Adam Handling opens Ugly Butterfly bar in Cornwall

Following in the footsteps of his flagship location in London – Eve Bar – Adam Handling has ventured south to Cornwall, serving drinks with a sustainable focus and creating classic cocktails using waste from the restaurant.

Located in St Ives, Ugly Butterfly is chef Adam Handling’s first attempt to venture out of London. The restaurant’s menu puts a spotlight on local and seasonal produce, meaning if ingredients cannot be found in the south of England, they will not be seen on the menu.

No lemons or limes will feature, and the team uses creative methods or ingredients to replace these traditionally essential cocktail ingredients. To maintain some citrus flavours, Handling’s team are employing an ‘urban foraging’ techniques used to source the skins of lemons and limes from other bars in the area to create syrups. Gorse flowers used to replace the coconut in a Pina Colada in the Gorse Got Soul cocktail.

The sustainable focus of the restaurant can be seen even in its interior design, where Ugly Butterfly’s ‘Gallery of creativity’ – a dedicated wall of kilner jars filled with by-products from the kitchen which have been saved, preserved and fermented to be used within cocktails throughout the year.

Spent coffee syrup, beef fat whisky and strawberry vinegar are just some of the ingredients developed by head bartender Josh Linfitt and his team, who use innovative techniques to preserve otherwise wasted or seasonal produce.

Drinks on the menu include a Conish take on a dry martini – The Fal-Town, created by infusing shucked oyster shells and their juices into Ketel One Vodka, finished with samphire and seaweed from the Cornish coast. The Cheeky Monkey is a simple and clean take on a Manhattan with a hint of banana, finished with cornish fudge, using off cuts of the petit fours served in the restaurant.

And with the rising popularity of low- and no-alcohol drinks, the Ugly Butterfly’s bar team has developed a whole range of drinks perfect for a tee-total tipple. include the Rose Spritz with Everleaf Mountain, foraged berry shrub and finished London Essence jasmin & white peach soda, Dawny Wave (4% abv) with Discarded Cascara Vermouth, Served raspberry hard seltzer and salted cornish honey and Tea First with almond, tea and mint soda and berry essence.

Read more on the rise of nolo drinks here.