James Barker is the newest bartender in town but no, he is not a freshbie. Spotted at a bar in London by the couple who own Ril’s Bangsar, James was invited to join the neighborhood cocktail bar a few months ago.
Being seven thousand miles away from home first time in his life, James seems pretty calm about it. He is just doing what he has been doing the past 2 years with more liberty in creating new drinks.
James was born and bred in Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford. If he wasn’t in his bar uniform that is themed at the 1920’s prohibition, I would imagine him wearing t-shirts with a statement, skinny jeans and sneakers.
Graduated as a graphic designer, James just wanted to do something that is related to creativity and that didn’t have to be as a designer. To James, the bartending he has done part time during his uni days has brought him to his first job after graduation. He later found that making cocktails can be just as crafty and creative. The more he learned about history and making of cocktails, the more he is into it.
When James was making The Ril’s Flip, it reminded me of an article on the BBC website about salmonella caused by consuming raw egg. A bartender in London made a comment that adding egg white into cocktails is like adding flour to sauce to make it thicker. This bartender said that his bar doesn’t use it anymore, not even in their classic cocktails. I asked James about his view, his reply was, “This guy doesn’t know what he is talking about. Egg white MAKES a difference to your drink.”
James went on to create two drinks out of the same recipe, one with egg white and one without. You can see the difference and taste it. The texture was much smoother in the one with egg white and the one without was just flat. Find out about James’ experimental cocktails here during our visit to Ril’s Bangsar.
This is a brief introduction of the bartender and we recommend that you pay a personal visit to the bar if you wish to know the bartender better.
A new cocktail menu for Ril’s Bangsar will be out in January 2014. Here are a snippet of three, for the rest, please visit the bar to find out.
Ril's Bangsar
30 Jalan Telawi 5, Bangsar Baru, 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: +603-2201 3846