The Romantic Lokum Royale Cocktail

Many years ago, working in a restaurant in Brisbane, I went to my chef with a quandary. As a child, I loved the confectionary Turkish Delight, but the flower profile eluded me as it wasn’t really present in anything else I ate — it was, and continues to be, a very specific flavour. We experimented for a few weeks taking the basic ingredients in the sweet and trying to recreate them.

All of this happened before cocktail websites were a “thing,” and when the secret ingredient, orange flower water, was still hard to find. It’s still not easy to get, but more speciality markets, such as the Market on Yates, have sections devoted to hard to find ethnic cooking ingredients.

Eventually we created a “Turkish Delight” syrup which I mixed with a few other sickly sweet ingredients to what I remember was a tongue cloying, liquid diabetic creation. Luckily, this version is a much more subtle version of that drink, but with the complexity of a Turkish delight along with the clean finish of a sparkling cocktail. When it comes to a few of these ingredients, I always prefer making them myself. The grenadine and cacao can easily be made in house and can give you the control on the sweetness.

The Lokum Royale is delicious mix of all the things that remind me of romance, it’s easy to make for your loved one and can be enjoyed before or after a special night’s dinner.

Lokum Royale

• 1 oz Beefeater 24
• 1/2 oz House made grenadine
• 4 Dashes Orange Flower water
• 3/4 Lemon juice
• Topped with sparkling

Shake first 4 ingredients and then strain into a crème de cacao rinsed glass, top with sparkling and garnish with a lemon twist.