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HE picks up a spoon that looks like one of those you see in a science laboratory.

The New Paper New Face contestants Claire Chua (left) with the lemon meringue martini and Foong Wen Jia with the rum & chocolate gelee. Then he takes a pinch of bicarbonate of soda and sprinkles it gently on a small slab of jelly on a ceramic spoon.

This is not some weird science experiment. This is what the bar industry calls molecular mixology.

Mr Colin Chia’s slab of jelly is a gin and tonic gelee – one of the many cocktails that are being served up at the Cock’s Feather, a bar at Far East Square, using molecular mixology.

Molecular mixology uses avant garde cooking techniques called molecular gastronomy to develop and mix cocktails behind the bar.

The molecular cocktail trend started in Paris about three years ago when the luxurious Hotel Plaza Athenee’s bar introduced apple martini lollipops and bubble gum pina coladas.

Besides the Cock’s Feather (the name is a reference to the origin of the word cocktail), not many bars in Singapore offer such avant garde mixes, other than The Four Seasons Hotel and The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.

On Tuesday night, The New Paper took two New Face contestants, Claire Chua, 20 and Foong Wen Jia, 21, to sample the Cock’s Feather’s range of cocktails.

The two women, who club frequently, had never heard of molecular mixology and looked perplexed when the gin and tonic gelee was presented to them.

But after gamely slurping up the jellied concoction, Wen Jia said: ‘It’s like jelly for adults. I wouldn’t mind having another one.’

Also on the Cock’s Feather menu is Illusion – a vodka, Cointreau, Midori and pineapple juice concoction, usually served in a highball glass (a glass tumbler) in its original form. It was turned into a bright green jelly on a spoon.

The most complicated cocktail on the menu is the Peartini – a pear martini – where pears are slow-cooked with saffron until they become a thick liquid. The cooled liquid is then pureed and strained.

The girls’ verdict on the Peartini? Claire said: ‘I felt like I was drinking dessert.’

Mr Chia, 29, who has been in the food and beverage line for over 13 years, paired up with local mixologist Mervin Han to introduce the molecular cocktails when the bar opened a month ago.

Said Mr Chia: ‘We felt that the cocktail scene in Singapore needed a boost, something that would put us on the international map.’

He also believes that Singaporeans are well-travelled and adventurous enough to give his cocktails a go.

The Four Seasons Hotel and The Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore also offer customers their version of weird science drinks at the bar.

The Four Seasons has cocktail popsicles – strawberry, lychee and passionfruit martini ice cream on a stick.

It also has a range of six jelly cocktail flavours like Strawberry Martini, Snowball (Advocaat and Sprite), Lychee Martini, Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur), Bailey’s Irish Cream and Mango Daiquiri at The Bar and Alfresco.

According to the hotel’s spokesman, the jelly cocktails are made from liqueur-infused agar-agar (jelly strips) and fruit puree.

The popsicles are made from frozen fruit puree served in a shot glass with the martini poured over and allowed to soak through when served.

For The Ritz-Carlton, its specialty cocktails are part of its August promotion called Foam and Caviar Cocktails at The Chihuly Lounge.

The hotel’s in-house mixologist, Mr Indra Kumar, told The New Paper that he used an equipment called the iSi whipper and to make the foam ‘light and fluffy’.

The caviar part of the promotion is the Vodka Apple Caviar with Light Cream cocktail served in a champagne flute.

The vodka and apple juice caviar was made using the spherical technique. This is a technique developed by Spanish chef Ferran Adria, where the liquified ingredient – or in case of cocktails, the liquor-containing algin, a carbohydrate made from brown seaweed – is plunged into a calcium bath.

The chemical reaction turns the liquid into gellified spheres of various sizes.

While molecular mixology blurs the lines between science, food and drinks, these pretty cocktails don’t come cheap.

Cock’s Feather’s molecular cocktails start at $20 for the gin and tonic gelee, while the Peartini costs $24 per glass.

The Four Season’s martini popsicles are $18 a pop and the jelly cocktails are $12 for six pieces.

The Ritz-Carlton’s foam and caviar cocktails are at $14 a glass.

But are these molecular cocktails a mere novelty?

After all Singapore’s first molecular gastronomy restaurant, Aurum, didn’t exactly take off like a rocket. It closed down in May this year.

Mr Paul Joseph, 34, an executive in a multi-national company, felt that such cocktails might be a passing fad.

Nadine Soh, 23, who works as a part-time bartender, however, felt that molecular mixology will be there for the long haul.

‘I think people would go back and have it more than once. It’s something that is very different from the usual cocktails.’

2 parts VODKA, 1 part SCIENCE
Bars are serving up cocktails with a twist using molecular gastronomy
By Sheela Narayanan
August 09, 2008
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story/0,4136,172751