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Hanoi’s Finest Cocktail: Molecular Night 2.0

November 15, 2016 By moodtherapist Leave a Comment

Hanoi’s Finest Cocktail was the opening drink at Molecular Night 2.0 at the JW Marriott Hanoi. Information about the evening had been kept deliberately sparse in order to maximise the surprise factor. This cocktail fired the first salvo. Guests arriving for the evening were unaware what was in store or that the event was being held in a secret location, not in the French Grill restaurant as expected.

There, the bar staff apologised profusely and explained that the mixologist was stuck in traffic and had yet to arrive. Would they possibly like a beer while they waited?

Hanoi's Finest Cocktail by the Mood Therapist Molecular Night 2.0 JW Marriott [Read more…]

Filed Under: Carbonated Cocktails, Cocktails, Events, Featured Cocktails, French Grill, Moet Hennessy, Molecular Night 2.0, Tinctures

Molecular Night at French Grill – VietNam News Article Describes Mood Therapist as ‘Expert’

October 5, 2015 By moodtherapist Leave a Comment

‘Molecular Gastronomy’ arrives in the capital

Molecular Night at the French Grill with the Mood Therapist, Rich McDonough
French Grill restaurant inside the JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi will host its third “Molecular Night” this evening, giving diners the opportunity to taste foods and drinks that are paired according to the principles of molecular gastronomy. — Photo JW Marriott

HA NOI (VNS)— French Grill restaurant inside the JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi will host its third “Molecular Night” this evening, giving diners the opportunity to taste foods and drinks that are paired according to the principles of molecular gastronomy.

The unique dining concept has appeared elsewhere in the world, but it is new to Viet Nam. A limited number of 12 guests will have the opportunity to sample eight dishes and eight cocktails.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: French Grill, Media

Weird Science: Molecular Night at French Grill – Word Vietnam October 2015

October 1, 2015 By moodtherapist Leave a Comment

Word Vietnam Article 'Weird Science' October 2015 - Mood Therapist, Rich McDonough

 

Weird Science

What do you get when you put together an experimental chef and a self-styled mood therapist? Something explosive. Words by Nick Ross. Photos by Vu Bao Khanh

At the start of September, photos circulated around the Hanoi online ether of two men dressed up in nuclear reactor-style protective clothing. Surrounded by smoke and with a large canister of liquid nitrogen in the background, the men were compared by some to characters in the TV series, Breaking Bad.

But these were no former high-school chemistry teachers, no Walter Whites. Instead, the man in the glasses is the chef de cuisine of the JW Marriott, Raphael Szurek, and the guy with the Fidel Castro-like beard is Richard McDonough, a modernist cocktail maker or, as he likes to call himself, a mood therapist. Together they were teaming up to create probably the most unusual dinner ever seen in Vietnam — Molecular Night

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Centrifuge Clarified, Cocktails, French Grill, Media, Spherification

Vietnamese Basil Daiquiri

September 20, 2015 By moodtherapist Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Cocktails, Events, Featured Cocktails, French Grill, Liquid Nitrogen, Shaken

Passion Hot / Passion Not

September 17, 2015 By moodtherapist Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Cocktails, Events, Featured Cocktails, Foam, French Grill, Frozen, Hot, Nomiku, Sous Vide

Seoul Drifter

September 17, 2015 By moodtherapist Leave a Comment

The Seoul Drifter - A modernist cocktail by Hanoi's Mood Therapist, Rich McDonough

The Seoul Drifter is a ‘drink’ that I developed for a string of ‘Molecular Nights’ at the French Grill restaurant at the JW Marriott Hanoi. The intended pairing with fine de claire oysters was foremost in my mind when developing the menu and to serve a [Read more…]

Filed Under: Centrifuge Clarified, Cocktails, Featured Cocktails, French Grill, Spherification

Peach Shampagne

September 16, 2015 By moodtherapist Leave a Comment

Peach Shampagne - A modernist cocktail by Hanoi's Mood Therapist, Rich McDonough
A glass of fizz always goes down well, but wait? What’s this?? It looks like champagne and has the characteristic finish of champagne on the tongue but there’s clearly something else going on here… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Carbonated Cocktails, Centrifuge Clarified, Cocktails, Featured Cocktails, French Grill

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