How do you browse a menu, without a menu? At Mandarin Oriental, Macau’s swanky Vida Rica Bar, you use your sense of smell. But curiosity is perhaps the first step into the bar’s latest cocktail journey. In a world that glorifies instant pleasure, this experience promises to slow down time and invite you into a one-of-a-kind drinking ritual.
The menu, Sensing the Multiverse, is presented in the form of a wooden box. Inside, nestled in velvet, you’ll find a set of eight glass bottles – reminiscent of vintage perfume atomisers. Beside the box are eight tiny teacups, into which each bottle’s contents must be spritzed.
It should be noted: you are to sniff, not swig the result. The idea is to follow your nose to your evening’s first cocktail, conceptualised by the Vida Rica Bar’s Italian-born head mixologist Stefano Bussi.
“In Sensing the Multiverse, the familiar becomes unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar becomes familiar,” Bussi explains. He has curated this experience to be ritualistic, an act of trust that morphs into an unforgettable memory of Macao.
Bussi has developed a passion for helping his patrons experience familiar flavours in new ways throughout his decade-long bartending career, which has taken him from Italy to Australia to the UK – then onto exotic Macao. He’s let that passion fuel his creativity, leading to novel cocktail combinations that both surprise and delight their drinkers.
Drawing inspiration from the classic Negroni Sbagliato, Bussi’s Foundation is one such tipple. In essence, this is a sparkling wine-based beverage infused with coffee and banana. Its slightly sweet, nutty taste earns rave reviews among cocktail connoisseurs. But also those who care about sustainability: Bussi upcycles used coffee grounds and banished bananas, too ripe for the Mandarin Oriental’s breakfast buffet, to achieve these earthy flavours.
In fact, this zero-waste mentality is employed right across Vida Rica’s cocktail menu.“We maximise the use of every possible ingredient, whether that involves pulverising croissants and infusing them into rum or making a pomelo powder garnish out of the fruit’s skin,” Bussi shares.
He’s also a fan of blending regional flavours – think seaweed, ginger, soy – with ubiquitous spirits, resulting in non-intimidating drinks that transmit a strong sense of place. Take the Reflection, crafted with Blanco tequila, pomelo, and Chinese five spice. Or the Bay of A-ma, a homage to the city’s beloved egg tarts. Hints of their distinct flavour arrive via an infusion of rum, brown butter and salted caramel, making it perhaps the most Macao cocktail on the menu.
“The ingredients we use are fairly simple, easy to understand. We just treat them in unexpected ways,” says Bussi.
But back to scent. Bussi is playful in how he wields the eight aromas, so do keep an open mind when making your selections from the box. The bottle representing the Upside-Down, for example, smells a little like melon – suggesting a cocktail on the sweeter side? Wrong. “The cocktail’s profile is actually savoury, because we use fermented melon, not fresh,” Bussi explains.
The Fùqīn’s aroma is also enigmatic, bringing to mind roasted tomatoes. Could it be along the lines of a Bloody Mary? The first sip, however, gives away its true Old-Fashioned nature – though nuanced by a heady combination of ginger, soy and celery.
There’s a visual element to this sensory menu, too. Once you have your libation in hand, you’ll see that it’s accompanied by a small postcard illustration (you can keep it). That’s because each cocktail represents a different location in Macao, reimagined futuristically through AI. The Reflection, for example, offers a take on the storied A-Ma Temple, depicting an ultramodern multi-tiered structure inspired by traditional Lingnan-style architecture.
An ambitious, unconventional cocktail menu like Sensing the Multiverse can only be testament to Bussi’s imagination and skills. Earlier in the year, his talents saw him win the Hong Kong and Macao round of the prestigious Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year contest – where he faced off against the region’s top mixologists over two days of intense competition. The world final takes place later this year, in Shanghai.
Bussi is the first Macao-based contender to make the world finals, a remarkable achievement just six months into his tenure at Mandarin Oriental, Macau. Today, he’s happy to share his creations with discerning drinkers from around the world.
“The special thing about this menu is that it gives us an opportunity to connect with our guests, as they enjoy the thrill of novelty through our drinks,” he enthuses.
