Why low-calorie cocktails are catching on in Hong Kong: ‘In Europe people don’t care about getting fat – here people try to maintain their figures’
Where you can drink low-cal, alcohol-free and health-conscious cocktails in Hong Kong, including Dear Lilly in IFC, Sugar at the East Hong Kong hotel and Ovolo Central’s vegetarian restaurant Veda
From “Dry July” to “Sober October”, drinkers are increasingly looking to downsize their alcohol consumption. It’s not all about going teetotal, though. Just as more mocktails have begun appearing on menus around town, so, too, has a global trend for lower-calorie alcoholic drinks reached Hong Kong.
In a cocktail, the most significant source of calories is the base, explains Sabrina Cantini-Budden, resident mixologist at the InterContinental Hong Kong. “Cocktails may have additional sugar and syrups, but the calories come mostly from the alcohol,” she says. “Vodka and gin are very clean, they have the lowest calories. Champagne is low, too. Spirits like whisky and rum are the ones to look out for, they have higher calories.”
Coming from Europe, people eat or drink what they want. They do not care about calories or getting fat – [in Hong Kong] more people try to maintain their figures
Cantini-Budden recommends La Paloma – not to be confused with the Sai Ying Pun tapas bar – for anyone searching for a cocktail that is readily available and guilt-free. A mix of tequila, grapefruit and lime juices, a little sugar and soda water, it’s a refreshing drink that is as light in appearance as it is on the waist.
Alberto Aldave, beverage manager for bar and restaurant group Dining Concepts, believes Hong Kong is fertile ground for low-calorie cocktails. “It’s very interesting,” he says. “Coming from Europe, people eat or drink what they want. They do not care about calories or getting fat. Here, people are hiking, the weather is very warm, so more people try to maintain their figures.”
A low-calorie stand-out from the Dear Lilly cocktail menu is the Green Fairy. A standard when the bar opened in IFC early last year, this tropical delight is now available off-menu. It combines a half-measure of Matusalem Platino rum – not the absinthe you might expect, given the name – green chartreuse, yuzu and pineapple juices, and coconut water. It is a luminous green, easy-to-sip thirst-quencher that, although not terribly complex, is all the more appealing for its simple fruit flavours.
The budding trend for low-cal cocktails isn’t entirely driven by vanity, however. At Sugar, in the East Hong Kong hotel, assistant restaurant manager Jeffrey Lee has created a special low-GI (glycaemic index) cocktail for those with diabetes. In general – although there are exceptions – food or drink with a high GI value will raise blood sugar levels higher than foods with a lower value. This is especially important information for diabetics, who need to keep an eye on their blood sugar levels.