Shaking it up

“Bartenders are the kings of the bar,” proclaims Mohammad Hussain, who along with Umesh Tamang, rules the space behind the counter at Plush, at The Astor.

Hussain began his career as a trainee at Tantra, The Park’s discotheque, in 2002 while he was still completing his degree in hotel management from the NIPS School of Hotel Management, Kolkata. After a couple of stints at Shangri-La’s Ireland Bar and at Underground at Hotel Hindusthan International in 2005 and 2006 respectively, the 27-year-old decided to polish up his act. So he studied flair bartending — the art of playing to the gallery by juggling those bar tools and liquor bottles — at the B’mann School of Bartending, Chennai, in 2007. Two months later, he opened the Divine School of Bartending in Kolkata for aspiring bartenders but he shut shop soon after to join Plush in December 2008. Hussain may have served many celebs from behind the bar but he still dreams of owning a bartending school one day.

Tamang, the other half of this dynamic duo, passed out of Good Shepherd Institute of Hospitality Management, Kalimpong, and joined the Intercontinental Grand Resort’s bar, Very Feni, in Goa in 2005 as a trainee. He imbibed his love for bartending from his institute’s director, who was also a bartender. “He motivated me,” says Tamang. Having learnt the tricks of the trade, including flair bartending, in Goa, the 26-year-old moved to Kolkata and spent a short time at I Lounge Bar before joining Plush at the same time as Hussain.

Here are three original recipes by the duo.

Cuban Sunrise

Glass: Cocktail

Ingredients
30ml white rum 30ml Baileys Irish Cream 10ml strawberry syrup 5ml whipped cream 1 fresh strawberry 2 apple slices

Method
Pour the strawberry syrup in a cocktail glass. Blend the strawberry, white rum, Baileys Irish Cream, whipped cream and cubes of ice together in a mixer. Pour this mix over the strawberry syrup. Garnish with apple slices.

Seducer

Glass: Martini

Ingredients
30ml whisky 30ml dark rum 15ml caramel syrup 1tsp coffee powder 2 black olives

Method
Pour the whisky, dark rum and caramel syrup in a cocktail shaker. Shake well and pour into a martini glass. Sprinkle the coffee powder on top and garnish with black olives.

Equator

Glass: Margarita

Ingredients
15ml vodka 15ml rum 15ml Galliano 15ml sambuca

Method
Mix the vodka, rum and Galliano in a cocktail shaker with two-three cubes of ice. Strain into a margarita glass. Flambé with the sambuca.


As told to Tania Bhattacharya
The Personal Telegraph