FINDS: Ultimate bar for the unapologetic chick drink

For a sampling of exemplary chickie cocktails, stop at FINDS, a fancy Scandinavian restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong as well as Hong Kong’s Mecca for all drinks weird and wonderful.

“The staff here call me the crazy scientist,” said FINDS molecular mixology guru Antonio Lai, who, after a 10-year tenure serving humdrum drinks in Hong Kong, flew to Italy to learn his craft in molecular gastronomy and came back to apply it to booze.

A year on, he says the concept of molecular mixology is catching up, albeit slowly, in Hong Kong’s clubs, “mostly alcoholic caviar -- basic stuff.”

In the meantime, we raise a glass to the girly concoctions that Lai is betting on to stay ahead of the curve.

Panda Colada

There could not be a better drink aimed at Asian girly-girls. The Panda Colada looks so cute it hurts. Looking like some sort of kitschy mascot in a Chinese cartoon, the gelatinous 'drink' actually wobbles as it is set down on your table.

Essentially pina colada in gelatin form, the Panda Colada drink is made of Caruba dark rum, pineapple juice and coconut milk. The smooth, creamy Jello sits on a bed of vacuumed pineapple slices -- the air and water has been sucked out of the pineapple to max out its flavor.

The ladies take photos with the drink like it’s their best friend. Lai recently made the drink for a girl who ordered it as her birthday cake.

Earl Grey martini

Don’t be deceived by its innocent looks. FINDS’ bestselling Earl Grey martini is a crook in a glass, containing over 50ml of vodka (two shots), but it smells and tastes barely alcoholic. 

The Earl Grey martini is a crisp, refreshing mix of Finlandia Vodka, lemon, lime, cucumber and apple juice, with a dollop of Earl Grey foam on top and Earl Grey caviar swimming at the bottom. 

“People make the mistake of ordering a lot of this, dismissing it as a weak fruity cocktail, and then they get drunk really easily,” said Lai.

“A large part of intoxication is about smell. The foam on top obscures the smell of alcohol, and since it’s got a fruity, clean taste, most people don’t realize the drink is actually quite strong,” he said.

Bombay popcorn

Bombay Popcorn is like a drunken version of MiniMelts, that cryogenically frozen ice cream that took the Asian world by storm for about one minute in the 1990s.

To prepare the show-stopping drink, Lai freezes a mixture of Bombay Sapphire gin, lemon, lime, sugar and cream with liquid nitrogen.

Be prepared for squeals of glee from the ladies who scoop up the ice-cold, pebbly mix with a spoon, throw it in their mouths and blow out a jet of cold smoke.

Nordic Juvels

Technically Nordic Juvels (Finnish for "jewels") is not a drink, it’s an alcoholic dessert platter on a map. The dish consists of five dime-sized alcoholic morsels, fashioned to symbolize different places in Scandinavia. “For instance, we place the lingonberry rose jelly on where Finland is on the plate, since it’s famous for producing the berry,” said Lai. 

Apart from the lingonberry jelly, there’s an absinthe jelly shaped like a salmon (Norway), a Danish Aquavit "flatfish" (Denmark), sea salt "air" (Barents sea) and a Cosmopolitan sorbet (Iceland). 

Smoked Mule

A high-roller’s take on Moscow mule, Smoked Mule consists of vodka infused with Cohiba cigar flakes, ginger beer, lime juice, and a layer of lime air. The drink has a faint tobacco and spicy aftertaste not unlike smoking a real cigar, "hence its following among cigar smokers," Lai said.

Or perhaps they order it because it’s the only machismo drink on FINDS’ undeniably girly molecular mixology menu.