Eat Drink KL: The Last Polka Cocktails

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Last Polka Cocktails

'Tis the season to be tipsy; Ril's Steakhouse launched a compendium of creative cocktails for Easter, using The Last Polka ice cream, but demand seems to have stayed sturdy enough for these sweet sacraments to remain on the menu beyond the bunny holiday.

Captain's Table: The Last Polka's salted gula melaka ice cream, blended with Captain Morgan spiced rum. A delicious substitute for banal desserts; we hope Ril's keeps this on the menu for many, many more months.

Summer Picnic: Strawberry cream cheese ice cream, Bacardi rum & cucumber. A bit pricier than The Last Polka's boozy milkshakes at The Bee, but also a touch more potent. Then again, The Bee's milkshakes are substantially more filling. So it's a tie, we think!

Chocolate chip ice cream with whiskey & Cointreau, for a citrus-rounded cocoa complexity.

Ril's bartender can be coaxed to make Last Polka cocktails that aren't on the menu. On the spot, he came up with this tangy mango ice cream & tequila treat.

Also addictive: Malt peanut butter ice cream, mixed with Myer's wheat rum.

Encouraged by these inebriating enticements, we headed on another evening to Publika's Plan B, plotting our own liquor-laced concoctions.

1. Order a plain butterscotch milkshake. 2. Order a shot of Macallan 12-year single malt. 3. Sip a little of the milkshake, then pour the Scotch whiskey into it. The outcome: SUCCESS! The Macallan imparts a honeyed smokiness that makes the milkshake much more marvelous.

Another attempt: 1. Order a vanilla milkshake. 2. Order one shot each of Captain Morgan rum & Don Julio Reposado tequila. 3. Pour the rum & tequila into the shake. The outcome: FAIL! Our greed made us forget that the tequila might taste overpoweringly astringent. This could have been more palatable with one shot of rum alone.

Ril's Steakhouse,
Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur.
Journal by Plan B,
Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur.