Nottingham Forrest, Milan
More or less 2 weeks ago www.worlds50bestbars.com released
a ladder of the best 50 bars at the world. Nottingham Forrest is at 15th place
for the year of 2014. I had to see it for myself….
I missed the bus from Bergamo to Milan and I had to
wait 20 minutes for another one. And it was Friday so the traffic on the
highway was pretty crazy. I mean, traffic in Italy is pretty crazy any time,
but on Friday it is even worse…. Anyway, I have arrived to Milan 40 minutes
late (according to my plan) so I didn't want to waste any more time and I went
straight to Nottingham Forrest…
When I entered the place and doors got closed behind
me, I replied to the greetings of all personell, I looked around and I took a
deep breath through my nose to gather the smells and aromas of that place, then
I smiled and I thought : ,,Georgie, this is
gonna be great…´´ I took a
seat on the bar and immediatelly after I got some finger food, a bit of snacks,
tin coblet with water with some ice and a menu.
Nottingham Forrest is a small (but very well equipped)
cocktail bar, focused on mixology of all types. In their menu (which I found
very interesting, after 40 minutes of reading it) You can find classic
cocktails made in classic ways, organic mixology, and (I believe) signature
part for this bar – molecular mixology. I
just couldn't make my desicion, what to choose and the bartender realized that
and he asked me, if I need a help. I explained to him, that for me it is quite
difficult, because I like gin as well as fruity (not sweet) taste. He
introduced me the cocktail named ´´Flowers´´.
It is a cocktail,
originally based on rum. If You will ever take it based on rum, You will miss a
lot. Aromatic gin with orange bitters together with maracuja liqueur and a
bitter chocolate powder on top with the fresh blossom of Violets and a mint
leaves makes incredible combination. This cocktail is very hard to describe,
because the smell as well as the taste, is so particullar that I don't have
enough expressions to put it to words. It is like a dream … that kind of dream,
that You don't remember exactly, what that dream was about, but You remember
your emotions. It has everything, what cocktail should have - great look,
fantastic smell and epic taste and it has everything I asked for. When You are
about to take a first sip, You will get this amazing, refreshing and very
fruity smell, then You will get the actual taste of the drink in the perfect
match to its aroma enriched by the character of its base and orange bitters and
then You breathe out and on your tongue You will get very surprising taste of
bitter chocolade powder which is slowly closing your experience from the actual
sip... This is a 4 senses symphony.
I don't know, if I will ever take the same cocktail in Nottingham Forrest again, because there is simply so much to explore, so much to see and to enjoy, that I feel like a child. I want to know everything about everything in that bar and – I swear god – if it wouldn't be inappropriate, I would be passing from one guest to another and I would be like : ,,Excuse me sir/madam, what is your drink? … Can iI taste it? ´´
After a very long time I really didn't want to finish
my drink. As I was just
sitting there, and trying to drink it as slowly as possible to enjoy it as long
as possible, I realized two things, that I was not happy about :
First of all, the whole lenght of the bar is stuffed
with bottles. It has a system though. In one part, there is vodka, in the
second part, there is gin, and in the last part You can find vermouths. This is
only a base of it. These three parts are divided with columns that are holding
another level of even more and more bottles, up to the ceiling. It
looks great and I like to look at those bottles and study them, and it fullfills
the place (I don't know why, but I got on my mind right now an idea to compare
it to the apothecary). However
the negative side of this way of storing the bottles is, that You can't really
see inside the bar, when all the magic is happening and You can't see your
bartender and even your bartender cannot see You. Well, he can see You, but he
cannot see, if you've finished
your cocktail or a cup of water, so You may be waiting for a little longer for
your next order. To be fair though – You will never be waiting for too long either, because personell
is passing around very often and this place is narrow, so if your bartender is
busy, comi-bartenders or waiters will notice You for 100%.
Second point is even smaller, than the first one.
Shaken ice is going to the glass of the guest together with its cocktail.
Usually, You prepare a glass by chilling it with ice, then ( if recipe says so)
You prepare a cocktail and You replace the ice for a fresh one and then You
pour a cocktail in it. In Nottingham Forrest, they have all the glasses chilled
in advance, so the requirement for replacing the ice 2x is not necessary
anymore, however I would appreciate if You would not use an ice from the
shaker. These ice cubes are getting mechanically destroyed by hitting each other
inside the shaker.
Ice cubes are melting faster after shaking, but
we can have a long discussion even about this, because there is a theory, that
sharp edges of the ice are melting even faster, therefore the best shape of
ice, that bartender can use, is a ball. And
ice cubes after shaking have no sharp edges…. Well, it is up to You, after all. You
can decide, if it is a minus or plus point, for this bar. I am an oldschooler,
so I prefer fresh ice….
