This weekend at the Adelaide French Festival, the bar La Buvette will be hosting a number of workshops and classes. One of those is the Parfum & Apéro Masterclass. We spoke with Dom, owner of La Buvette about this masterclass.
Dom, you’re the owner of La Buvette, a wonderful French bar on Gresham Street in the CBD. Before opening La Buvette, what were your experiences with food and drinks?
I arrived in Australia in 2004. My English was very limited. So I decided to look for work in restauration to immerse myself in the Australian culture and language. I was Manager of a French café in Sydney, Le Petit Crème in Darlinghurst for 7 years before moving to Adelaide to open La Buvette in 2015.
At the Adelaide French Festival, together with Samantha Taylor of The Powder Room, you are giving a masterclass about perfume and aperitifs. Tell us about this class.
It’s a workshop which is for anyone curious to explore the senses of smell and taste through the fascinating world of mixology and perfumery.
What cocktails are you preparing for this event?
It’s a secret that I can’t give away beforehand! I can only say that we have concocted a few infusions, some house made syrups and we will use in-season products and herbs.
Does the ticket give you 4 full cocktails? If so, that’s a huge bargain!
In all honesty, we hadn’t thought about that but I doubt that the Australian authorities in charge of the consummation of alcohol would allow us to serve 4 cocktails in 55 minutes! Haha!!
The portions will be more moderated.
You’re going to be making 4 cocktails at the Parfum et Apéro Masterclass each one inspired by one of 4 of the perfume profiles: notably citrus, floral, spice and wood. Imagining citrus, floral and spice isn’t so hard. However, for wood, is that something which will have the smell and taste of smoke?
A lot of liqueurs and spirits are oak-aged. We will be putting the focus on this ageing process. However, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any smoke at the class!
What’s your favourite cocktail?
I have a weakness for Pères Chartreux’s products, notably the Chartreuse Verte.
I am also a big fan of “Bijou” and of “Last Word”.
Is there a spirit that has a smell which is very different to its taste?
La Suze is an apéritif with a base of gentian, which is a flower root.
On the nose, it’s very strong but in the mouth it’s got a surprising freshness balanced by a beautiful and delicate bitterness.
Mix it with some tonic and you have a magic potion! lol
How does smell affect our perception of taste?
I think that the real answer lies with science. The senses of taste and smell are strongly linked and are the source of pleasure and discovery.
That results in a sensory voyage.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Finit le métro, Boulot, Dodo!
Vive le métro, Boulot, Apéro!!!!!!!
Unfortunately the Parfum et Apéro Masterclass is already sold out.
