The Mood Therapist

Vietnamese Basil Daiquiri

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Vietnamese Basil Daiquiri - A modernist cocktail by Hanoi's Mood Therapist, Rich McDonoughThe Vietnamese Basil Daiquiri is a blatant rip off of Dave Arnold’s masterpiece the Thai Basil Daiquiri, developed for his New York bar, Booker and Dax, but we’re hardly going to be using that Thai stuff around here, eh? It’s a relatively simple drink (if you happen to have liquid nitrogen knocking around your house) but is just so fresh, intensely herbacious and tasty that it packs a punch well above it’s weight class.

The problem with using delicate herbs like basil in cocktails is [Read more…]

Plasma Mary

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The Plasma Mary - a Modernist Cocktail by Hanoi's Mood Therapist, Rich McDonoughSo why a Plasma Mary?

I love a great Bloody Mary. They are delicious. But they’re filling and can quickly turn into hard work. I’ve never found myself able to drink more than about seven at one sitting…

What I wanted to do with the Plasma Mary was to bring all that wonderful savoury, umami deliciousness but make it lighter and cleaner on the palate. By pressure-infusing vodka with fresh horseradish and using a centrifuge [Read more…]

Passion Hot / Passion Not

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Passion Hot/Passion Not - A modernist cocktail by Hanoi's Mood Therapist, Rich McDonoughInspired by the Hot Frozen Gin Fizz served up at Ferran Adria’s El Bulli restaurant, the Passion Hot / Passion Not features one of Vietnam’s natural flavour heavyweights – the passion fruit. 

This layered drink consists of a frozen gin, centrifuge clarified passion fruit juice and simple syrup mix, topped with a hot foam of the same flavours and stabilised with egg whites. [Read more…]

Clarified Lychee Martini

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Clarified Lychee Martini - A modernist cocktail by Hanoi's Mood Therapist, Rich McDonoughThe Clarified Lychee Martini is a simple recipe but a great cocktail for demonstrating the transformational abilities of the centrifuge. With this drink the difference really is night and day. Most lychee martinis are milky white affairs with plenty of flotsam/jetsam and not a lot going for them in the flavour department. Either taste the fruit isn’t pronounced enough or the gin is diluted down to the point of sadness…and who needs that?

[Read more…]

Location, location, location…

My location is your location! The Mood Therapist is a wandering soul who pitches up with his bag of magic at your home, business or event. Based in Hanoi, the Mood Therapist can offer more options closer to home but can always bring a little cocktail happiness across the region.

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