In Nottingham Forrest, they have 2 different menus.
The main one, and then, if You will find yourself in troubles to choose, they
have something I personally call ´´The Offmenu´´. There are some more recipies
and it is like a guidance for You, to give You an idea. Except for the last
page. On the last page, there are few recipies that blew my mind. Original
recipies with the names of their founders such as the Boulevardier by Dale
DeGroff or Don the Beachcomber´s Zombie by Ted Haig or Brandy Crusta by Jerry
Thomas … This page is here to please every single person, who likes bartending
as a culture. I am sure that ¾ of all the guests have no idea what are those
drinks about - but for the rest, it is like finding a grand jewel, a small
detail which means so much. I took the Brandy Crusta by Jerry Thomas and my
last drink was… Well, if You read my story from Amsterdam, you know it. Unfortunately this time I didn't get
it with Blanton´s Original, but originally - it should be rye whiskey,
anyway.
The main menu is written in multiple languages, the
Offmenu is written in italian only. To be 100% honest- in this bar, the menu
can be written in chinese only and it would be a great point. When I said, that
the menu is there to give you an idea, it means that basically, You can choose
which vermouth do you prefer, what bitters do You like, what combination of
this and that You want in your cocktail and it is only up to You and your
bartender to decide. It encourages You to chat, to talk to the bartender, to
explore and to experiment. If You want to work as a bartender in such a place,
You have to be well equipped with an insane amount of knowledge about
everything - of course, but here the ´´everything´´ means to me, even more than
that. Here they use the macromolecular mixology as well as organic mixology,
and if You want to experiment with that, You have to be from one half
scientist, and from the other side genious. My bartender that evening was
Dario. With all my respect, I hope i will be able to visit him again… After
all, it doesn't matter what You will take, because here You will always get,
what You will always like…
Unfortunatelly, my time in this bar was over. With all
my honesty, I regret every single second of those 40 minutes, I missed at the beginning. However the overall satisfaction makes
me laugh even now. Here in Italy, where cocktails have never been in the
culture, I made it. I found the grand pearl of Italy, far far ahead of all
other bars I have seen so far in this country, the Nottingham Forrest is the
place for me to go to, every time I will visit Milan.
15.11.2014
I went to Milan again. In translation - I've managed to find some excuse to go to
Nottingham Forrest again. This time I have seen a little bit darker side of
that place and I have realized, that there are still some things to
improve - As I said somewhere above, that place is quite small. At one side,
there is the entrance for guests and at the other side, there are slide doors
for cargo. I saw the personell smoking outside, in front of the bar, during
their duty time, while there were some guests sitting right next to them. If
You would be working in Nottingham Forrest and You would have to go to have a
cigarette, You would have two options. You could go to the left - towards
to the guest doors, or you could go to the right - towards to the cargo
and supply doors. The distance is the same. The only difference is, that
smoking cigarette behind the bar would be matching the level of this bar much
more, than smoking the cigarette in front of it. I find this habit rude. I do
understand that the bar cannot be busy all the time, but showing off that You
have nothing to do in this way is highly unprofessional.
Imagine this situation:
If there is a bartender smoking a cigarette in front
of the bar and a new guest enters the bar, this bartender takes his last deep
breath of some ´´fresh´´ air and he throws the rest of the cigarette on the
ground. Then he will breathe the smoke out and he will enter the place after
the guest. If that guest would be me, I would leave. I would think, that I am the
disturbance. And if that bar is a famous place, then this habit seems to be
arrogant. It looks like : ´´yeah, I know that we are good, but I am totally
over it.´´
And I did it many times. So many times I was about to
enter some place and then I've seen that the bartender and even the waitress
are sitting on seats for guests and they are drinking some (i hope)
non-alcoholic bevarage and smoking a cigarette. So many times I stopped right
in the entrance and I made 180° turn and left because of that. This habit
should be punishable by bullet betweet the eyes…
Yeah, I know. You go to the bar, because of cocktails
and not because your bartender is a no - smoker. However cocktail bar, which respects
all rules of mixology and its culture and which belongs to top 15 bars at the
world, should be so
proffesional on all stages of the service, that it should bring You smooth
experience of the entire service – including the atmosphere and not only a nice
cocktail...
Of course I have entered this bar again, but it broke
my heart almost as much as Valentina. Those two wounds I could cure that night
only by an excellent Don the Beachcomber´s Zombie…
Well, this cocktail
restored some faith in humanity in me, and I cannot wait to go to Nottingham
Forrest again, but this bar is THE ONLY ONE exception, where I will enter, even with
bartender smoking in front of this bar.
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