Sweet spot

Sweet spot

This month’s featured bartender brings a splash of international flavour to the cocktail menu at Belfast’s only licensed patisserie, Miel et Moi…

Miel et Moi bartender, Francesca Dalton (24), has been involved in the bar trade since her mid-teens, but the experience that she gained during two years spent travelling the world lends her burgeoning cocktail repertoire a distinctly international flavour.

Francesca was among 11 local bartenders who recently made it to the finals of the Hennessy Connoisseurs Challenge, when contestants tested their cocktail-making skills in a gruelling head-to-head competition before a high-profile judging panel.

Things certainly aren’t quite as hectic for Francesca during her day job at Miel et Moi, a licensed patisserie and café bar on the Lisburn Road in Belfast. It’s a little different from a conventional bar in that it is table service only at Miel et Moi and the drinks menu isn’t quite as extensive as it might be in a conventional bar.

Speaking to LCN recently, Francesca revealed that the clientele at the Lisburn Road venue prefer what she calls “cocktails with class” – the classic French Martini, the espresso Martini and of course, the Bellini.

It’s all geared to tie in well with the venue’s pastry, cakes and coffee offering – and with a special drinks menu currently under construction for Christmas, regular visitors to the venue can look forward to some new offerings as the festive season approaches.

Francesca’s bartending career began at the age of 16 when she collected glasses at the Beechlawn House Hotel in Dunmurry and later, at the former Rain nightclub in Toome Street in Belfast. It was during her time at the latter venue that she started to develop an interest in mixing cocktails.

After that, Francesca was off for an extended trip around the world. Starting in the Middle East, she made her way to Australia – where she learned lots more about mixing exciting drinks – and then travelled on to south-east Asia. She came back home for a six-month stint last year, during which she worked at The Albany on the Lisburn Road, then she was off on her travels again, this time to Cambodia.

She started work behind the bar at Miel et Moi in March this year and cocktails are her main area of responsibility.

“Where we are on the Lisburn Road is very accessible, it’s a great place to meet people for a coffee or a cocktail,” says Francesca.

She believes that creativity is now the watch word in drinks-making and says that customers are no longer content to stick simply to a favourite cocktail:

“They’re trying lots of different things and I think we need to be able to respond to that,” she adds.

“”I think that things are different than they were in Belfast, they’re better now and lots of really different places are opening up. I think that Filthy’s probably started things off with Chic, then you had Muriel’s and Apoc and so on. People have really taken to it, which is good.”

Francesca’s own ambition is to try “something completely different”:

“I think people are looking for bars now where they are able to stand and chat among themselves and enjoy a drink, they’re not looking for the whole noisy student thing anymore.”

Like many budding bartenders, she’d ultimately like a place of her own, although she knows that won’t come without lots more experience of the trade.

 

Francesca recommends:

 

La creme au cafe 

 

Ingredients:

35ml Hennessy

25 ml Kahlua

50 ml pouring cream

35 ml espresso

5 ml vanilla extract

15 ml sugar syrup

1 vanilla pod (garnish)

 

Method:

Shake in a tin with ice

Glass ware:

Brandy balloon

 

2

 

 

This brandy cocktail is bold, opening with sweet wood and nutty fragrances. The addition of espresso and vanilla is pleasing to the palate, creating a sensation which isn’t overpowering, but blends beautifully with the woody, floral flavours already present in Hennessy and the coffee tones in Kahlua. The creamy texture and brandy glassware screams sophistication, which is what any Hennessy cocktail should encompass! The simple garnish, consisting of a twisted vanilla pod gives an amazing aroma. This distinctive cognac has been creating delicious cocktails since 1765!