Japchae and a Happy Ending cocktail

I really think there are some cuisines that work better with cocktails than wine and Korean is one of them as I was reminded at the opening of celebrity chef Judy Joo’s JinJuu last week

The cocktail was a saucily named Happy Ending (if you don’t know why that's dodgy check here), a refreshing, orangey blend of Absolut Mandrin, Cranberry Juice and club soda.

It went brilliantly well with the food at the launch including crab cakes and mini bulgogi-style burgers but particularly with a spicy noodle dish called Japchae which consists of sweet potato noodles with stir-fried vegetables and a punchy soy and sesame sauce.

You could try a wine like a torrontes or gewurztraminer with it but the sweet orange flavour of the cocktail works so well.