Saan Dhakal
Hong Kong
About Saan Dhakal
Moving from Nepal to Hong Kong, Dhakal started his career as a bartender in 2015. Quickly, his talent was recognized by multi-award winning bartender/operator Agung Prabowo, and while Dhakal served as ‘Liquid Chef’ of The Old Man, the bar ranked top on Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2019 and No. 9 on the World’s 50 Best Bars on the same year.
In October of 2020, Dhakal became a beverage director of Penicillin, Agung Prabowo's latest venture. Penicillin focuses on sustainability; in addition to a bar and kitchen, the venue has a lab and a fermentation room focused on recycling and upcycling ingredients, where Saan enjoys incorporating his background in engineering.
8 Shades
by Saan Dhakal
50 ml Kumquat Yogurt Shochu*
15 ml Salted Coconut Syrup*
30 ml Plankton Apple Sherbet*
*Kumquat Yogurt Shochu
750 ml SG Imo Shochu (Sweet Potato)
200 g kumquat (zest only)
250 g fresh yogurt (Clarified)
Wash the kumquat and let dry. Use a grater to grate the zest and keep in a clean container. Keep aside the leftover kumquat to ferment. Put all the ingredients in a mixer and blend for 3 minutes at high speed. Place in a container and for every 1litre of mix, use 5 gram each of pectinex, kiesolol and chitosan. Mix well into solution. Keep the mix aside for 10 minutes. Place evenly in a centrifuge bucket and spin in the centrifuge for 25 min to clearify. Strain the liquid.
*Salted Coconut Syrup
1 ltr coconut water
1 tsp salt
1 pinch Arabic gum
Blend all the ingredients in a blender and bottle it.
*Plankton Apple Sherbet
500 ml clear apple juice
15 g phytoplankton powder
500 g sugar
2 tsp malic acid
2 tsp tartaric acid
Place all ingredients in a sous vide bag and seal. Set the temperature of 70 C in sous vide and cook it for 90 min. Cool, strain, and bottle.
To make the cocktail: Add all ingredients and shake with ice. Fine mesh strain into Nick and Nora glass.
