DRINKS: COCKTAIL ROULETTE

Spin the wheel

Rumble’s cocktail list offers a glimpse into the wide world of South-East Asian ingredients.

WORDS Annabelle Cloros PHOTOGRAPHY Steven Woodburn

THE ART OF cocktail-making is just that — an art. But churning out the same drinks day after day can take the fun out of the job. While practice makes perfect, there’s something to be said for adding an experiential element to the ordering process, which is what Rumble in Sydney has done in the form of cocktail roulette and an ever-evolving drinks list that showcases the heritage of the bartenders who make them.

The restaurant is based around four pillars — salt, sour, spicy and sweet — with parallels drawn between what you’d find on the plate and in the glass. Hospitality speaks with Head Bartender Patty Chareonsuk about using ingredients the Rumble team grew up with, why cocktail roulette is as fun for bartenders as it is for guests and how to give classic drinks a very welcome twist.

Rumble swung open its doors last August in The Star Sydney and is described as a restaurant that is ‘a collision of South- East Asian flavour and culture’. Head Chef Benjamin Tan is spearheading the culinary direction of the venue while Patty Chareonsuk leads a team of four bartenders.

The worlds of food and drink very much collide at Rumble, with Chareonsuk working closely with Tan to create cocktails that are equally enjoyable with food as they are solo. “The cocktails are based on spicy, salty, sour and sweet and South-East Asian flavours,” says the head bartender. “I spoke with the chef and paired my signature cocktails with his flavours.

My background is Thai, and I've worked with Thai food for a while, so most of the ingredients I’m using are from Thailand, but I cross over to Malaysian flavours as well. I know a lot of people love Asian flavours and herbs, so I use things like kaffir lime leaf or lemongrass which they can recognise.”

Sometimes guests don’t know what they want so they can just pick a card and get a surprise cocktail straight away.

– Patty Chareonsuk

While butterfly pea flower tea is identifiable by its vibrant blue hue and herbaceousness and kaffir lime for its spicy citrus flavour, there’s one ingredient that’s found across the entire drinks list: bunga kantan or torch ginger flower.

The flower is part of the ginger family and is used heavily across Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai cookery, with the perennial plant found in everything from sambal bongkot (chilli sauce) to Penanglaksa and fresh Thai salads. “It’s also one of the main ingredients used in the kitchen,” says Chareonsuk. “Almost every cocktail has the flower, but it’s difficult to buy fresh, so we buy them frozen. We try to get as much flavour as we can from the flower.”

Rumble’s cocktail list is split into four sections: sweet, salty, sour and spicy with two to three options sitting under each category. While the drinks may feature ingredients that are unknown to some, the framework is clear. “I don’t want to go too far from classic cocktails,” says Chareonsuk. Take the Iced Chiang Mai — a riff on a Long Island iced tea — which sees Bacardi teamed with Thai tea and spiced rum along with sugarcane. “It’s the same as the tea you get in Thai restaurants and has a hint of lemon. It’s quite aromatic compared to Malaysian or Singaporean teas.”

Hot in Bangkok has fast become one of the restaurant’s best-sellers and is comparable to a Caipiroska. The drink’s flavour profile is defined by lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf and chilli — a combination that’s also used to make tom yum soup — which is made into a syrup for the cocktail.

“I smash everything together, so the flavours are more complex and then boil it with palm sugar to make the syrup,” says the bartender, who also lines the rim of the glass with a bespoke salt mixture for “double flavour”. The spicy and sour cocktail has punch and is a tribute to a memory from Chareonsuk’s childhood. “My hometown is near Bangkok and when my family gathers together, my parents cook tom yum,” says the bartender. “In most Thai families, they cook a stir fry and soup and something spicy. I want to share flavours through my ideas and my own experiences, too.”

Margaritas have been having a moment for a while now, but Rumble’s is a little different from the norm. “I make it with herbs and create a salt with mint, lemongrass and kaffir lime and infuse the liquor with tropical fruits such as pineapple so it has wow factor,” says Chareonsuk. “Customers understand what a margarita is and it’s easy to explain to the guest.”

It’s a similar story for the Oh Lieng, which sees Thai coffee teamed with vodka and Kahlua for a Rumble take on an espresso martini. “You usually buy the coffee in a bottle and mix it with water and add condensed milk,” says the bartender. “I put the coffee through the espresso machine and it’s light, smooth and has a bit of sweetness.”

For some, picking a drink from an enticing list is a challenge. Sometimes, it’s easier to let the professionals take care of things, which is where cocktail roulette comes in. Double-sided coasters displaying animals are placed in front of patrons who choose from a deck that covers spicy, sweet, sour and salty options. “A lot of people are doing it and sometimes guests don’t know what they want so they can just pick a card and get a surprise cocktail straight away,” says Chareonsuk. “The coasters have animals on them such as a snake, rabbit or tiger and the customer can’t really tell what they mean, but the colour indicates the flavour.”

It’s an exercise in interactivity for bartenders and patrons, who can talk about the inspiration behind the drinks. “When they sit down at the bar, it gives them something to discuss with the bartender and we tell them where the cocktail comes from,” says Chareonsuk. “The drinks are based not just on my own experiences in Thailand and Australia, but my team’s.”

The bartending brigade at Rumble is made up of just five people in total, which gives staff an opportunity to workshop their own creations which often run as weekly specials that change each Friday. “My team comes from different countries such as China, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia and they create their own cocktails based on their backgrounds,” says Chareonsuk. “We try to play with ingredients. We have weekly meetings where we talk about different produce and test drinks and then we pick the best ones which become the bartender’s recommendation of the week.”

Food and drink go hand in hand, but it’s rare to find a bar team that ventures beyond the traditional shared ingredients of citrus and mint to come up with a cocktail list that doesn’t shy away from flavour profiles that are traditionally reserved for the kitchen. With most tables ordering a cocktail at Rumble, it’s safe to say the bartenders have shaken things up for patrons looking for a drinking experience that toes the line between familiarity and fun.

- A margarita riff sees liquor infused with pineapple

- Sugarcane is the sweetener in the Iced Chiang Mai

- Hot in Bangkok is made with tom yum syrup

- Kantan flowers are used across the menu