13/07/2026
The French 75 has joined our cocktail menu.
Gin, fresh lemon, a touch of sugar and Brut Cava. Crisp, sparkling, deceptively elegant and rather stronger than it first appears.
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French 75s are rather special to me (Jason). Perhaps not quite so special to Neal.
Picture this ... decades ago, in the strange gap between meeting in Hong Kong in 2008 and finally getting together around five years later, we kept trying to arrange times to meet. Our jobs, glamorous as they may have appeared from the outside, had us flying around the world for different meetings, so finding ourselves on the same continent at the same time was often surprisingly difficult.
I think, although my memory is a little hazy, that we finally managed to meet in London in 2011, at the cocktail bar in The Marylebone Hotel.
I will admit to being hugely nervous and determined to make the right impression. After three years of Skype calls and emails, meeting face to face felt rather daunting.
Suffice to say, I handled the occasion with the utmost aplomb and dignity, and got rather carried away knocking back French 75s like they were going out of fashion.
Blame the jet lag, maybe my complete ignorance of how strong they were, and of course my inherent shyness ... for becoming the drunk "entertainer" nobody booked.
Neal was, as you might expect, highly amused and even more besotted with me than before.
It then took another couple of years for him to forgive me, and for us finally to get together.
So, for me, the French 75 was clearly the key to a successful evening of wooing.
For Neal, well, you will have to ask him for the full story when you see him next!
So, the French 75, now being served at North Coast Café 🥰
