The interview was conducted in April 2020. KINK Berlin is now open every Tuesday until Saturday from 6pm.

KINK is one of those venues that has it all. Is it a bar, a restaurant with Michelin-star aspiration, a club or a lab – Who knows? What we know is that it offers an experience, a new approach to mixing and dining. KINK is all about experiments, tests and samples, that’s why the Prenzlauer Berg location entails a workshop and a lab. The idea is to bring food-pairing to a new level by being able to cook, infuse and distil all available and thinkable ingredients. KINK makes their own distillates, oils and essences. Besides their creative zero-to-hero approach KINK ensures ever-growing innovation by betting on a kitchen and bar exchange-program. Chefs from all over the world are invited to shake up KINK’s menu and the staff is borrowed to other establishments. This circle does not only create a culinary community between the participating restaurants but guarantees fresh perspectives. One of those fresh perspectives is Arun Naagenthira, the bar-keeper from Nuremberg – he is a lateral entrant to the scene but one of the world’s most promising barkeepers. We talked team-love, cocktail-craftsmanship and flavour-ideas with Arun and he spilled a do-at-home Corona-recipe for us.

Nele Tüch: Your career began with a whole other plan, while the barkeeper-path just happened. Would you have been able to imagine being nominated for the 2019 World Class Bartender prize when you started your studies in economic sciences?
Arun Puvanendran: When I was studying I had no idea how vast the cocktail world was. Like everything, the more time you work on it, the more doors open for you. I was lucky enough to stumble into a profession that brought my passions together.

"When you enjoy what you’re doing, learning becomes incredibly easy."

NT: You are an autodidact with a little bit of help. How long did it take for you to gain the confidence to say, “This is a great drink” and recognize that you could become a professional barkeeper?
AP: When you enjoy what you’re doing, learning becomes incredibly easy. After time you realize that what you’re doing is more than just the basics of cocktail-making. When my colleagues began to notice my ideas as exciting and different, it helped confirm I was moving in the right direction. But the progression has always been natural; there wasn’t that single moment where I said, “Now I am a professional bartender.” It developed with time.

NT: How was it for you to move to Berlin and leave Nürnberg behind?
AP: Obviously, when you move to a new place, you have moments of uncertainty but my excitement outweighed any other feelings. I knew I needed a new start. The first four months were difficult and there were a lot of changes happening for me but luckily, my colleagues became friends and that made everything easier.

By Lee Edward

By Lee Edward

NT: Do you think you could have bloomed professionally like this if you had not been in Berlin?
AP: It’s hard to say, every city has its own scene. There are great bars with great bartenders everywhere. Maybe my style and my ideas would be different but the same opportunities are available to anyone interested.

NT: At KINK you’ll be pairing food with cocktails, you have a lab to experiment in, and you’re able to create your own ingredients for your drinks. How does all of this influence your new creations?
AP: Whatever you create, you need inspiration from other areas, otherwise you will be one-dimensional and uncreative. I work closely with our entire team, asking for their feedback and when you work closely with the chef, for instance, you take ideas from the kitchen and incorporate them into the drinks and vice versa. Working as a team is really important for progression and creation.

NT: In an interview, you once said that it’s much easier to combine 25 ingredients than to use just three to make a great drink. How important is this kind of craftsmanship and is this how you differentiate a good from a bad barkeeper?
AP: The fewer ingredients you use the less you have to hide, so making the perfect drink with just three ingredients shows a higher level of taste and an understanding of the ingredients used. There are probably some incredible drinks using 25 different ingredients, but simplicity is often the hardest to pull off.

NT: How important is creativity, freedom and experimentation to you?
AP: The answer to this is woven in some of my other responses, but I’ll add here that being surrounded by a team that’s enthusiastic and who has a desire to progress is very inspiring. When you’re inspired, experimentation and creation are effortless. But that sense of exchange also extends to the bar community as a whole, especially in Germany. I’ve had the opportunity to learn from a lot of great bartenders.

NT: Personal leeway (=Freiraum) - what does it mean for you and where can you find it?
AP: For me, it means no boundaries. It can be found anywhere you feel truly comfortable.


"If I eat something incredible at a restaurant, I think how would this work as a drink?"

NT: When thinking of cocktails, most people will think of mixing pre-existing ingredients together. Your approach is different, that’s why it is so important for people to realize how much work and investment goes into each drink. What’s your turn on this?
AP: I prefer to begin with flavour ideas, this way, I’m not limiting myself to what’s been done before. If I eat something incredible at a restaurant, I think how would this work as a drink? Obviously, there are the foundations, the classic drinks, that you can build upon- much in the same way musical scales are used to create songs.

NT: KINK provides the possibility for staff to lend themselves to another establishment in order to educate oneself further. Is this something you would like to do, and if yes, what would be your dream-bar to learn from?
AP: This is a very difficult question, all bars offer different areas of expertise. Off the top of my head, I would say…. One Trick Pony, Schwarzes Schaf, Auroom, Kinley, Velvet, D. H. Black Rabbit, Atlas Bar... just to name a few.

NT: Since we’re in quarantine-times: Could you reveal a cocktail-recipe we can easily do ourselves at home?
AP: In KINK’s monthly newsletter, I share easy recipes for cocktails that are perfectly enjoyable during these warm evenings!

Sign up for future tips and recipes here.

1. Blend 300 ml of any London Dry Gin and a hand full of your favourite fresh herbs. Try and get your hands on lovage (in season, great taste). Strain it with a tea strainer. Your herbal gin is ready.
2. Take a pot, stir 1 part sugar with 1 part water and boil until clear. Your simple syrup is ready.
3. Fill a long-drink glas with ice and add: 60 ml herbal gin, 30 ml simple syrup, 30 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice.
4. Fill up with soda and stir.
5. Garnish with a lemon slice or/and fresh herbs.

        Enjoy!

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