🕒 5 min read

Renowned pastry chef Farzam Fallah dazzled guests with his phenomenal creations for a decade at top Toronto restaurants - Ruby Watchco and Richmond Station, to name just a few.

After a moving to Hong Kong in 2016 to head up pastry for esteemed restaurant group Black Sheep Restaurants, he returned home two years later, and switched gears completely.

Wanting to “learn how a restaurant works as a whole,” he moved to the front of house as bartender at award-winning fine dining establishments. “Prior to COVID-19, I had just started at Canoe Restaurant, and before that I was the lead bartender at Don Alfonso 1890,” he said. “Getting behind the bar was a natural move for me. I found it as a way to introduce myself to new ingredients and learn to work and balance flavours in a new way.”

Always the innovator, he hopes to one day “have a space where both dessert and cocktails are the main focus of the restaurant.” In the meantime, he’s at home whipping up exquisite cocktails and striking handmade leather accessories.

The drink he shares here is rather intricate, but rewarding once you gather the ingredients (add agar agar, Szechuan peppercorns, and rose petals to your shopping list). So don’t be intimidated by the ingredients or steps it takes to complete the heady concoction. In fact, the level of attention and time it requires makes it the ideal quarantine cocktail. 

The smooth and citrusy tipple, accompanied with a slight tongue-numbing sting and floral finish, wasn’t created on the fly. In fact, the complete opposite. It turns out Fallah gives all his recipes serious thought.

“It is always difficult for me to come up with a cocktail idea without a person in mind. Without a guest’s preferences to work around, I'm left with too many directions to go in.” he says. Since being quarantined with his partner chef Samantha Medeiros (pictured above) for the past three months, “I figured she would be the perfect person to make a cocktail for, using a few ingredients I know she enjoys.” The stellar tribute to “the most important person in my life,” is also reminder that even in difficult times, there’s a lot to be grateful for. 

Three Little Words

60 ml    Crystal Head Vodka
30 ml    Lemon Juice
20 ml    Grapefruit Szechuan Marmalade
1           Egg white
Rose Petal Fluid Gel, garnish

Method

Add first four ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake hard without any ice for one minute. Add ice and shake the mixture further until the outside of the tins are frosted. Double strain the mixture into a glass of your choice and garnish with rose fluid gel.

Grapefruit Szechuan Marmalade

1        Grapefruit Zested
200g White Sugar
1L      Water
10g    Szechuan peppercorns

Method 

Chop the zest into smaller pieces and place all ingredients into a pot and simmer at a low temp until the mixture reduces and resembles Jam. Stir the pot every once in a while to insure the bottom doesn't burn. Expect the marmalade to be bitter, sweet and spicy.

Rose Petal Fluid Gel

300g Water
60g   Sugar
3g      Agar Agar
20g   Rose Petals

Method

Mix first three ingredients into a pot and stir on high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Add the rose petals and remove from heat. Let steep for three minutes and strain the mixture. Let the gel completely set in the fridge before blending. Ensure the mixture is completely smooth before storing in a squeeze bottle or pipe bag.

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For more cocktail recipes, visit Toronto Restaurants Ultimate Cocktail Guide. 

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