Friday night cocktails

Friday night is a good time to enjoy a good cocktail.

Even though cocktails have never been more fashionable than they are at this current moment, we don't have many good cocktail bars in Helsinki. Of course many Helsinki restaurants and bars sell cocktails, but really skilled mixologists are a rare breed.

American bar in Torni hotel is my favourite, it's the oldest cocktail lounge in Helsinki; it's relatively small and has sophisticated atmosphere. Roger Moore, whom we all remember as Martini sipping James Bond in several films, enjoyed a Dry Marini there in May, 2009, while promoting his biography in Helsinki. "Excellent! Very good indeed!" was his comment... Well, if their Dry Martini is good enough for him, it's good enough for me...

If you happen to visit American bar, there is also another bar on the top floor of the hotel. The best wiev over Helsinki is from their ladies room.

We mix our cocktails mostly at home. Last week we enjoyed Gimlets.

Gimlet for one

2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. Lime Juice

Combine in a shaker with ice.

Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

This goes well with Gimlets.

New York cocktails

New York has many excellent cocktail bars, where bartenders or mixologists are specialized in designer cocktails. For example, if you like Gin & Tonic, don't order that, but ask your bartender what gin based cocktail he or she recommends instead. You will be pleasatly surprised!

The most notable cocktail lounges we visited were the following.




Elettaria on 8th street at MacDougal is a dining restaurant, but they also have a bar with a skilled mixologist. He had his own unique signature way to shake the drinks. I had The Simple Life; sparkling wine with fresh fruits, my husband had Martinique Sidecar; rum, Curacao and lemon juice. Very tasty!


Flatiron Lounge is an old cocktail lounge on 19th st, between 5th and 6th Avenues. I had Come Fly With Me, husband had One Inch Punch. It was again a joy to see the bartender to mix the cocktails, he was not just throwing the ingredients together, but making the mixing and his moves a form of art.


The Campbell Apartment on Grand Central Terminal (entrance on Wanderbilt Ave.) is an interesting, "from another era" cocktail bar. It was once the office of American financier and railroad tycoon John W. Campbell.


In Tribeca we had white chocolate martini and champagne cocktail at The Bubble Lounge on corner of N Moore and W Broadway. This was another plush cocktail lounge.

My husband was took interes in mixologism and bought Mr Boston's Official Bartender's Guide in New York. It has recipes for almost 1500 cocktails, so we it will take a while to drink from A to Z.