Watch all the TED talks on power poses that you like, nothing screams high-functioning business titan quite like ordering a dirty martini at a bar in the city. Especially if you’re in a suit.
The only snag with it? The taste is not for everyone.
Sure, a good quality vodka / gin has a suave, faceless excellence. But sometimes you just don’t like a martini as much as a good old cosmo, or marg, or old fashioned.
And sure you can train yourself to like it, but where do you start?
If this is sounding at all familiar, then you may well be in luck, as the mixology team at The Happenstance — an outpost of Drake & Morgan out by St Paul’s — have devised a pretty cool initiative.
Enter the tiny-tini
The Happenstance, along with Grey Goose, have created a Mini-tini menu specifically designed for customers to find their one true (martini) match.
Their tiny-tinis are smaller versions of the full sized martinis, and come in a range of different flavours to help you ease yourself in.
The quartet includes: a classic martini, a dirty martini, a lychee martini, and a coriander and spice.
Shortlist recently visited to taste test — we also went off piste and tried a new special the bartenders created which was a mint and cucumber style martini which is now on our best-evers list.
The idea is that you get to try out three different martinis which are a bit more entry level, without having to commit to a full sized version. It's basically a little martini flight.
The verdict?
This mini flight was perfect for us, as a martini is never our go-to cocktail. Having the choice of three flavours really opened our eyes to the versatility of the drink.
What surprised us was the least-likely Mini-martini flavour to impress us — the lychee martini — was the one that turned out to be our favourite of the four.
While lychee can be extremely sweet, the sweetness was totally balanced out by the sharp dry martini kick.
This was definitely our biggest surprise of the night (and that’s saying something as when we arrived there was a wedding party tumbling out of St Paul’s and the groomsmen broke into some kind of flash-mob-style organised dance) and a good martini to try if you’d usually go for a sweeter cocktail, like a Cosmo, Sex on the Beach, or Pornstar Martini.
The Coriander and Spice mini-tini is also knockout — a good choice if you tend to go for something stronger and more bitter like a Spicy Margarita, a Dark and Stormy, or a Negroni.
It comes with a Tajin rim which makes it feel more marg than martini. This one probably feels the least like a martini, so is a good one to start with to ease yourself in. And, it was delicious in its own right — cool, sharp, with just a little spice on the tongue.
A Grey Goose dirty or classic martini is never going to miss, and the mini-tinis — although little — still pack the punch you’d want.
Also, it’s definitely worth noting that when we say mini-tini, they’re still a very generous size. In fact, they’re about the same size offering as you’d get in a lot of standard bars in London. They’re more petite than mini. But they’re an outright steal at £7.95 per drink.
If you’re looking for a date night or friend-date spot that still has the structural integrity of going to a bar but with a slight twist (without having to do some kind of mixology class, compulsory dance competition, or endure an open mic experience), then this is a great spot to try out.
You can order a couple and make it into your own personal martini tasting masterclass. Move over wine tasting, it’s time for martini hour.
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