Today’s blog is part of our series of summer blogs where readers from around the world tell us all about the cocktails they’ve experienced on their far-flung voyages. To kick us off, we are proud to welcome Mrs Margaret Foster who is going to showcase her recent journey to the beautiful Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius.
LSS: Tell us about Mauritius
Warm! There’s a lot more to it than other islands in Indian Ocean because its bigger, so there’s more sights and more coastline. From which you can see an amazing profusion of things like dolphins , tropical birds, butterflies and even chameleons. The people are lovely. It’s criss cross of cultures; English is becoming the main language, but everyone seems to speak about four!
LSS:Who did you go there with?
My husband Andrew
LSS: So, for the benefit of our Friday Night Readers, let’s start in on the drinks! What about beer?
Well, they make their own beer, which is called Phoenix. There’s also a craft brewery which makes wheat beer and raspberry beer.
LSS:That’s a nice start for a hot day. But what about wine with dinner?
They’re close to South Africa, where a lot of it’s imported from. But, it’s unbelievably silly prices! So we tended to stay away, and stick with the cocktails
LSS: Now, Mauritius is a tropical island. They must grow a lot of their own fruit for the cocktails?
Indeed! Depending on time year, you get grapefruit, passion fruit , pineapples, pomegranates………. They even grow a lot of lychees from which they make a rather disgusting sweet wine.
LSS: And what sort of cocktails come out of this mix?
All the usual ones your readers will have heard of. Mai Tai, Singapore slings, daiquiris…… Plus they make a lot up of their own. A lot are based on rum, which they spell with an H, so it comes out as R-H-U-M, Rhum. There’s one brand named after the famous Mauritius Pink Pigeon They even left us a free bottle of rhum in our room. It was a little industrial, but drinkable.
LSS:Nice Gesture! Tell us about a couple of the island specials
Well, there was one called Passion des isles– passion fruit, rhum, strawberry liqueur, lemon juice sugar cane syrup, and passion fruit puree . It was nice. Actually passion fruit is quite a theme there. There’s a passion fruit Tequila-normally lime juice is the citrus in this one. The Daquiri is a white rhum, with passion fruit.
LSS:Passion fruits all round then! And your favourite moment?
Lots! Drinking a passion fruit margharita, which you can get anywhere. At a bar, beside the pool, down on the beach . Which is nice at night, because they put out posh deckchairs with lanterns and you can hear the sea crashing on coral and the Wind in the palm trees. Not to mention the fruit bats
LSS:Fruit bats?
Yes, The locals call them flying foxes. They’re huge, with a one metre wingspan and come flying around your heads.
LSS: Thanks. That was easily the most far flung cocktail night We’ve had on this blog.
You’re welcome
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