Drink Lagos: Circa (Lekki)
Caution, Circa isn’t located in a place where you’d typically find bars. It’s in a proper residential area. I like to associate bars with over-congested areas like Victoria Island because if people ever drink to stupor and become noisy drunks on the street, they’ll probably pass. And somehow, whether you agree or not, knowing you’re in a busy area indulges your drinking a bit. By now, you’d have figured this was quite restrictive for me.
By the way, Folarin does this annoying thing where he refuses to show me what he’s ordering because he thinks I’m a copy-cat. So he writes or slyly bends the menu to signal the waiter what he’s getting. *jokes*
Despite all the drama, I figured he ordered the Flaming Lamborghini because he’s a compulsive capitalist and probably wants to own a Lamborghini before 2020. The cocktail is made with Kahlúa, baileys, blue curacao and Sambuca.
The Flaming Lamborghini had ingredients you’d typically associate with hot chocolate and espressos, so be warned lactose-intolerant-folks. Khalúa, for starters, is a coffee flavoured liqueur from Mexico that contains rum, sugar, vanilla bean and Arabica coffee. Also, Baileys is usually the liqueur of choice when coffee is involved. Sambuca too. Samubuca is another interesting drink from Italy flavoured with essential oils obtained from star anise, elderflower and liquorice. You can totally supplement this with sugar and add directly into your coffee to make a caffè corretto.
Despite the picture, the Flaming Lamborghini is a blissful drink. We probably need to give props to the curator of the drink menu because it was a thoughtful addition. This is the drink you give your mum after promising her a wild-night-out, asper hardcore Baileys on fire.
“It’s quite strong. The blue curaçao is a major surprise I’d never have imagined to be in a cocktail like this. I also like that it gave the drink a purple/navy blue hue as I went on. Could only taste the Baileys and sambuca at the top then the curacao alone beneath, so it might as well have been a Baileys and sambuca drink with a shot of blue curacao on the side”
My drink was the Sex Appeal as Malibu and gin aren’t things that deserve passive attention. You have to be all in.
Rum and gin pair extraordinarily well together, cheers to Tiki culture. And maybe I was a bit biased because Folarin felt it tasted like a poor man’s chapman mix with alcohol - it had gin, Malibu, fraise syrup and cranberry juice.
I’m choosing to stick with my guts – it was good although there were some cough syrup undertones.
Our final drink was the Whisky Sour and we chose it because I still think of The House’s version. First of all, we found out Circa didn’t really incorporate egg whites into their recipe which seems fair as Bourbon Sour is the recipe with egg whites. Circa’s version stuck to the typical ingredients; whisky, lemon juice and syrup.
However, we asked them to use egg whites which came out alright, not extraordinary but just fine. On sight, it reminded Folarin of the Gin Fizz from The Wheatbaker because of the clear foamy top, although it tasted nothing like it. It wasn’t really balanced as the whisky was ridiculously over-empowering.
Circa had some interesting drinks on its menu that convinced us it’s a well-thought-out project aside the location lol. It was nice, cosy and safe, nothing out of the ordinary or overambitious and maybe that’s a good thing.
TL:DR
Good for: Dinner & Drinks, Date Night
Food: Full Kitchen
Happy Hour: Yes | Bottle Service: Yes | Wine: Yes | Beer: Yes
DAMAGE
Flaming Lamborghini - N3000
Sex Appeal - N3000
Whiskey Sour - N4000
Christina is a TV and Film junkie who also spends an incredible amount of time reviewing skincare products she can barely afford.
