DINE
AN INTERVIEW WITH...
A R N A U D V O LT E
W
hile lockdown has had an immense knock-on effect for those within the hospitality sector, it gave the Travel Dine Relax team a chance to catch up with inspiring people who help create that perfect experience. One of those was the talented Arnaud Volte, who would typically be found serving cocktails to a delighted clientele at The Edition, London. Editor Nicola asks Arnaud how he honed his skills as a mixologist and what cocktails we should all be looking out for this summer.
You started your career in Thailand at a bartending school. How did this cement your love of mixology, and what were the most important lessons you learned in your time there? I went to Thailand without knowing anything about bartending, so everything was new for me, and I had a lot to learn in a pretty short period. From how to clean a bar station, learn a different classic cocktail every day, speed pouring and flair bartending. As you know, it’s pretty exciting to have all sorts of new knowledge coming at you, but I would say learning how to flair with the bottles was my favourite part of the day as it was a bit more fun. Also, you wouldn’t believe how fast you learn by practising every day. I was always quite mesmerised by any good bartender that would pull out a nice trick during the service whenever I would go out in France or Thailand and aspired to be that person. London is quite a contrast between Thailand and your native France. What type of cocktails get served up in The Edition, and how do you keep up with such a broad spectrum of multicultural tastebuds? As you’ve mentioned, we’ve got an amazing multi-cultural array of guests staying in the hotel, but also Londoners that want to have a good time out and play a pool game whilst sipping some delicious cocktails. We create our cocktail menu based on classic cocktails with an Edition twist, which includes values such as authenticity,
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SUMMER ISSUE
sophistication and sustainability. An important point to mention would be that we create our cocktails for our guests, who are shaping our bar and hotel, and as cosmopolitan as they are so should be our cocktail list. There’s a least one drink for everyone. What’s the ‘must-have’ mainstay of a summer cocktail cupboard? Summer is all about fresh ingredients like fruit, and using their natural sugars can allow us to have healthier cocktails. So always have fresh fruits in the fridge and fresh citruses in the fruit bowl (can be replaced by citric acid but be careful in the measurement). Last but not least, a range of different teas is always essential in summer to make some ice teas (with or without alcohol) by infusing the loose leaves in cold water overnight. How do you start creating a new cocktail, and what inspires you? As a bartender, you need to create your own identity and have a purpose, the same as a chef would have in its restaurant, by making you more authentic and unique. Having type 1 diabetes not only defines me as a person, but it also defines the way I would create a cocktail. Sustainability is also a significant criterion in my creations, making sure that you’re doing something good and communicating it. >>
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