“From Hong Kong with Love” Featuring Amanda Wan at Tujo

[Event]

Tujo Bar-sserie & Grill features Feel Good Food in the menu with the highlight being the all new Grill with a selection of meats and seafood cooked to your liking coated with customised rubs and marinades for that added zing to the palate.

There’s also a choice of salads, nibbles, pizzas, sandwiches, main courses and desserts available. Delicious Drinks are Tujo’s award winning mixologists’ promise to its patrons and features an extensive array of giggle juice ranging from cocktails, wines, champagnes, beers, spirits, detox drinks, coffees and teas.

We headed over to Tujo on 17 February 2016 for the special “From Hong Kong with Love” event featuring Amanda Wan, a mixologist specially flown in from Hong Kong, where she works as the Beverage Development Manager for Tastings Group. Amanda presented her cocktail submission to the Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition entitled Constance – an elegant creation pays tribute to a bartender’s persistence and dedication to their craft, doing what they do, every day, every week, month and year. It exemplifies the beauty of constancy, hence the name of her cocktail, Constance.

The special Constance was priced at RM20++ per glass, and there were also some specially created makis to pair with the cocktail : Unagi Bananarama or Assorted Nigiri Sushi at RM38++, and Mediterranean or California Rolls at RM25++.

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Amanda’s first foray in the beverage business was as a barista in 2005. As her appreciation for coffee grew, so did her interest in spirits. She soon moved from working with beans and brews, to spirits and liqueurs. She joined the now defunct 7atenine at Ascott Kuala Lumpur in 2006 as a bar back and learned under the tutelage of Frankie who was then the Bar Captain. She pursued a Bachelor’s degree in International Hotel and Tourism Management whilst she worked.

Despite a grueling schedule of work and school, Amanda graduated class valedictorian in 2009, and earned First Class Honours on her dissertation, the “Evolution of Mixology”. Within a year of graduating, Amanda became the first female bartender to represent her country, Malaysia, at the DIAGEO Global World Class Bartender of the Year Competition in 2010. In 2014, she was named Top 25 Bartenders in Hong Kong by Drinks World Asia. Today, Amanda is a top 8 finalist, in the prestigious Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition in Hong Kong & Macau.

“Coming back to KL, back to the exact space where I started my career as a mixologist is bitter sweet. I get a sense of deja-vu, it’s familiar yet different. The biggest difference is the absence of my mentor, the reason I am who I am today……Frankie P. Anthony.” remarks Amanda Wan with a sense of nostalgia.