Drink in Focus: Oyster Shell at Socio
Advertisement
Upcycling spare/waste ingredients – usually by way of centrifuging, redistilling, using sous-vide or other means of processing – is not a new concept. The question is always whether a waste ingredient still yields enough flavour to produce a delicious drink. This is what we immediately wondered with Socio's Oyster Shell, which reuses about 4.4kg of oyster shells monthly from Caine Road fish eatery and market Hooked.
The exterior of Socio at 17 Staunton Street, Central. Photo: Jocelyn Tam
'The shells don't have a lot of flavour,' says co-founder Amir Javaid, 'so we actually add vinegar to bump up the savoury and saline notes. We do a distillation to remove any of the shells and make it a cleaner spirit. You could just infuse the shells, but this is more hygienic.'
The rest of the drink leverages those amplified saline and savoury notes. Taking inspiration from the porn star martini, the cocktail batches a mix of the oyster and vinegar – distilled in vodka – with Roku gin before fat-washing it in cocoa butter. The drink is completed with cardamom bitters, passion fruit and lemon juices, then topped with sparkling wine to serve. The result is an effervescent, refreshing reuse of what is usually associated with sea salt and brine.
'Just because we named the drink 'Oyster Shell', people expect a strong taste, but the idea is just that we're using ingredients and we build around them, so it's never going to be the main flavour,' Javaid explains.
Advertisement
It's taken time, but it's safe to say the group project approach to using oyster shells in drinks has been as successful as it is intriguing. You could start your evening with oysters at Hooked, then walk downhill to Socio to enjoy the rest of that dish in a drink. 'I used to go for fish and chips [at Hooked] and then I got to speaking to the owner,' says Javaid. 'At first he was a little unsure about why I wanted the oyster shells. As we developed the concept, it took some time to win people over.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
01-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Drink in Focus: Oyster Shell at Socio
Where other concept menus often lead with esoteric ideas or atmospheres that contextualise their signatures, the front cover of Socio's new menu hits us with just facts: it introduces their community-driven bent, which focuses on reusing waste ingredients from other restaurants and bars in SoHo. Advertisement Upcycling spare/waste ingredients – usually by way of centrifuging, redistilling, using sous-vide or other means of processing – is not a new concept. The question is always whether a waste ingredient still yields enough flavour to produce a delicious drink. This is what we immediately wondered with Socio's Oyster Shell, which reuses about 4.4kg of oyster shells monthly from Caine Road fish eatery and market Hooked. The exterior of Socio at 17 Staunton Street, Central. Photo: Jocelyn Tam 'The shells don't have a lot of flavour,' says co-founder Amir Javaid, 'so we actually add vinegar to bump up the savoury and saline notes. We do a distillation to remove any of the shells and make it a cleaner spirit. You could just infuse the shells, but this is more hygienic.' The rest of the drink leverages those amplified saline and savoury notes. Taking inspiration from the porn star martini, the cocktail batches a mix of the oyster and vinegar – distilled in vodka – with Roku gin before fat-washing it in cocoa butter. The drink is completed with cardamom bitters, passion fruit and lemon juices, then topped with sparkling wine to serve. The result is an effervescent, refreshing reuse of what is usually associated with sea salt and brine. 'Just because we named the drink 'Oyster Shell', people expect a strong taste, but the idea is just that we're using ingredients and we build around them, so it's never going to be the main flavour,' Javaid explains. Advertisement It's taken time, but it's safe to say the group project approach to using oyster shells in drinks has been as successful as it is intriguing. You could start your evening with oysters at Hooked, then walk downhill to Socio to enjoy the rest of that dish in a drink. 'I used to go for fish and chips [at Hooked] and then I got to speaking to the owner,' says Javaid. 'At first he was a little unsure about why I wanted the oyster shells. As we developed the concept, it took some time to win people over.'
South China Morning Post
28-04-2025
- South China Morning Post
Are zero-waste bars actually feasible?
