In my visits to restaurants, one thing which upsets me sometimes is the weird mocktails that are served. They have the ability to diminish the enjoyment from a perfectly prepared meal.

I have noticed in recent years that the bartenders focus more on the presentation of the drink rather than the concoction. Whenever my mojito used to taste awkward I used to wonder how the bartender could go wrong with such a basic drink. But all my doubts and queries got cleared when I recently visited Le Studio de Monin at Golf Course Road in Gurgaon.

Being the first ever flagship studio by Monin, the world leader in gourmet syrup manufacturing, in India, I was quite impressed by their set up. The studio seemed quite like a coffee shop. I was greeted by its manager and mixologist Martin Strobos, a cool and creative personality who does magic with the drinks. Within minutes Martin introduced 140 odd flavours to me and, after finding out about my preferences, made me some really refreshing drinks.

I started with a nicely blended chocolate cookie cappuccino. It had a nice smooth texture and a nice aroma as well. As Martin loves to play with contrast he followed the cappuccino with a guava flavoured ice tea.

The best thing about Martin is that he likes to keep it simple. Most of his drinks are based on three steps ('First take 20 ml of lemon ice tea for base, second 10 ml of guava flavour and third add ice and water and its ready to sip.') First sip of my dark coloured glazing ice tea refreshed me. After the ice tea I tried some of the soda based drinks and mlk shakes made with Monin fruit purees. The puree bottles impressed me with their design aiding easy handling. According to Martin, they have some 70 fruit purees. That’s the reason the drinks made using Monin fruit purees taste so natural.

Martin made the art of mixology seem so easy that I thought even I could make drinks as well as him. The good thing about Le Studio de Monin and Martin is that they are open to customers learning the art of mixing and getting the consistency of their drinks right. The Studio is a hub of creativity for Monin customers.

1 ltr. bottle of Monin flavours is priced at Rs. 517