44 Chapel St
Windsor Victoria 3181
There are quite a few places who knock up a damn decent Bloody Mary in Melbourne. Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder, Galleon Cafe and (my personal favourite) Huxtable, to name just a few.
The latest evolution of the classic Mary appears to be the addition of bacon, in the form of bacon infused vodka, bacon swizzle sticks, bacon crumble garnish etc. I much prefer this adaptation than when people try to get too fancy by housemaking the tomato juice, which usually results in an overly-seasoned napoli sauce addition that doesn’t balance with the rest of the drink.
But you see, the bacon thing has already become pretty pedestrian, so when I heard that Kid Boston were taking their Bloody Bull a step further by using both bacon and beef stock, I was keen to try it. They describe it as “a classic twist on a Ceasar. Instead of Clam Stock & Tomato Juice we use Beef Stock & Tomato Juice. Vegetarian version available. [WHY?!] Skyy Vodka, house made Spice Mix, Tomato Juice, Chef’s Beef Stock, Fresh Lemon Juice & served with fresh Bacon.” And all this for $18, though the website still says $17.
I’m not too sure why they specified “fresh” bacon. Does that mean its not cooked or crisped up, but served raw? I would assume no matter what format the bacon assumed, it would be served fresh, not stale or rancid. Nonetheless after all my musings, on the night of our visit the kitchen were out of bacon (!!) and the drink was garnished instead with house-cured beef strips.
Note to Kid Boston – keep the beef. It was delicious and a fabulous point of difference, particularly given that it was house-cured.
And the drink itself? It didn’t really have too much debris or floating textural elements, but it did have a lovely rim of celery salt. The flavour was intense and rich, with a very mild spice. I found myself repeatedly sipping on it, and wondering about the strange aftertaste. What was that mystery ingredient? What did that most peculiar taste remind me of? It was such a familiar flavour, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then it suddenly hit me: “hey, this kinda tastes a little bit like spew, right?”, I exclaimed to my drinking posse. And the response: “oh dear god, you’re totally right”.
So yeah, the beef stock had somehow managed impart a taste reminiscent of bile. I know this sounds incredibly gross, but despite us all recognising this as the mystery element, we still kept drinking it and largely enjoying it (except for Big D, who could not get over the vomit connotations).
It’s a tricky one because it’s quite delicious, yet strangely repulsive. Go ahead and try it for yourself – I certainly welcome the second opinions!
WHAT FUCKING WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN YOU SILLY BITCH. NOTE TO YOU BURGER MARY; GO FUCK YOURSELF.
Thank you for your feedback, Ryan. Since you are the owner of Kid Boston, I guess I’ll take your comments to be the official response of the restaurant. Cheers!
I’m trying to imagine what the response would have been if you’d really hated ut.
Wow. It’s a good thing you only largely enjoyed it. Imagine if you were undecided.
Hahaha, wow! I thought it was a great review, and I have definitely experience the moment of, “Hey, there’s an ick element to this, but I’m liking it and will keep on going!”
As a person who enjoys a good ‘Bloody Mary’ from time to time I’m glad for the heads up about this particular drink. If I ever see a variant on the drink touting “Now with extra bacony goodness” I’ll remember the above words of kind wisdom and avoid the vomit flavour completely.
I’m am surprised that the owner of Kid Boston had the gall to respond so vehemently about this as I would expect a proprietor to take this review on board, try the drink for himself and reconsider the choice to place it on the menu.
I’ll be sure to recommend people avoid dining at Kid Boston in the future.
Heya Tim – to be fair, bacon in bloody marys is delicious. In this case, it’s the beef stock that is the culprit. As someone on twitter who often makes their own stock commented, beef stock (when cool) smells (and can taste) like reflux/bile. So as long as you’re not ordering a bloody bull, you should be right.
While I’d like to help you out and provide a second opinion on the drink, as you did so kindly ask us to do in your post, I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be giving the place a miss after the eloquent and witty response from the Kid Boston’s owner.
Wow – that is a hell of a thought out response from the owner of Kid Boston. Whoever would contemplate trying the drink themselves and then maybe varying the ingredients just a bit to change the flavour?
I can imagine just how measured he must have been to his employees on that day as well. Great guy to work for I bet.
If you are up against The Woods of Windsor and Chapel Street Cellars in close proximity then you gotta watch your PR very closely.
Is that really the owner of the restaurant? Surely he wouldn’t be so stupid. The ridiculous thing is I was planning on going there and your review had me convinced to give it a go (I read it as positive?) but then I got to his response and it has totally put me off!
HI Sara – yes, it really is the owner. Although he recently tried to send an email suggesting someone was pretending to be him, his original comment was left using his company email address/URL – the same company who is registered as the holder of the liquor license at the venue address. He also personally approached the people I dined with that evening to express his views on my post. So yeah, no doubt about it, it’s the owner. Shame really!