Photos: Sivan Askayo, Rex Industries
No matter where you are, when you arrive at a fine dining restaurant, the expectation is that the food will be accompanied by lavish wines. Cocktails? Until recently, the thought itself was
considered a sacrilege. But the times are changing, and the notion that only wine can accompany a meal is being challenged and disrupted by restaurants around the world.
For the past 2 years, the world’s most acclaimed chefs have been putting wines aside for a
single night and replacing them with cocktails, as part of World of Sensation
(worldofsensation.com).
The yearly summits take place over 3 days in global culinary capitals. Each summit’s night
revolves around The Culinary Cocktail: A tasting menu paired with sophisticated, tailor made
drinks prepared by 50Best bartenders. World of Sensation events are led by restaurants such as Le Du and Nusara by Chef Ton, Asia’s best chef (2023), as well as Pam, the 50Best Female
Chef of the Year, who creates a special menu with bartenders at her speakeasy bar Opium,
within Potong restaurant.
Beside the chefs, each summit features mixologists from the world’s best bars who come for
guest shifts after the dinners, with some also contributing cocktails to the meals themselves.
About World of Sensation – An ode to the culinary cocktail
World of sensation is a series of summits created in 2022 in order to showcase cocktail pairing with in fine-dining restaurants. The summits were founded by Roy Yerushalmi and Rex Industries creative consulting group. Their inspiration came in Latin America, after experiencing the hybrid cocktail and wine pairing menu in Peru’s Central restaurant – and moreover, in young chef Jaime Rodriguez’s restaurant, Celele. There, in Cartagena, Colombia, only cocktails are unapologetically served with Jaime’s excellent food, and with a little help of the bartenders from the adjacent cocktail shrine, Alquimico bar.
The first WOS summit, Asian Sensation (ASSE), took place in Bangkok. A young urban hub
where it feels natural to connect leading bartenders with the continent’s best chefs. The result: 72 hours of cocktail-paired meals, culinary experiences, guest shifts and mixology.
Bangkok itself is a city that isn’t afraid to revise the way one thinks about fine dining. Here, chefs constantly create new, hybrid combinations that previously considered unheard of, such as a cocktail bar within Michelin-starred restaurants and spirit-based tasting menus.
Asian Sensation #2 – the Bangkok Comeback (25-27.11)
Last year, Asian Sensation’s focus was heavily on local spirits, with cocktails based on Thai
ingredients. This year, guest bartenders from Greece, Mexico, and Colombia will create cocktails using craft spirits from their countries Greek Tsipouro, Mexican Mezcal, and Colombian Viche.
The summit’s Highlights include:
– A night at the Opium Bar
Chef Pam, 50Best’s female chef of the year, is creating for ASSE a Sino-Thai journey
inspired by Bangkok’s Chinatown in 50Best Opium bar. A one night only Thai-Chinese dinner
with cocktail Pairing by bartender Matteo Cadeddu
– Nusara Night
Chef Ton’s Nusara compound, consistently ranked as one of Asia’s best restaurants,
includes Nuss Bar, a cocktail bar whose menu was created by Ronnaporn Kanivichaporn.
In the cocktail-food pairing of the two created for ASSE, Sour flavors from the cocktails make
their way into the food, and spices and even squid ink or caviar – do the other way around.
Nusara cocktail pairing menu will be available throughout the year. The dinner will be
finished in a cocktail soirée on the roof of Nusara, overlooking buddha temple.
– The ASSE Closing Party
Asian Sensation’s closing party will feature a guest shift by Athens’ Barro Negro and a
special Thai taco menu (!) served jointly by Chefs Pam and Thon.
– Cocktail Paired dinner
at Bangkok’s Newest starred restaurant, Avant at the Kimpton Maa Lai.
– Aegean Extravaganza: An ode to Mediterranean & Tropical Fruits
at legendary Firefly bar by Bartender Dicky Hartono, with Guest Shift by Vaggelis Penikis
(Purovoko Project, Greece), Thessaloniki inspired bites by Young, acclaimed chef Dimitrios
Moudios (Ōre, Bangkok)
– An ode to Latin Sours: Viche-infused guest shift in Opium Bar by Maycoll Tobon of 50Bars
Bar Carmen (Medellin, Colombia)
– The ASSE Bar Hop: a VIP cocktail and snacks bar hop to Bangkok’s best bars.
