Cantina OK! Has Just Dropped a New Ritual-Inspired Cocktail Menu Featuring Grass Jelly, Burnt Chilli and Palo Santo
This laneway bar's conceptual new cocktail menu reimagines grounding everyday rituals, from the ancient to the uniquely modern.
There are few Sydney bars with the same cult status — or, indeed, square meterage — as Cantina OK!. Tucked down a nondescript, blink-and-you'll-miss-it CBD laneway, the six-seater sliver of a bar is famous for its world-class mezcal program, hand-shaved ice and one of the most celebrated margaritas on the planet. It's also just unveiled a brand-new menu, which, in keeping with the rest of the cocktail list, is as conceptual as it is delicious.
Themed around rituals, the menu taps into familiar everyday and universal acts, from the ancient — like ceremonial wood burning or cooking with hyperlocal ingredients — to the more contemporary — like logging off and touching grass. The menu reimagines these small, grounding acts as sensory experiences delivered in cocktail form, with ingredients like wood-washed tequila, burnt chilli sorbet and grass jelly.
The new menu — named Ritual — consists of three headline cocktails, each drawing on an element of symbolic or cultural significance. Opening proceedings is the the Nevada OK!, a bright, fragrant yet earthy mix of tequila, vetiver soda and lemongrass over pandan ice and grass jelly. Inspired by the modern ritual of reconnecting with the ground after a day online, this drink is described by group Creative Director Jeremy Blackmore as "a silly, serious and very delicious combination".
Next up, the Sour OK! is inspired by the cross-cultural practice of wood burning, from Day of the Dead offerings to tea ceremony incense. This silky, aromatic sipper stars a cherry wood- and palo santo-infused tequila, with solid support roles from coconut, egg white, tapioca pearls and nata de coco for a delicate hit of texture and depth.
Dexter Kim
Rounding out the set is the Whip OK!, a smoky, spicy and sweet riff on recado — the rich spice paste made from blackened chillies that anchors much Yucatecan cuisine. Here, tequila and mezcal are layered with burnt chilli, lime and an intriguingly bright blackberry sorbet. It's finished with a shimmering spray of silver-coloured olive oil, itself a nod to the ancient superstition of blessing liquids with silver and moonlight.
"We are celebrating some of life's little rituals," says Blackmore about the new menu. "Cantina OK! is built on them — from the way we greet every guest to the hand-drawing of each weekly special. It's about celebrating the 'right now', and being part of the bigger ritual of a night out in a garage down a dimly lit alley."
Dexter Kim
Dexter Kim
Dexter Kim
Cantina OK!'s new Ritual menu is available now. Find it at the end of Council Place, Sydney CBD. F0r more information, head to the Cantina OK! website.
Top image: Dexter Kim.
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