This is a case of East meeting West right in the heart of Chinatown. The marriage of modern Western cocktails with traditional Chinese medicinal herbs has resulted to a summer cocktail that soothes both the mind and body. With its apothecary-styled drinks, the Keefer Bar has, without a doubt, developed a unique flair of creating cocktails that are not only chic but beneficial to one’s health as well.
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Episode 5 – Keefer Bar Serves Up Eastern Medicine
Image Cutline: Dani Tatarin will cure what ails you with her TCM inspired cocktails.
Raj: A drink to improve your health!
Fury: Raj, didn’t we already cover that a couple weeks ago?
Raj: When you’re in the heart of Chinatown, the concept of Western medicine, molecular mixology or, like many other things from this part of the world, are foreign.
Fury: Speaking of foreign, it’s always entertaining to sit on The Keefer Bar’s glass-fenced patio during Chinatown’s Summer Night Market.
Raj: Ahh… Watching shoppers gather around stalls selling random things from underwear to black-market DVDs from the safety of the boutique hotel’s bar.
Fury: What isn’t random are Dani Tatarin’s well-articulated concoctions. Every ingredient in The Keefer’s Asian herbal-infused cocktails are calculated for flavour and health benefits. All too familiar ground given what we learned on our recent visit to The Refinery except Dani comes from the Traditional Chinese school of medicine.
Raj: Thorough research, shopping for cocktail ingredients at neighbourhood Chinese herbal shops to infuse into the bitters and spirits, I think she’s on to something. The house-made magnolia bark tincture in the Dragonfly sends your body’s “chi” downwards to calm your nerves. Then dragonfruit-infused gin, pearl sake and ginger galangal syrup are shaken into a balanced and soothing drink that’s ideal for the heat on a hot summer day.
Raj: Imagine, guests arriving at the bar, bartenders take their pulse and prescribe the ultimate healing summer cocktail for their ailments…
Fury: That’s no fun! It’s about Dani’s in-depth knowledge of spirits, a little bit of Eastern knowledge and an end product with well-developed flavour profile. I especially love the combination of Gosling black rum with the ginger galangal syrup in the Peach Sling. This twist on the Dark and Stormy reminds me of sipping a spiked peach iced tea at a barbeque party. The peppery bite from the fragrant roots has a surprisingly refreshing and cooling effect.
Editor: Woody Harrelson was recently seen onsite double-fisting the Dragonfly. It didn’t last long, though – the first round calmed him right down.
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Raj Taneja is part technologist, entrepreneur, social media juggernaut and foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com and publishes a miscellany of musings at raj.jp and on twitter @tinhead. Melody Fury is the founder of Vancouver Food Tour. Follow this YVR lifestyle ambassador on twitter @GourmetFury.
