Danico, the award-winning Parisian cocktail bar tucked behind restaurant Daroco, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a Best Of menu that revisits 30 of its most defining cocktails, three for each year from 2016 to 2026.
Running from 1 June to 31 August 2026, the limited-edition list is the bar team’s archaeological project as much as a celebration. Founder Nico de Soto and bar manager Corentin Gaudin dug back through ten years of menus to pull the drinks that mattered, the ones that built Danico’s reputation as one of the most quietly experimental rooms in Paris. Some serves are unlimited; others are capped at the exact number the team can produce before an ingredient runs out. Every cocktail on the menu is priced at €17.
A Decade of Globally Minded Mixology
Since opening in 2016, Danico has built its identity on a globally inspired approach to flavor, with techniques and ingredients borrowed from every continent. Since 2023, that philosophy has run through the Danico Xplorer series, menus structured as liquid travelogs. The work has translated into international recognition: No. 30 on The World’s 50 Best Bars, No. 17 in the Top 500 Bars, and a recent Top 10 nomination for World’s Best Cocktail Menu at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.
The Best Of menu reads like a flavor map of the last ten years. Milk punches, savory builds, fat-washes, cultural mash-ups, and the occasional straight-up nostalgia drink all sit alongside each other, organized by the menu year that birthed them.
2016 to 2019: The Early Signatures
The opening section revisits the room’s first identity. Kota Ternate blends Planteray Rums (OFTD and 3 Stars) with pineapple, coconut spice mix, lime, and milk, a spicy reworking of the Piña Colada. It pairs with L’Alligator C’Est Vert, a creamy build of absinthe, coconut milk, pandan, nutmeg, and egg. Closing 2016 to 2017, and limited to 98 serves, is St Germain Des Prés, a clean composition of Citadelle Gin, St-Germain, lime, cucumber, ghost bitters, and egg white.
The 2017 to 2018 trio includes Prends L’Oseille (Planteray 3 Stars, aquavit, sorrel, green cardamom, yoghurt, lime, and absinthe), capped at just 54 serves, alongside the highball What’s Up Doc?, built on tequila, horseradish, carrot, black peppercorn, and soda. Les Molettes de François rounds out the year as a margarita variation with tequila, mezcal, avocado, corn, lime, mole, and hickory salt.
From 2018 to 2019, Ghost In The Shell (aquavit, white cocoa, passion fruit, coconut milk, ghost bitters, and egg) is limited to 52 serves. It sits beside Fat Duck, a smoky milk punch with Scotch, Calvados, baked apple, caramel, lemon, and milk, and Rødgrød med Fløde, a berry-driven aquavit serve with Söderblanding tea, spice mix, lemon, and milk.
2019 to 2022: Milk Punches and Bigger Builds
The 2019 to 2020 section leans into clarification and nostalgia. Sweet Banane is a banana milk punch with Planteray 3 Stars, banana, coconut water, lemon, and milk. PBJ is exactly what it sounds like, Planteray 3 Stars stretched over brioche, peanut butter, and strawberry cream. Milky Whey reads as liquid carrot cake, built from vodka, aquavit, carrot cake spice mix, lemon, and cream.
For 2020 to 2021, the menu doubles down on richness. For Christ’s Sake, a limited release of just 112 serves, blends sake, jackfruit, black rice, coconut milk, and egg. It is followed by You Son of a Peach (Planteray 3 Stars, peach, mint, lime, pea soda, and truffle), and Fat Beet, a fresh gimlet of shochu, apple brandy, fig leaf, kiwi, and golden beet.
2021 to 2022 brings Asparagus, a clarified serve of Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac, white wine, opal basil, lemon, and egg white, alongside Mirror Selfie, the first cocktail written by bar manager Coco, with Citadelle Gin, sweet vermouth, grapefruit, sakura tea, and bergamot perfume. The trio closes with Jesus Marie Joseph, a savory build of Planteray Original Dark, brown butter, cep mushrooms, walnut liqueur, and frankincense.
2022 to 2024: Savory Maximalism
The 2022 to 2023 menu pushes the savory register hardest. Moussaka layers Planteray OFTD and 3 Stars with red wine, herbs, black tea, tomato, eggplant, lemon, and milk. Café Moutarde Banane, an espresso martini variation with black mustard seed distillate, coffee liqueur, espresso, and banana, has been called by regulars the best espresso martini ever poured at the bar. Cameron Nori closes the year with sake, nori-infused acid solution, coconut syrup, and egg white.
The 2023 to 2024 section is where the playfulness peaks. Nasi Goreng, built on barley shochu, nasi goreng syrup, tofu milk, and egg, is essentially lunch in a glass. Karkotoa combines peanut butter distillate, Planteray 3 Stars, palm sugar, mango, pineapple, cucumber, sweet potato, lime, and soy milk. De Soto has called it the best milk punch he has ever tasted, which is why it is one of the few drinks on the menu offered without a cap. Elotes closes the year with Citadelle Gin, corn whiskey, corn liqueur, Mexican spice mix, blue corn, lemon, corn milk, and corn foam.
2024 to 2026: Sakura, Miso and Peruvian Ingredients
The most recent menus get equal billing. From 2024 to 2025, Sakura is Danico’s signature Negroni, made with Citadelle Gin, sweet vermouth, Campari, umeshu, and sakura. Sado Miso blends Pierre Ferrand 1840, rye, brown butter miso, anko, black sesame, rice, tofu milk, and egg. KR Market rounds out the year with tequila, St-Germain, marigold distillate, flower butter, flower tea, blossom water, red apple, verjus, and jasmine.
The 2025 to 2026 closing trio leans into Peruvian ingredients. Chicha Morada is a vibrant build of vodka, chicha morada, and clarified apple. Leche de Tigre translates the ceviche marinade through Citadelle Gin, ceviche distillate, coconut oil, lime, ají amarillo, and coriander. Torito de Pucará, capped at 82 serves, closes the menu with bourbon, cacao, blackcurrant, yacón syrup, and orange-lucuma bitters.
A Working Archive
Ten-year retrospectives in bars are usually marketing exercises. Danico’s is closer to a working archive, with several cocktails capped at production-real numbers because the original ingredients are seasonal, scarce, or expensive enough that the team can only make a few dozen before stopping. For anyone tracking how modern Parisian mixology evolved through the late 2010s and into the 2020s, the Best Of menu is the closest thing to a syllabus. It runs at 6 Rue Vivienne through 31 August 2026.
