The Botanist Gin Dinner & ‘Wild – A State of Mind’ Screening @ Roost Bangsar
The Botanist is one of the best gins I have ever had: clean, smooth and fruity. So I was happy to join its December 2019 dinner at Roost, where the brand screened its mini film series Wild – A State of Mind and served a farm-to-table menu by Chef Albert Frantzen.
About The Botanist
The Botanist is made on Islay, a wild Scottish island. Alongside nine core gin ingredients, it uses 22 botanicals hand-foraged on the island, such as apple mint, birch leaves, sweet chamomile, heather and thyme. That is where its fresh, floral character comes from.
The Dinner and Cocktails
The menu started with sharing plates of roasted nuts, falafel, eggplant dip, sweet potato croquettes, grissini and sourdough ciabatta. Mains were tiger prawns with green asparagus, nasturtium and hollandaise, followed by free-range capon with polenta and glazed baby carrots.
Each course came with a foraged-style cocktail by Shirmy Chan. Red Yum mixed the gin with Cointreau, roselle, lemongrass and lemon, and was sweet, sour and refreshing. Treasure 8 used Punt e Mes, elderflower liqueur, wood smoke and a tea-infused quail egg for an umami twist. Hacks, with mint, orgeat, blackstrap molasses, lime and tonic, was creamy and sweet.
The star for me was dessert: panna cotta with coconut and passionfruit. It was rich and silky smooth, and one of the best panna cottas I have ever had. Highly recommended!
Wild – A State of Mind
The film series follows five foragers, chefs and bartenders, including Vijay Mudaliar of Native, Singapore’s foraged cocktail bar, who reconnect with nature and share traditional knowledge about local ingredients. The night ended with a demo on growing your own herbs for gin garnishes, a simple idea I loved.
