Dandelyan at Mondrian London, the award-winning bar from Ryan Chetiyawardana (Mr Lyan), is to launch its fifth menu, The Modern Life of Plants - exploring industrialisation and large-scale food systems, on 6 March.
Continuing the overarching ethos of ‘Modern Botany’ the menu will explore the science and art that is at play in the human adaptation of plant and animal life, which pushes plants and plant life beyond their normal ‘natural’ biological terms. This menu will focus on the way in which humans industrialise crops, and play to the plants’ biology to cater to the demands of the industry.
Bucking the trend of the current focus on seasonality, foraging and wild food, the menu will, for a whole year, concentrate on only three core ingredients, that thanks to industrialisation are available all year round. In turn, the menu will hope to promote the positives of industrialisation as a good example of waste management and a realistic view of the future of food – key parts of Dandelyan’s focus.
Moving away from Dandelyan’s signature chapters which have been created annually since they launched, the new menu – and the ‘new book’ – will be the beginning of a new series for Dandelyan. The menu will consist of three core ingredients that focus on a systemised crop or large-scale suppliers.
Each focus plant will have a relevant section with four drink concepts – and each including a signature ‘boozeless’ version. Examples of the drink concepts include a highball that supports mint production, an Old Fashioned looking at the cloning of grapes, or a hop drink looking at technological advancements and the future (and past) of urban living.
These drinks will be updated three times during the year, each time highlighting a different aspect of the plant and its position in the modern world.
For their 'fifth chapter', Chetiyawardana (pictured) and his team will include their usual run of bespoke and unusual ingredients, but challenge themselves with biodynamic crops, specimens from living libraries, ‘extinct' species and farm favourites.
The new menu will feature drinks such as: Air Raid Gimlet - Mr Lyan Cream Gin, pearl barley, carrot-currant cordial, XXX - Grey Goose Vodka, Noilly Pratt, companion crop soda, and Standing Stones - Maker’s Mark, bitter-strawberry old vine wine, lemon, honey.
Given the rise in non-alcoholic cocktails, boozeless drink will occupy a large part of the menu and remain a considerable offering at Dandelyan. The bar’s classic cocktails, comprising a collection of the previous book and its four chapters, will feature at the back of the menu.
Chetiyawardana said, “This is a really exciting direction for us. We had a lot of fun with the previous menus, but want to build on that success and challenge ourselves with a new direction. The focus of the next book marks an honest and critical view of what is happening in the world of food and drink, and a realistic vision for what this means for farming, sustainability, creativity and really what we think happens next in this golden age of cocktails.”