Fifty Fifty, Stephanie Marinkovic’s first bar, bets on creativity and less alcohol

Fifty Fifty, named after Stephanie Marinkovic’s new bar, is a variation of the dry martini that combines equal proportions of gin and vermouth. The name also represents the sharing of the bartender with her husband and fellow bartender Danilo Rodrigues, with whom she opens her first counter, in Pinheiros.

“He’s a more classic bartender, I’m more unusual. We tried to combine that and show what we think cocktails are,” says Marinkovic. They met ten years ago and, six years ago, their friendship evolved into dating.

Rodrigues visited houses like the award-winning Tan Tan. Until the end of last year, Marinkovic signed the Bar dos Cravos charter, in addition to providing consultancy. But it was at Espaço 13, a bar and tattoo studio that operated in Bixiga, that she made her career.

It was seven years in Space. She started washing dishes, became a bartender and then a partner. He implemented a signature drink menu, where he could exercise his creativity. His beginnings in the cocktail industry, however, were by chance.

Marinkovic started working at the age of 16 to help her mother, in hairdressing salons. She graduated in that field and in cosmetology. One day, a friend asked her to do freelance work getting coffee and gin and tonic. He got a taste for it and developed a knack for things.

She, who grew up on the kitchen floor, watching her mother cook work, gained her repertoire through courses and learned everything in practice, until she started winning competitions. “I’ve always been very curious and stubborn. That’s brought me here.”

The desire to have a home of your own was old. Fifty Fifty opened its doors on the 8th, and operates without reservations. The bartender couple welcomes visitors at the wooden counter or at the small tables and armchairs in the cozy room.

Before deciding what to order, the customer receives a glass of water, replenished throughout the night, and a portion of peanuts smeared with gochujang, fermented pepper paste, on the house.

Marinkovic proposes something in her bar that she had tried at Bar dos Cravos, which are drinks with a lower alcohol content. The idea is to be able to drink with less impact on the body. She then invests in the complexity of flavors and textures. One of the originals, refreshing, combines vodka, tequila, apricot and watermelon and cucumber soda that goes through the milk punch clarification process (R$ 44). On top, slice of watermelon and thyme.

The bartender continues to pay attention to the garnishes and creates, for example, a sweet brigadeiro made from cachaça toffee and white chocolate to balance the sips of the drink that contains the same amburana cachaça, passion fruit juice and caramel made with cumaru, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. The drink costs R$38.

For a nightcap, the suggestion is a cocktail that reminds us of tiramisu. For R$46, it has rum, cold brew, cocoa and, on top, a sweet and creamy mascarpone made in-house with a hint of vanilla.

The food menu has an Asian feel, with Korean, Japanese and even Vietnamese-inspired dishes, cuisines that the bartender duo likes. There are starters and individual dishes or to share. Yukhoe (R$45), typical of South Korea, is a cousin of steak tartare, made with raw flank steak cut into strips, cured egg yolk and sorrel leaf.

Another choice is the chicken katsu (R$38), a mini breaded chicken sandwich with sunomono, miso mayonnaise and gochujang. The recipes are from chef Key Kurihara, from Punk Cuisine, who came from Curitiba to lead the kitchen.

There is a surprise for anyone who visits the bar. On the blue wall next to the counter, a bell hangs. It is a gift from a long-time client of Marinkovic, who came up with the idea at Espaço 13 and mined the object himself. When the bell rings, a round of shot is served. There’s no set time, it could be at the end of the day, but it’s every day. They also don’t reveal what the drink is. The trick is to drink together.