Feel better with our ‘Cocktail Cures’!

Posted on April 23, 2014

Chinese medicine is an ancient practice which employs herbs and plants to treat myriad conditions of the body and mind. For many centuries, the Chinese have chosen to use this traditional method in preference to ‘modern’ medicine, believing its natural, drug-free approach to be more beneficial to the human body than man-made medicaments.

Wishing to honour this long tradition respectfully but not without a little humour, the team in our Shanghai Bar developed our list of ‘Cocktail Cures’ –  recipes using just a few of the many hundreds of ingredients which practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine believe to be beneficial.

Take for example our ‘Comfortably Numb’, one of the most popular cocktails served at Hutong which combines Stolichnaya vanilla, fresh chilli, Sichuan pepper honey, lychee liqueur and fresh lime juice, served Martini-style in a glass rimmed with lip-tingling Sichuan pepper. In Chinese medicine it is believed that Sichuan pepper or Chuan jiao ‘warms, disperses cold, alleviates spleen or stomach cold from deficiency patterns.’

Or perhaps you’d be better aided by a ‘Dragon Pearl’ - Tanqueray gin, ginger & lemongrass cordial, agave nectar and anise basil garnished with fresh dragon fruit? Dragon fruit, it is held, boosts the immune system, lowers blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes and cleans toxins, as well as being rich in flavonoids that are believed to have favourable effects against cardio-related disease.

Naturally we make no firm claims as to the efficacy of our Cocktail Cures in treating illness; we do firmly believe, however, that one or two of them will make anyone feel better. Try them for yourself next time you visit us!

Do you have experience of Chinese medicine? Which ingredients would you like to see our bar team work into a Cocktail Cure? Let us know in the Comments!