Dave Arnold is here — let your inner cocktail geek out for lunch
Catch Dave Arnold at The Waratah for a one of a kind lunch — tomorrow, Sunday 8th.
In partnership with Campari Academy.
If you’re in Sydney this weekend — I don’t know, perhaps for a little bar industry get together called Sydney Bar Week? — you’re in for a treat, with some very special guests coming to town.
One that very much got me interested, however, was the visit of Dave Arnold. He’ll be in town for a couple of Campari Academy events during the week — check the timetable over on sydneybarweek.com.au — but he’s also taking a little extra time for an extra special lunch tomorrow at The Waratah in Darlinghurst.
Starting at 12pm tomorrow, Sunday 8th, Dave Arnold is collaborating with the flavour wizards at The Waratah on what is sure to be a special growers lunch. He’s been in at The Waratah earlier today, tasting some unique Australian ingredients you can’t get anywhere else, and will be applying the techniques he has made famous (nitro muddling, anyone?) to the drinks for the lunch tomorrow.
I can’t wait — I’ll see you there.
Below, I asked friend of Boothby and Campari Academy legend Krystal Hart to ask Dave himself just what we might expect from at the lunch tomorrow, and that perennially important question: what makes a great bar?
Krystal Hart: What can we expect at lunch tomorrow Dave?
Dave Arnold: I’m super psyched to be here and tomorrow we’re going to do a lunch where we’re going to be using some fantastic local ingredients. I’m super excited about it. We’re blending two different kinds of mangoes with Wild Turkey, one on one. We’re going to serve that like an Old Fashioned. We’re going to do a drink that I actually do back home called the Two Percenter, which is a low alc with the Cynar, we’re going to show carbonation with that. But the one I’m most excited about is we’re going to be using some local herbs to do nitro muddling, and we’re going to do a Margarita variant with the Espolon, but we don’t know what it’s going to taste like yet because we’re still working on it,” he says. “So come check I out!”
KH: You’re in Australia for a couple days, we’re interested to know — what do you look for in a great bar?
DA: Well there’s so many different kinds of great bars. A dive bar can be great and a cocktail bar can also be great. In a cocktail bar, you know, I’m looking for a place where you feel welcome, where the crew clearly cares about what they’re doing, but they also make you feel welcome and at home. And I can tell when I look at people that they’re kind of focused on their craft and that’s really what I look for.
KH: Anything you’re looking forward to tasting while you’re in Australia?
DA: Well, listen, I was looking forward to tasting many, many things when I got the opportunity to come here, and fortunately Nathan Lovett just tasted me out on all these amazing native produce that he grows here that are available nowhere else in the world and it’s a super privilege. So anyone that lives here should definitely take advantage of these things, because chumps like me, we can’t get them!
