The Best Type Of Rum Cocktails To Pair With Chinese Food

Our ranking of the very best Chinese food features many tasty dishes like dumplings, spring rolls, and stir-fry. While perfectly delicious on their own, you can elevate the flavor of these dishes even further by pairing them with a complementary rum-based beverage. Flavor profiles can vary greatly according to the type and brand of rum, but the alcohol is best known for having a caramelly, subtly sweet flavor that meshes perfectly with the savory elements in Chinese cuisine. To determine the very best rum cocktail to accompany your Chinese cuisine feast, Mashed turned to Katie Stryjewski, cocktail writer and Instagrammer, for some exclusive answers.

According to Stryjewski, "Tiki cocktails are good pairings for Thai and Chinese food." Tiki drinks have a somewhat surprising history; while the word tiki comes from the Māori people of New Zealand and refers to inanimate figures taking on a human form, tiki culture is distinctly American. Many people credit Don the Beachcomber, a restaurant founded in the 1930s, for putting tiki drinks on the map. These cocktails typically featured a base of rum, enhanced with various spices and sweet ingredients. Tiki bars and their extensive variety of tasty cocktails continued to grow in popularity over the years. Along with their visual and flavor appeal, Stryjewski believes that the ingredients in tiki cocktails wonderfully complement Chinese fare.

Tiki drinks include Singapore slings, piña coladas, and mai tais, among many others. In addition to rum, these cocktails often contain ingredients like fruit juice, liqueur, and bitters. However, Katie Stryjewski recommends rum drinks with specific ingredients for Chinese food with a bit of a kick. The cocktail writer explains, "I especially like drinks with creamy ingredients like orgeat or cream of coconut with spicy dishes." This makes sense as creamy elements are perfect for tempering heat. 

Orgeat is a type of syrup made with sugar, almonds, and orange flower water, while cream of coconut is a sweet drink mixer with a syrup-like texture. Thunder in paradise is one tiki-inspired beverage that includes both orgeat and cream of coconut, as well as rum, sherry, and lime juice for a perfect pairing to spicy dishes like Dandan noodles or Sichuan chicken.

Stryjewski's keen insights illustrate the delicate process of pairing certain types of food with alcoholic beverages, even beyond Chinese cuisine. The cocktail writer offers that when pairing rum with finger foods, "A rum-based Negroni makes for a great aperitivo with a charcuterie plate or other hors d'oeuvres." Like traditional recipes for a classic Negroni cocktail, rum Negronis also feature sweet vermouth and Campari, but the gin is swapped with rum. Stryjewski's recommendations illustrate that rum is an excellent beverage complement to many types of cuisine, but its inclusion in tiki drinks makes for an ideal pairing when dining on Chinese food in particular.