It isn’t every day that we come across cocktails flavoured with bacon, chicken and cucumber. But Anirudhya Roy, executive chef, Taj Land’s End, Bandra, is known for thinking out of the box. The result: he came up with a range of cocktails that suited the palate of those who were either hard core non-vegetarians or health-conscious.

“Of late, people in the city are getting very health conscious and fitness friendly. When I realised this I started experimenting with various vegetables in my drinks. It worked. In the process I also stumbled upon some meat cocktails. They tasted good,” says the chef.

Roy, started off his career in 1989, travelled around the world, worked under stalwart Chef Gordon Ramsay, and learnt from various cultures and their cuisines. “But I never came across any restaurant in the world experimenting with vegetables and meat in cocktails. They are usually fruit-based or tomato-based,” he says.

So then why did he think, that something so different would work here? “Mumbai is a multi-cultural city. People are keen to experiment and it doesn’t take them long to bite on to an idea.” Popularising these wasn’t difficult because they made use of vegetables easily available like cucumber, lettuce, eggplants, carrots and betel leaves. “The easy accessibility of these veggies makes the customer think that he/she can prepare it at home.” From carrot carpaccio flavoured with rosemary and tanqueray, to cucumber soup and wasabi infused with Smirnoff Black, and ginger carrot water flambéed with tangerine, the list here is exhaustive.

In the non-vegetarian section, concassed tomato water with char-grilled bacon infused with Smirnoff Black (BLT) and the chicken consommé with Red Label whisky. “The chicken cocktail is a warm cocktail and a favourite with the guests,” says Roy, who is quick to clarify that it is different from a chicken clear soup. “It has diced chicken in it, but it doesn’t taste like soup.”

But he did not quite see the same success with the bacon cocktail initially. “Bacon is very English and has a strong flavour. Most guests were apprehensive about its taste,” he says, while recounting the method in which he prepared the drink. “We dipped the bacon in vodka for almost 15 days and fermented it. Later we used it in the cocktail.” Within a month, they hope to introduce more non-vegetarian variety with shrimp and grappa.