The Japanese Slipper cocktail, a bright, citrussy, liqueur forward sipper, was created by Jean Paul Bourguignon at Mietta’s in Melbourne in the late 1980s. Mietta’s was an influential restaurant and creative hub in Melbourne, run by Tansy and Betty Mietta and later their family. It doubled as a meeting place for artists, writers and chefs, a place where experimentation and playful collaboration were encouraged.

Jean Paul Bourguignon was a bartenderworking at Mietta’s. He was interested in elegant, balanced cocktails that showcased flavour rather than pure strength. Bourguignon was presented with a bottle of Midori by a sales rep to play around with and this was the result. He combined Midori (the vivid green, melon flavoured Japanese liqueur), fresh lemon juice, and cointreau (triple sec being the orange flavoured liqueur) producing a drink that looked strikingly green and tasted crisp, floral and full of sweet citrus. Now the name? Bourguignon was learning English at the time and recalls reading a book about a Japanese woman and her slippers. “This word slipper was new for me,” he says.

The Japanese Slipper made up of equal parts midori, triple sec, lemon juice and garnished with a singular maraschino cherry allowed to sink to the bottom, is fluorescent green and colour allowing the red cherry to shine like a beacon at the bottom. It looks un-mistakenly 80s with its bright neon hue and fun not too serious approach to the drink. Being from Melbourne myself, it makes me incredibly proud to have grown up down the road from where the Japanese Slipper was created and popularised.