Bar Food: What to Eat with Cocktails

Some of the best hotel bars have an advantage: a serious kitchen next door. At The Surrey, Bar Pleiades took its bar bites from the Café Boulud kitchen, and the list read like a short French brasserie menu: oysters, charcuterie, cheese, small sliders, arancini and warm madeleines to finish. That is still a near perfect model for cocktail food, and almost all of it can be made or assembled at home.

The principles

• Salt and fat. They make drinks taste better and slow the effect of alcohol.
• One or two bites. Bar food should be eaten with fingers or a small fork, in a conversation, without looking down for long.
• Contrast. Crisp with soft, hot with cold, rich with sharp.
• Quality over quantity. Three things done well beat ten things done badly.

Oysters

Raw oysters are the most elegant bar food there is. Serve them very cold on crushed ice with lemon and a mignonette (finely chopped shallot in red wine vinegar with black pepper). They are superb with a dry martini, a Champagne cocktail or a crisp gin and tonic. Buy from a fishmonger you trust, keep them cold and shuck just before serving.

Charcuterie

A board of cured meats is easy and generous: a French saucisson, prosciutto or jambon de Bayonne, a pâté or terrine, cornichons, mustard and good bread. Fatty, salty charcuterie loves bitter and spirit-forward drinks: a Negroni, a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned.

Cheese

Keep it to three cheeses with contrast: something soft and creamy, something firm and nutty such as Comté, and something blue. Serve at room temperature with walnuts, honey and fruit. Aged cheese is excellent with brown spirits; blue cheese and a Vieux Carré is a revelation.

Sliders

A small burger on a soft brioche bun, with good beef, melted cheese and a little sauce, is the most popular bar snack in America for a reason. Keep them small, two or three bites, so they stay a snack rather than dinner. Serve with a whiskey highball or a sour.

Arancini

Fried risotto balls with a melting center of cheese are perfect bar food: crisp outside, creamy inside, easy to eat. Make them with leftover risotto, a cube of mozzarella in each, breadcrumbs and a quick fry. They go well with an Aperol spritz or a sparkling aperitif.

Gougères

These French cheese puffs are made from choux pastry with Gruyère and are wonderful warm from the oven with a glass of Champagne or a dry vermouth. The dough can be piped and frozen in advance and baked straight from the freezer.

Something sweet: madeleines

A plate of warm madeleines, small shell-shaped sponge cakes with browned butter and lemon zest, is a lovely way to end an evening at the bar. Serve them with a digestif, an espresso cocktail or a small glass of something sweet.

Quick bar snacks

• Warm spiced nuts with rosemary and brown sugar
• Marinated olives with orange peel and fennel
• Thin, crisp fries with aioli
• Radishes with butter and sea salt
• Gildas: anchovy, olive and pickled pepper on a pick

For more on matching drinks and dishes, read Pairing Cocktails with Food. For later in the evening, see the late-night menu.