T he high and low, the yin and the yang — that’s what makes fries go so well with martinis. “It’s the salty indulgence of chips cutting through an ice-cold martini,” Flavio Carvalho, the bar manager at the Covent Garden Hotel, London, explains. Already big in New York — there’s a whole Instagram page devoted to its delights, @martiniswithfries — the sneaky double act, dubbed the “adult happy meal” by bartenders, is now over here.
John Ennis, co-founder of the Liverpool bar Manolo, rates the Sterling in Manchester for its golden fries and martinis made with its owners’ in-house English dry vermouth. Meanwhile at the Covent Garden Hotel during its martini hour (5pm-6pm) guests receive complimentary fries with their drink, and at Oblix on the 32nd floor of the Shard there’s a pairing of the two from 4pm to 7pm. For a more tangy taste, Ennis suggests adding a blue cheese dip to your fries.
Carrie Bradshaw, we feel, would approve..
