The Mixing Room bar review: Iron Fairies’ whimsy continues at a new Ashley Sutton-designed sister venue on Hollywood Road, Hong Kong

When Central cocktail bar J Boroski quietly shuttered, Dining Concepts’ next move was to expand on arguably its greatest Ashley Sutton success, Iron Fairies. New sister venue The Mixing Room does away with the erstwhile speakeasy’s polarising bespoke cocktail surveys, in exchange for extending Sutton’s aesthetic concept, as laid out by the celebrated interior designer’s children’s book trilogy of the same name.

Where Iron Fairies focuses on the figurines that have become that bar’s signature, Mixing Room is their visual origins story – for every fairy, there is a corresponding bottle in The Mixing Room from which that fairy was formed. These bottles are suspended from the ceiling of a large and spacious room that follows the same gritty-but-comfortable design palette – perhaps an ideal place to imbibe something creative after dinner, but before extending the festivities next door.

We settle into a menu curated by Tom Egerton (Proof & Company), featuring tipples named for the characters of Sutton’s trilogy, but grounded in flavours of the now, revisiting classic recipes with a well-travelled lens.

The Fat Gut’s Martini adds several extra layers to the king of cocktails with an “umami sake”, Parmesan spirit, basil oil and a decadent spoonful of caviar – a supple first-sip and an excitement for caviar lovers to be sure, but on balance we are uncertain whether we need more of this new take, or the crispness of the classic. A spin on the Manhattan, Jilo The Bastard combines the sweetness of banana and sherry with the sensory kick of garam marsala and catnip, which accentuates the avant-garde feel of the glass’ painted insides.

If The Mixing Room is the spot between dinner and Iron Fairies, this is the drink to do it – the daring digestif that opens up the palate for the rest of the evening.