Elem’s self-taught bartender turns kitchen waste into cocktail gold | Canada Voices

The back bar at Elem looks a little different than most.

For one thing, instead of open shelves showcasing different types of liquors and liqueurs, the Vancouver restaurant has a display of small glass jars, each one with a handwritten label. Some jars hold dry ingredients, running the gamut from Madagascar vanilla and saffron to wormwood and gentian root. But many others are filled with house-made potions. There’s shiitake tincture, pea shell broth, huckleberry liqueur. Nasturtium tincture. Magnolia vinegar. Shrimp gin.

These are the elements that Elem content and beverage director Winnie Sun uses to create the restaurant’s buzzy no-waste cocktail program. Sun is something of a mad scientist, and has quickly become known around Vancouver for her unique, creative and a little weird cocktail creations – which turn whatever kitchen leftovers Elem chef Vish Mayekar throws at her into liquid gold.

Along with the usual mixology tools of shakers and strainers, Sun’s bar – referred to internally as her cocktail laboratory – also includes a setup that looks more suited to a science experiment than a trendy restaurant. There’s a giant food-grade tub filled with water with a sous vide machine attached to it. And there’s a rotovap: an evaporation machine that removes residue from liquid and is commonly used in chemical labs. A series of dark glass panels engulf the end of the bar in a semi-circle, and they’re covered with white scribblings – ideas, reminders, half-formed recipes.

Much the same way that a chef changes their menu based on what’s in season, Sun updates her cocktail list based on what’s available from the kitchen. It creates an exciting dialogue between the two halves of the restaurant, which work in a funky kind of harmony.

“It keeps me on my toes,” Sun says, “because I never know what’s coming.” A few weeks ago, there were cheese rinds left over from a pea pasta dish; Sun used them in a martini, infusing them into gin. She also boiled the discarded pea husks with thyme, mint and parsley to create a broth that was added to the drink along with vermouth.

Currently on the cocktail menu – which is constantly changing – is the Seoul, which is Sun’s play on a paloma. She takes tequila and, using her sous vide machine, infuses it with a gochujang caramel leftover from the kitchen – then combines it with grapefruit soda and a few drops of sesame oil.

“Almost every cocktail that I do is a spur-of-the-moment inspiration,” she says. “Your first thought is your instinct, and you should follow that.”

It’s an impressive skill set to have, especially for someone who is entirely self-taught. Sun didn’t go to mixology school, didn’t cut her teeth working as a bar back. Instead, she simply observed bartenders who she admired both at home and abroad. In particular, she credits Andrea Civettini of Barcelona’s famed Galileo, who she met on a trip to Spain in 2023, as a major inspiration.

“He showed me his back bar,” she recalls, “and how to do things his way.”

And despite what seems to be a natural talent, it wasn’t a straight-ahead path that led Sun to a life behind the bar. She was born in Shandong, China, and moved to Burnaby when she was 8. Food and drink were not a big part of her childhood.

“I grew up on takeout,” she says with a smile. “Maybe it was a really big absence of homemade things growing up that made me curious, like, ‘Okay, what can I do?’”

Mocktails catch up to their booze-filled counterparts on restaurant menus

While working at SportChek when she was 18, she became fast friends with her manager Hassib Sarwari, whose dream was to open a restaurant. His first venture ended up being Surrey’s Afghan Kitchen. Sun helped out with marketing, but she soon left town to study immigration law at the University of Sussex – until the pandemic forced her to return to B.C.

During that time, Sarwari was gearing up to open Zarak: a higher-end Afghan restaurant on Vancouver’s trendy Main Street. Sun came on board as partner and bar manager – her first-ever bartending gig – all the while finishing her degree online. Somewhere along the way, she realized that becoming a lawyer wasn’t actually what she wanted.

“I threw more energy into hospitality and it brought me more energy back,” says Sun. “The more you invest in it, the more reward you get from it. I could never imagine sitting at a desk, sifting through papers.”

Zarak opened in late 2021 and was an instant hit, in no small part thanks to Sun’s kooky and delicious drinks. When the space next door – a sofa store – became available, Sarwari and Sun decided to become their own competition, partnering with chef Mayekar on Elem, which opened in November of last year. It’s allowed Sun to take her skills to the next level.

“We absolutely refer to her as a genius,” says Sarwari. “It’s very inspiring to be around, because it allows us to match her level of dedication and commitment towards her craft.”

Sarwari thinks of Elem’s cocktail list “almost like a food menu, but made with alcohol.” (Though many of the drinks also have zero-proof versions.) One of his current favourites is the White Rabbit, Sun’s play on an espresso martini. Made with vodka that’s been sous vide with decaf espresso, and clarified milk that’s been infused with White Rabbits (a popular Chinese candy) and arbol chile, it’s a nod to Sun’s heritage. The candy’s wrapper is used as a garnish, and the spent coffee beans are sent to the kitchen to be turned into petit fours.

“Probably the best espresso martini I’ve ever had,” says Sarwari.

Sun usually arrives at Elem around nine in the morning, relishing the quiet before the dinner rush. This is when she does her best ideating, and when she prepares all of the potions that will become key ingredients in her drinks. (She also makes many of her own garnishes, including the marshmallows that sit atop her S’mores Old Fashioned – they’re torched at the table, of course.)

“I try really hard,” Sun says. “I really wanted to prove to myself – not for others, but for myself – that I could do this.”

Home Seoul recipe

Recipe by Winnie Sun, partner, content and beverage director at Elem

This is a home version that won’t have Elem’s gochujang-caramel tequila, but any tequila would work well for a refreshing summer gochujang paloma.

Gochujang syrup:

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 2-3 tbsp gochujang
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or Giffard salted caramel (the latter is preferred)

Combine sugar, water and gochujang in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla extract or caramel syrup. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any solids.

For cocktail (or mocktail):

• 1.5 oz tequila (or zero-proof tequila, Sun’s favourite is HP Juniper’s Agave)
• 0.5 oz fresh lime juice
• 0.75 oz gochujang syrup (or 1 oz for the zero-proof version)
• Add ice to glass
• Top with Fever-Tree Grapefruit Soda
• Add five drops of sesame oil
• Garnish with prawn cracker (optional)