New Spring-inspired cocktails at Brighton's Ivy Asia

The glam Ship Street venue is currently hosting Blossom Nights a celebration of Spring and Sakura Season – Sakura is the Japanese name for cherry blossom and it’s arrival heralds the start of spring and signifies a new beginning and a time of hope.

In a suitably optimistic frame of mind we moseyed down to the Lanes, the clocks had forward the previous Sunday and even before a drop was drunk it was good to be out and about without the winter post-work gloom.

Anyone who has stepped foot in the remarkable environs of Brighton’ Ivy Asia knows that it’s once seen and not easily forgotten, and those who haven’t should experience it at least once.

Much darker than it’s next-door neighbour The Ivy, it features a dazzling green floor backlit floor with slices of green, semi-precious stone, and the restaurant’s very own specially created ‘blossom tree’ which provides a vivid pink centrepiece all year round.

There’s also a gorgeously amber-lit (perfect lighting for Insta videos and making the best of tired, post-work faces) where we sat, just a few steps away from a DJ who was providing a discreetly upbeat (but not obtrusive) soundtrack to the evening.

The bar seats were an ideal viewing point for some meticulous mixology (see the above video) from the venue’s bar manager Josh.

To celebrate the first night out of Spring something with a drop of bubbly seemed necessary and the Blossom Royale fitted the bill.

Made from Roku Gin (a premium Japanese brand, naturally), raspberries, citric and cherry blossom syrup topped with Champagne and a little quiff of candy floss.

The innocent-looking candy floss was initially the of villain of the piece when a initial attempt at capturing Josh’s cocktail-making skills ended, very unfairly after several minutes of meticulous mixology, with floppy floss!

But the relatively delicately flavoured drink was worth the initial structural disappointment, a good fruit fizz and a nice lively number to kick things off.

On the subject of lively, our bar-side neighbours were in fine fettle and throwing the odd shape in the direction of the DJ, and enthusiastically espousing the atmosphere of the venue in over the more sedate Ivy in the Lanes next door.

Next up we chose differently to widen our sample of the limited edition cocktails.

The Rosé and Cherry Martini scooped the top prize for most attractive looking drink of the evening, made again from Roku gin, with an Aker Rosé Aperitif, Cherry Blossom Syrup and evened out with some citric.

With cherry-flavoured frosting on the outside of the glass, this fairly grown-up cocktail had a gentle fruit tang with air of strawberries and cream to add to the cherry flavours.

The Hana Harmony seemed more a macho affair, a tumbler of Hibiki Harmony Japanese Whiskey was mixed with a Peach and Pomelo Liqueur for a new twist on a whisky sour.

Last up came the small but brutish Asia Martini.

The sort of cocktail that would, as my mum used to say, put hairs on your chest.

Some cocktails mix fruits, sugars and syrups to almost take away the alcohol taste, this variant on the classic martini doesn’t bother itself with such fripperies,

Similar to a Vesper Martini it includes both vodka (Haku) and gin (Roku) with Sakura Vermouth, with the Japanese wine playing second fiddle to the two premium spirits.

Blossom Nights runs until May 12.

https://theivyasia.com/whatson/blossom-nights-brighton/