It’s Wimbledon time again! We have always felt that a great way to enjoy a tennis game is to sit back, relax and sip on a cocktail (or two).
In homage to the great sporting event, Bars manager Luca challenged his team with a competition to create cocktail around the theme of Wimbledon. The bar team of 12 were split into four teams of three, to work together and develop something delicious.
Meet our Executive chef Dale Osborne. Dale talks about the food that inspires him, the people who have shaped his career and, what his guilty food pleasure is!
We caught up with Dale about the restaurants he’s been to recently and also about what we’ve got to look forward at aqua shard this summer.
One of cocktails on our aqua shard signature menu, C’est la vie takes patience, attention and care, because good things take time!
The key to this drink is the lime, which is clarified over 24 hours. This process creates a transparent liquid that has a clean taste, creating a refined and elegant cocktail.
aqua shard X Vivienne Westwood
We were delighted partner with British fashion designer and activist, Dame Vivienne Westwood on our Christmas initiatives to raise money for rainforest charity Cool Earth.
Cool Earth works alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction and puts these communities back in control of the world’s most endangered rainforests.
Cool Earth’s Asháninka partners in Peru produce chocolate made using cacao from rarecriollo beans which they grow, harvest and ferment. During the festive period we sold a limited edition chocolate bar designed with a unique wrapper created by Vivienne Westwood & Cool Earth. 100% of the sales of the bar went directly to Cool Earth.
We also used the Cool Earth chocolate to create a delicious and eye catching dessert and cocktail for Christmas. The Vivienne Westwood dessert combined Cool Earth chocolate mousse with popping candy, pistachio parfait with soft meringue, plum marshmallow with sherbet, and a mulled wine jelly and cranberry cream, over 1,000 of these were sold in December!
The cocktail featured Johnnie Walker Blue Label whisky, festive chestnut and rhubarb liqueurs, orange bitters and a Cool Earth chocolate rim served martini style, 50% of the sales of both of these went directly to Cool Earth.
We also added an optional £1 to every restaurant bill until the end of January. In total we’ve raised just over a staggering £14,500! We’re very pleased with the total and we hope it makes a difference to the people that Cool Earth support.
Here at Aqua Shard we are proud to be celebrating the Chelsea Flower Show with a beautiful dessert and a fresh cocktail that embraces the essence of the great British tradition of horticulture.
Chelsea Flower Show Dessert
Executive chef Dale Osborne and his team have created a light, spring dessert that tickles your taste buds and is a feast on your eyes, with every element of the dessert being floral. This panna cotta is lemon verbena with a rose water jelly, orange blossom marshmallow, lime and jasmine meringue, topped with a violet macaroon.
For a very short window in spring, the black-headed gulls nest and a limited number of their eggs are available for harvesting. We are really excited to have been able to source some of these wonderful eggs.
These delicacies have been a British tradition for centuries and we are serving them as a breakfast special in a traditional manner – soft boiled, with toast soldiers and celery salt. Gull eggs have a creamer and richer flavour than hen eggs, and the yolks are a vibrant orange.
To commemorate Her Majesty, The Queen’s 90th birthday, Bars Manager Luca Missaglia has created four Tanqueray No. Ten bottled cocktails, to celebrate four memorable occasions in her life. Each cocktail uses gin and tea, quintessentially British ingredients which also form the inspiration for the interior design in aqua shard.
Our commitment to showcasing the very best British produce, and wherever possible to using suppliers local to us, doesn’t stop at dessert. In fact, we’ve added three new dishes to the dessert menu which we’re proud to say showcase some exciting ingredients and suppliers.
Perry poached pear (we do like alliteration!) – perry is an English sparkling pear wine – is served with a sponge made using London Honey, Bermondsey ricotta and bee pollen. The London Honey Co started fourteen years ago in Tower Bridge, a stone’s throw from The Shard, and now encompasses hives across the capital as well as supplying fine honeys from around the UK. Bermondsey ricotta meanwhile comes Kappacasein, also based just minutes away in Spa Terminus, a thriving hub for brilliant British producers. Read more +
Our employee of the year for 2014 for all of aqua restaurant group, including aqua london and Hutong, was jointly awarded to twin sisters Samanta and Sandra Nowacka from aqua shard reception team. The twins have been with us since we opened and consistently impress guests and staff alike with their positive attitude and dedication to providing great customer service.
Their prize? An all expenses paid week long trip to Hong Kong. The girls took their holiday last month, here’s their photo diary of how they got on.
We were delighted to visit our friends at Ben Johnson school again last week to pick the winners of our Hallowe’en pumpkin designing competition. We first met the creative children through the Magic Breakfast charity in our first year and have stayed in touch. We had a tough job picking the winners – from about 50 entries we shortlisted 12 who were invited to join us for afternoon tea.
On Wednesday this week the children visited as a half term treat and enjoyed mocktails, sandwiches and lots of sweet treats. Read more +