Kevin Lai, head mixologist at The St Regis Bar in Macau, is originally from Taiwan. Meng Shu, a glass artist and lecturer who is also based in the city, grew up in mainland China. Inspired by their current home, these two individuals recently combined their talents to create a cocktail and accompanying piece of glass art that represent what Macau means to them as expats – mirroring the way in which parts of the local cultural heritage were shaped over the years by people who came to the port city from around the world.
“When I first came to Macau, it felt a lot like a theme park,” Lai says. “Everywhere you go, around every corner, there’s a different style – maybe European-style architecture, or something that feels like a castle. So it felt very fresh to me.”
Lai adds that while Macau is an ideal travel destination, “at the same time, it has a strong sense of everyday life – a vibrant human warmth.” The seaside locale also provided him with a sense of familiarity and belonging, having grown up on the island of Taiwan, surrounded by water.
For his cocktail creation, Lai chose to highlight the sea that has defined Macau’s geography and history. “Before Macau was developed into what it is today, it was a fishing village,” he explains. “So there were fishermen heading out to sea, riding the waves in small wooden boats, feeling the breeze and smelling the briny ocean air around the piers. I wanted to bring those flavour elements into my cocktail.”
The cocktail has a base of Talisker single malt Scotch whisky to add some smoky notes. “I infused it with seaweed and added a touch of baijiu [Chinese distilled spirit] to elevate its brightness,” Lai says. “Then I added ginger and gentian root to add warmth along with a bittersweet flavour profile. I also added a bit of saline solution to [further] enhance the brightness.”
Since Meng first arrived in Macau in 2008, she has found it to be an inspiring place. “Coming to Macau – a city that is an island closely connected to the ocean – was a completely different experience and feeling for me. It sparked a lot of creativity and ideas in me. I would wonder: who came here and why?”
For her part of the collaboration with Lai, Meng made a glass art piece in hues of blue, green and white, which resembles an island and provides a theatrical backdrop for the cocktail as it is served.
“The glass piece I made looks like an island, but no man is an island. Beneath the ocean, our continental shelves are all connected. Yet, individually, we must exist as islands,” Meng says. “Everyone has the right to seek their own ‘welcome solitude’ – a very positive state of being alone with oneself.”
When Meng and Lai met at The St Regis Bar to unveil their creations, both were pleasantly surprised at how well the cocktail and art piece complemented each other – they connected despite the separate processes to make them.
“We didn’t even consult each other or know what the other was making – it’s really amazing,” Meng says.
“Normally, when a bartender collaborates with a glass artist, the first thing anyone expects is to create a glass to hold the cocktail. But this time, [Meng] created a decorative sculpture – an artwork placed beside the glass,” Lai says. “That was very fresh and novel to me. It [features] ocean elements like moss and wave textures, making it a wonderful complement alongside the cocktail.”
Meng adds: “Creating art with glass here inspires endless imagination for me. Just like at The St Regis Bar, where Kevin and I are together – through a piece of glass [art] and a glass [with a cocktail] – [we] come to understand who we are, where we came from, why we met at this very moment and where we might be heading next.”
Check out the video to hear Kevin Lai and Meng Shu share more about their work and experiences in Macau, and see their collaboration come together.
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