“Things like cacao or guava, they’re so delicious and here they’re everyday ingredients. Coming from London – where we didn’t have access or were paying so much money to get a version that isn’t close to what is super accessible here – it’s become important to our approach.”
The result is a collection of drinks with one foot in traditional Italian bartending and another in ingredients that would be commonplace in Mexico but exotic on the streets of London like guayaba [guava], tuna [prickly pear] and wines made from mango and rambutan.
“The menu isn’t 100% classics but there are still bones of Italy there,” says co-founder Alex Lawrence Milia. “Flavours are more powerful [in Mexico] so you have to change your methodology. It’s very important not to assume that what works elsewhere will work here.”
Arixi Martini
I want a drink to connect me to where we are and make it impossible to exist somewhere else,” says Alex Lawrence Milia. “Our industry is trying very hard to out-technique each other and out-complicate it, out-clarify or rotovap or whatever, but you start to become a good chef when you start to take away from the plate, not add to it.
“The Arixi Martini is a no-frills, classically made Martini that spoke to our heritage in London and love for well-made classic cocktails. We add a small amount of a locally made laurel distillate to represent the time and place that we are in, something that is critical to the drinks vision at Café Arixi. Garnished with drops of chili, parsley and mushroom oils, a nod to the dish Maura and I made each other when we first met. After all, it is a family business.”
Tanqueray No. 10 gin, vermouth blend, bay leaf, Arixi oil
Guayaba Spritz
Aperol, Cocchi Rosa, guava, sparkling wine
Tuna Sour
Maestro Dobel Plata tequila, smoked prickly pear, lemon
Coco Hardshake
Bulleit bourbon, toasted coconut, peated whisky, lemon
