🍃 Paan Negroni

Sous vide betel leaf-washed gin, vodka, Campari & dry sherry — Musaafer SAAQI

Gin
1 hr sous vide
Stirred
Old Fashioned Glass
~24%
Musaafer (SAAQI bar)
Ingredients
  • 30ml Tanqueray Rangpur gin, paan sous vide-washed (or regular gin + 2 muddled betel leaves)
  • 15ml Ketel One vodka
  • 30ml Campari
  • 15ml Fino sherry (Tio Pepe or La Ina)
  • 1 large clear ice cube
  • Orange zest & a betel leaf to garnish
Method
  1. 1
    Sous vide washSeal 200ml Tanqueray Rangpur + 4 fresh betel leaves in a vacuum bag (or ziplock). Cook sous vide at 70°C for 45 minutes. Strain. Cool. Or skip and muddle 2 betel leaves in the mixing glass.
  2. 2
    StirCombine paan gin, vodka, Campari, and sherry in a mixing glass with ice. Stir 35 seconds.
  3. 3
    StrainStrain over a large clear ice cube in an Old Fashioned glass.
  4. 4
    GarnishExpress an orange zest over the surface. Rest a whole betel leaf against the glass.

About This Cocktail

The Negroni is the most replicated cocktail template of the 21st century: equal parts spirit, Campari, sweet vermouth. Every serious cocktail programme has a riff on it. Musaafer's SAAQI bar replaces the sweet vermouth with dry sherry (Fino or Manzanilla), which removes sweetness and adds a yeasty, nutty, oceanic character that Italian vermouth lacks. The sous vide paan wash uses precise temperature control (70°C for 45 minutes) to extract betel leaf's peppery-herbal compounds into the gin without the bitterness that cold-infusion can produce. The result is a more controlled, more elegant paan note.

Variations

Classic Paan NegroniReplace sherry with sweet vermouth — a more approachable, sweeter version with the same paan backbone
White Paan NegroniReplace Campari with Suze, vermouth with Lillet Blanc — a white Negroni with paan notes
Paan BoulevardierReplace gin with bourbon or rye — bourbon's vanilla-oak with paan and Campari is a remarkable combination
Bartender Tips

Tanqueray Rangpur (lime-forward) is Musaafer's choice because the rangpur lime notes of the gin echo betel leaf's citrus-herbal quality. Fino sherry is drier, nuttier, and more complex than sweet vermouth — the yeasty, oceanic notes of fino add a dimension to the Negroni that most home bartenders have never experienced. The sous vide paan wash is genuinely worth doing at least once for the controlled precision it allows.

Source Restaurant
Restaurant
Musaafer (SAAQI bar), Houston, Texas and New York City
Spirit
Gin (Sous Vide Paan-Washed) + Vodka
Method
Stirred
ABV
~24%
Gin Guide All 69 Indian Cocktails Indian Mocktails (87) Cocktails A–Z
Where to drink this
Restaurant
Musaafer / SAAQI Bar
Address
5115 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77056
Style
Modern Indian fine dining & cocktail bar
Accolades
Houston's most acclaimed Indian restaurant · national cocktail recognition

Musaafer ('traveller' in Urdu) is the flagship of Houston's Indian fine dining scene, with SAAQI — its dedicated cocktail bar — as one of the most ambitious Indian bar programmes in the United States. Head bartender Bhavna Bhatt has built a menu that treats Indian spirits (Old Monk, Amrut, Paul John), syrups, and infusions as equal partners with global classics. The cocktail menu here is as serious as the kitchen.

Visit musaaferrestaurant.com