Ruyi: Classic cocktails with a cuisine-appropriate twist

Chinese is one of the more accommodating cuisines when it comes to food-and-drink matching. And given the versatility and variety of Chinese food, the cuisine is also a safe space to explore other drinking choices.

Modern Chinese restaurant Ruyi is a good place to discover just how well dishes like Numbing Beef or Peking duck bao pair with classic cocktails with a cuisine-appropriate twist.

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Ruyi’s cocktail list contains many familiar names – martini, daiquiri, spritzer, mule – but all have been transformed via infusion. The vodka in Ruyi’s version of a mule, for example, has been infused with Szechuan pepper while their martini is washed with white vermouth infused with jasmine.

Some of these work best as a pre-dinner drink. The lemongrass-and-chilli margarita certainly does. Its mix of chilli-infused tequila, lemongrass syrup, fresh lime juice, sugar rim and chilli garnish packs a whole boxing match of punchy flavours that might get the tastebuds primed but tends to overwhelm all but the most powerful food flavours.

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One of the food-friendly cocktails at Ruyi is the 5 Spice Old Fashioned. Served on the rocks with an orange peel and cinnamon stick garnish, this take on the classic sees dark rum blended with five-spice syrup and orange bitters. Pair it with Ruyi’s Numbing Beef and you’ll find the rich flavours of both drink and dish having a very nice time together.

Ruyi, 16 Liverpool Street, Melbourne. 03 9090 7778