I’m a huge fan of big long meals with a multitude of small courses. Of course some of the courses have to be food, but in my ideal meal there is plenty of space for some purely liquid courses as well.

Taking a tip from the Italians, I reckon that you can’t go too far wrong if you start off with an aperitivo, a drink designed to sharpen the appetite for the meal ahead.

There are a few classic aperitivos, with the best known probably being the Negroni. The problem is that I don’t really like Negronis, so I had a bit of a search and play and found something that I really do like.

Created by Paul Mant at Quo Vadis in London this drink has it all. The bitterness of the Campari is balanced out with the sweetness of the simple syrup and the citrusy taste of the orange juice.

Like the Negroni, this drink contains Campari, but that is where the similarity ends. It’s lighter, sweeter, and has effervescence from the sparkling wine.

Notes on ingredients

I like to make this drink with cava, but you could also use champagne or prosecco. Whichever sparkling wine you choose, the most important thing is that it should be as dry as possible. If you are using something a bit sweeter, then you will need to reduce the amount of simple syrup in the recipe.

Mant’s original recipe calls for clementine juice, but if you don’t have any then you can just use the juice from regular oranges. For the sake of presentation, the drink should really be finely strained from the shaker into the glass, but at home I prefer to drink it with the bits of orange still floating around it in.

The recipe

1. Pre chill a rocks glass or champagne flute, and put some big ice into your cocktail shaker.

2. Add everything except for the cava to the shaker and give it a good shake.

3. Finely strain the drink into the chilled glass.

4. Top up the glass with cava, and garnish with a twist of orange zest.

5. Sit back and watch the lovely colour for a few seconds before enjoying the perfect start to your meal.