant will be headed by chef Matthew Kenney from the US who brings his experience in plant-based cuisine to Sydney.

Alibi Bar carries the restaurant’s plant-based theme with the use of vegan ingredients such as aquafaba, (chick pea water) in lieu of egg white in cocktails. “The drinks take inspiration from for key elements, cooking, pastry, bartending and molecular gastronomy,” Bar Manager David Green explains. “The focus is on creating a unique experience with cocktails that appeal visually and taste good while remaining approachable.”

A solid list of over 15 theatrical and interactive cocktails feature on the menu. The use of fresh ingredients and premium spirits coupled with modern techniques are key to the guest experience while keeping sustainability at the fore.

Much like the recent trend in restaurant menus, the cocktails are given a name then presented as a list of ingredients.

Stranded

Described as Gin, Botanicals, Harvested Aloe Vera, Perfumed with Orange Blossom, Stranded ($20) is an easy and approachable drink that is well-suited to the designated driver. The cocktail, which is made up of just one shot of alcohol is pre-batched and served at the table in a test tube resting on sand surrounded by edible flowers.

Stranded

Guests are invited to open the test tube and pour the fragrant cocktail into a tall, elegant coupette. Floral and sweet yet well balanced, it tastes like a warm spring day. The orange blossom notes and orange bergamot peel in the Star of Bombay Gin play well together to deliver a fresh, floral and fragrant aperitif style cocktail.

Mr Miyagi

Mr Miyagi ($20-$60) is an invitation to partake in a tea ceremony ritual. Delivered in a tea pot with a Jasmine jet stream, the combination of Grey Goose infused with Buddha’s Tear’s tea, blue Curaçao and aloe vera makes it work as an aperitif as well as a palate cleanser. Light and aromatic, it has a subtle tea flavour married with orange notes while the Aloe Vera adds a textural element.

At first glance, Harvest ($21) may appear lost in a hazy fog but this is one of the standout cocktails at Alibi Bar.

Harvest

The vermouth driven drink is backed up with Żubrówka or Bison Grass vodka and a pinot grigio reduction with cinnamon, star anise and clove. While the pinot grigio is being reduced, fresh green apples are added to the mix and poached until they fall apart. They are subsequently frozen to become an “ice cube” in the drink. A housemade lime and apple smoke is used to smoke the glass which imparts a natural citric-sour aroma.

Lift the lid on the drink, inhale the aromas and take a sip of what is a perfect marriage of vermouth and spiced wine reduction. The frozen apple can be eaten once fully defrosted, a delicious treat that has soaked up all the flavours of the wine reduction.

Kung Fu Fighting

Kung Fu Fighting ($25) is made up of Baijiu, Yellow Chartreuse, rosemary and passionfruit shrub with cold pressed pineapple. Despite its name, there’s no fighting between the ingredients as the cocktail balances the funky notes of the Baijiu and its fruity pineapple notes with those of the remaining ingredients – a good entry point to Baijiu cocktails made with China’s most renowned spirit.

Escobar

Delivered to the table in a smoking gun with a black salt rimmed glass, Escobar ($24) combined sloe gin with mezcal, passionfruit, lemon bitters, agave and smoked salt. The combination of gentle smoke from the mezcal and the the fruitiness of the sloe gin coupled with passion fruit work well to deliver a delicious layered drink that won’t make newcomers to mezcal feel intimidated.

Enchanted Forest

The showpiece of the cocktail list is the Enchanted Forest ($30). The list of ingredients are intriguing at first: Sol Tarasco Extra Aged Rum Con Hongos (Mexican aged rum with mushrooms), Jägermeister, white cacao, steamed, portobello, citric acid, green apple and absinthe foam. The rum brings a dry and savoury almost umami note to the edible drink with an impressive chocolate garnish where the cup is filled with green apple and absinthe foam. It truly is the show piece with rum, mushrooms and chocolate, side by side with the herbal and spice notes of Jägermeister.

Alibi bar and restaurant is slated to open in late March 2018.

You may also like: Alibi Plant-Based Restaurant Opens in Woolloomooloo

Alibi Bar
Ovolo Woolloomooloo
6 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo

Where watermarked, photography © by Gourmantic – Copyright: All rights reserved. Otherwise, photos supplied.