Drink in focus: Fig leaf negroni at Bar Leone
With earthy fig leaf notes and a crisp, bitter kick, Bar Leone’s fig leaf negroni is pure aperitivo bliss
Simplicity and vibes are the focus here, and there’s no better representation of this than the fig leaf negroni, the variation that’s currently on Bar Leone’s menu. There’s no secret sauce behind the recipe: fig leaves from Lantau Island are gently infused into the vermouth sous-vide before being combined in equal parts with gin and Campari. “It’s vegetal, earthy and has a slightly tropical undertone,” says Antinori.
But the fig leaf negroni is not Bar Leone’s first nor last variation. The yuzu negroni was once served as a riff on the white negroni, substituting sweet vermouth for dry, and Campari for Suze. (For those looking for a similar yuzu-tinted drink, there’s currently a yuzu americano on the menu.) Antinori says one of his personal favourites was the coffee negroni on the bar’s opening menu two years ago. It used single-origin Colombian coffee-infused vermouth, Amaro Montenegro and tequila as a base.
Indeed, variation – and hospitality – are part of the original cocktail’s DNA, even if its origin story is mostly apocryphal. In 1919, Count Camillo Negroni supposedly asked his Florentine bartender to give his Americano “a bit more kick”. The soda was swapped for gin – and the negroni was born.
While the authoritative Difford’s Guide casts doubt on the existence of a Count Camillo in the Negroni family, the cocktail independently appeared in mid-century sources – from Orson Welles’ editorial correspondence to a lesser-known James Bond tipple – before achieving modern fame thanks mainly to Negroni Week (and a brief spell where the drink was known as an insider’s order).