For Amir Javaid , founder of Socio on Staunton Street, running out of stuff is kind of the whole point. Each cocktail on the bar's menu features waste products, or, more palatably, upcycled ingredients, from a nearby restaurant. There's Butter down the street, Hooked on Caine Road and Uncle Miguel on Peel Street. Advertisement Sustainability is a term often thrown around in haughty circles while Hong Kong bars like Socio have been implementing green practices with little fanfare all along. Javaid says he likes 'the idea of not being able to make a drink because there's not enough of something'. It's an idea that has seen Javaid build a community of F&B venues that, through his cocktails, reduce food waste in their neighbourhood. The furthest collection point is a five-minute walk, he says. Two months ago he launched an eight-drink menu, each tipple featuring an upcycled ingredient from a different SoHo establishment. Ezra Star, owner of Sheung Wan's Mostly Harmless. Photo: Mostly Harmless Ezra Star , owner of Sheung Wan's Mostly Harmless, thinks sustainability starts with community. 'A lot of times when people open bars, it affects the entire neighbourhood and puts smaller places out of business,' she says. Instead, she prefers to work with local businesses such as traditional Chinese medicine shops to source herbal ingredients for concoctions such as non-alcoholic versions of fernet and chartreuse. The bar also sources everything locally, as opposed to using imported products, thereby reducing their carbon footprint. Advertisement Mostly Harmless is testing the waters as Hong Kong's first bar to serve only mocktails , and Star leases the whole building, which enables the bar to develop most of its ingredients in-house. For many other Hong Kong bars, however, space is scarce.
South China Morning Post
11-03-2025
- South China Morning Post
100 Top Tables 2025: unveiling Hong Kong and Macau's finest restaurants and bars, celebrating the best new talents, recognising sustainable practices, plus a tribute to a legendary chef
Yesterday saw the unveiling of the 100 Top Tables Guide 2025 , published by the South China Morning Post. Marking its 13th year, the publication is an annual independent guide to the best fine dining restaurants and bars in Hong Kong and Macau, as judged by the Post's dedicated F&B writers. The current volume presents a curated selection of 100 Hong Kong restaurants, 30 distinguished Macau establishments and 20 of Hong Kong's most noteworthy bars. Advertisement The 2025 roll-out took place in the Grand Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, and was supported by Standard Chartered Priority Private. The event in Central spotlighted the accomplishments of the 150 recognised establishments, and was fittingly attended by hundreds of prominent figures from across Hong Kong and Macau's F&B industries. Chefs from recognised restaurants from Wynn Resorts in Macau, at the 100 Top Tables 2025 unveiling ceremony and awards event. Photo: Jocelyn Tam Kevin Huang, chief operating officer at the South China Morning Post, told the audience: '100 Top Tables 2025 is the definitive guide to the most outstanding fine dining restaurants and bars in Hong Kong and Macau … This edition is the largest ever produced. It reflects the talent, quality and resilience of our cities and highlights the dynamism that will lead us into the future.' This year's 100 Top Tables guide represents an 'evolution rather than a revolution', according to content director Douglas Parkes. 'Last year, for the first 100 Top Tables event since Covid restrictions ended, we wanted to use that occasion to revamp the guide and our awards event. That meant significant changes to the look of the guide, the live event and our overall branding. This year we have made further adjustments, such as increasing the number of Macau restaurants and bars, but otherwise it's not as radical a change as last year's.' In keeping with the new format launched in 2024, the event saw 10 special award winners named on the night during the ceremony. The team from C108 celebrating at the 100 Top Tables 2025 event. Photo: Jordan Chan The most prestigious awards were presented at the evening's climax. The penultimate award, presented by Marco Lee, deputy head of marketing, wealth and retail banking, at Standard Chartered Hong Kong Limited, was the best chef award, which went to Tam Kwok-fung of Chef Tam's Seasons in Macau.
