Sofitel Couture Cocktails Celebrate NGV's The House of Dior

Post

Subscribe

Posted 2017-08-22 by Nadine Cresswell-Myatt ⇒ follow

Fri 01 Sep 2017 - Sat 04 Nov 2017

Can a cocktail alone make you feel elegant, sophisticated and on top of the world?

After experiencing Sofitel on Collin's cocktails which both celebrate and pay homage to the NGV's exhibition The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture , I am going to answer that with one huge, resounding YES .

These cocktails are not just made, but rather fashioned by Sofitel's on Collins bar manager and master mixologist Marc Dasan.

There are four in the collection and all are divine, depending on your tastes, but I will start with the one that made me feel the most girlie and special.

The Parfum

The aptly named Parfum cocktail arrives with much aplomb. It is inspired by a Miss Dior fragrance, which comes in exquisite glass bottles. But so does this cocktail. Except this perfume bottle is fashioned entirely from ice. And then the beautiful stopper (like the ones in 1950s films when beautiful actresses used to dab the perfume behind their ears) becomes the ice cube in your cocktail. It arrives on a small silver tray with twirls of vapour rising from it like those science experiments you did at school. It is then poured out in front of you over the ice stopper with great ceremony. The ingredients are Remy Martin VSOP, Tanqueray Gin, Earl Grey syrup and a dash of Pernod and grapefruit bitters. Plus a dash of 'how to make a girl feel ultra-special'.

The 18th Century

Dior was a lover of antiques and objets d'art and was enthralled by the 18th century. He took advantage of the period's exaggerated silhouettes, architecture, decorative arts, the Palace of Versailles and its gardens and the embroidered silks that the aristocratic women wore as they strutted in that magnificent garden. But how to capture all that in a cocktail? Marc Dasan not only managed but excelled at this task!

A long elegant flute glass with Kettle One Vodka, Crème de Cassis, Crème de Mure and lime juice, but then the pièce de résistance is this elegant tipple is topped with white chocolate and pineapple foam. It is then garnished with Persian saffron fairy floss resembling Madame Pompadour's bouffant hairstyle, once all the rage at Versailles. Oh, and to tidy things up, there is a bow on top as well.

The Line

Christian Dior was famous for the distinct lines that shaped the silhouettes of his designs. He created the Zig-Zag, Tulip, Oblique, H and Y lines.

Mark Desan set out to emulate such attention to lines in the form of a cocktail. He paired the sharp lines of the martini glass, with the soft curve of the fig, giving his cocktail creation a signature silhouette. You are in for a dark secret of spiced rum, pedro ximenez and Mozart Dark, swirled and garnished with a fresh fig. This is perhaps the most streamlined of the drinks providing guys with a fashionable but perhaps less frilly alternative.

The Flower

Back to utter femininity, with a cocktail inspired by Dior's use of the floral motif. He was a man who adored flowers. "After women, flowers are the most lovely thing God has given the world," he wrote, so this cocktail is gorgeously floral. Note the frozen dark pink rose which has found a home in the rosewater infused ice sphere. Other ingredients include Grey Goose Le Citron, Lillet Blanc, and Crème de Violette. This is such a wonderful floral tribute to the great designer and the flowers he loved.

Can a cocktail alone make you feel fabulously fashionable, sophisticated and on top of the world?

Those who are into their fashion will know that the name of this collection of cocktails, Code of Conduct, relates to the particular design themes synonymous with the House of Dior.

And when I said these cocktails can make you feel on top of the world they are served at the Sofitel on Collins Altrium Bar which is on the 35th floor, so you are literally on top of the world or at least hovering over Melbourne's impressive cityscape.

These four signature cocktails are available from the 1st September – 4th November from 5pm until late on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays and coincide with the NGV's The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture exhibition.

Those wanting to come earlier for afternoon tea might like to do so on a Thursday when they also do Eclairs with Flare , a treat which I have written about here .

An ideal outing would be attending the NGV's House of Dior and then travelling up to the Paris end of Collins Street for these inspired cocktails.

Sofitel Melbourne on Collins is also the NGV's official accommodation partner. You can book the Sofitel's So Cultural Package which includes overnight accommodation and breakfast for two at No.35 Restaurant, plus two tickets to NGV's The House of Dior exhibition. Packages start from $315 per room per night. You can book here .