I like my orange juice fluffy. Once you have it fluffy, you won’t want to return to everyday juice. New York bartender Naren Young is credited with popularising the method by which citrus is aerated in a high-speed blender. It makes for a frothier and more aromatic drink, amping up the flavour and doing wonders texturally.
Young first fluffed his juice a decade ago, using it in an Italian classic, the Garibaldi. Like much of Italy’s most famous food and drink, it is a celebration of togetherness, symbolising the union of Campari (from the north) and orange juice (from the south). That’s all it is: Campari and orange juice served over ice. Tomos Parry’s Mountain serves a good one. And yes, like the biscuit, which your nan probably puts out on floral plates come 3pm, it’s named after unification big dog Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Right. Young is the former creative director at New York bar Dante and his newly famous Garibaldi went on the menu in 2015. A bar of repute dating back to 1915, Dante was long a meeting post for Italian immigrants before the writers, musicians and actors of Greenwich Village — Al Pacino and Bob Dylan among them — started going. Dante topped the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2019.
And now it’s in London for the summer at Claridge’s, which predates Italy by about 50 years. I love New York as much as I love London. The two cities, with their powerful Italian culture, are a perfect match and the bar slots seamlessly into what many believe to be the most debaucherous of our grand hotels. From now into August, there will be Garibaldis, negronis, martinis. And to eat, NYC go-tos like Caesar salad, roasted branzino, a juicy burger with pickled “beets” and spicy mayo.
But if you go for anything, go for the Garibaldi. It must be the drink of the summer: chic, understated, and... fluffy.
Garibaldi, £15; claridges.co.uk
Bar snacks
The Shaston Arms
4-6 Ganton Street, W1, @theshaston.arms
Soho boozer the Shaston Arms has been taken on by Patty & Bun founder Joe Grossman, who is to relaunch it as a gastropub after a refurb. The food menu is to be created by Sam Andrews, the former head chef at the Waterman’s Arms and Ducksoup. The Shaston closed in June after 25 years of trading after the former tenants couldn’t agree on a new lease with landlords Shaftesbury Capital, which presumably wanted to pursue a food concept. Still, losing another great boozer might sting.
The Salusbury
50-52 Salusbury Road, NW6, @thesalusbury
Another pub, another would-be Devonshire, at least that’s what the reports suggest. Next on the scene is The Salusbury, which is pitching to become the (you know) of Queen’s Park, an area I’ve visited quite a lot in recent times and so feel comfortable calling the Clapham of the north. Anyway, the pub comes from Gareth Cooper, who runs Broadwick Live, and music promoter Alex Payne. Both mentioned “familiar faces appearing unannounced” as far as music is concerned. Food will come from chef Tarryn Bingle.
