James Pollard lays out the tools of his trade in front of him: a wooden mallet, a blowtorch, a nitrogen pump and some long-handled metal instruments. But the 28-year-old isn't about to plumb in a new tap or replace someone's hip. He's going to mix a cocktail.
Molecular gastronomy - the art of combining foods with different chemical and molecular compositions, made famous by chefs such as Ferran Adria of El Bulli in Spain and Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck in Britain - is gaining a foothold behind the bar. Professional bartenders such as Pollard are throwing out the sweet, syrupy, rainbow-coloured Sex On the Beach and Tequila Sunrise in favour of drinks that owe as much to chemistry as they do to taste.
Standing behind the fruit blenders and spirit bottles at Armani/Bar HK, Pollard discusses the skill of changing the DNA structure of fruit as he singes a quarter of a lemon with a blowtorch.
'A lemon contains citric acid, water, sugar and pectin,' he says. '[By torching the fruit] I drive the water and pectin out and change the structure of the sugar. There's more of a scientific approach now, changing the molecular structure of the ingredients and therefore the DNA of the drink.'
Molecular mixology is still a developing science. A taste of things to come was provided by the umbrella- and fruit-stacked drinks of the 1980s, which played with the viscosity and density of different liqueurs to produce multi-layered tropical concoctions that were more pleasing to the eye than the palate. Bartenders are now incorporating foams, gels and mists to vary the textures of a drink.
Part of the drive for the new generation of drinks comes from the demand for fresher ingredients from increasingly health-conscious and environmentally aware consumers.