[ruby_title]Durian Painkiller by Chanel Adams, Happy Paradise, Hong Kong[/ruby_title]
American bartender Chanel Adams had only moved to Hong Kong for less than a month before she had to face the fabled fruit head-on at her new workplace, Happy Paradise. Working with Proof and Company’s Dave Jony to fulfil restaurant-bar owner May Chow’s wish of having a durian cocktail on the menu, she describes Chow’s brief for the drink as, “If someone who loves durians smells it, they’re like the happiest person in the room and everyone else is like, painfully repulsed.” The result was a riff on the Painkiller.
The Durian Painkiller has been on the menu ever since Happy Paradise’s inception in April 2017, but even so, she still finds it tricky to master the fruit. “Durian’s a really hard ingredient to work with,” explains Adams. “It oxidises really quickly, and becomes sour – it seems like it’s gone off, but it hasn’t. It’s just oxidised.” To get around this, she experimented with different forms of durian before finding freeze-dried durians from Thailand, from Hong Kong’s Aji Ichiban snack store. The stabilised ingredient is vacuum-infused in both dark rum and whipped cream separately, and using this method, the preparations last for a full week, as opposed to the short one-day shelf life using fresh durians. Plus, using preserved durians offers them the opportunity to serve it year-round at the bar.
“For people who like durian, it’s the happiest I’ve ever seen people drink anything,” says Adams of the reception for the Durian Painkiller. “But there’s no middle ground, really. My favourite thing to see is a couple where the girl orders it, and the guy tries to lean in close, but clearly can’t deal with the smell. Then he looks at me, and I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry! I just did what she wanted!’ It’s hilarious, honestly.”
Recipe (click to view)
Durian Painkiller by Chanel Adams
