E-Mail This Article to a Friend Around the world in 80 sips The globe’s in a glass at restaurants all over town BY GENEVIEVE RAJEWSKI
	Map it out • Addis Red Sea, 544 Tremont Street, Boston, (617) 426-8727. • Bombay Club, 57 JFK Street, Cambridge, (617) 661-8100. • Café Polonia, 611 Dorchester Avenue, South Boston, (617) 269-0110. • Café St. Petersburg, 236 Washington Street, Brookline, (617) 277-7100. • Chez Henri, 1 Shepard Street, Cambridge, (617) 354-8980. • Cuchi Cuchi, 95 Main Street, Cambridge, (617) 864-2929. • Dalí Restaurant and Tapas Bar, 415 Washington Street, Somerville, (617) 661-3254. • Elephant & Castle, 161 Devonshire Street, Boston, (617) 350-9977. • Fugakyu, 1280 Beacon Street, Brookline, (617) 734-1268. • Jacob Wirth Restaurant, 31-37 Stewart Street, Boston, (617) 338-8586. • Olé Mexican Grill, 1 Springfield Street, Cambridge, (617) 492-4495. • Sandrine’s Bistro, 8 Holyoke Street, Cambridge, (617) 497-5300. — GR

There’s something undeniably captivating about movies that chart their action using the device of a plane moving across a map of the world. Whether it’s Casablanca or Raiders of the Lost Ark, such a stylized international adventure always seems to brew romance, camaraderie, and foreign intrigue.

Of course, those three ingredients would just as easily make for a memorable evening on the town. So next time you head out for drinks, imagine the Hub and its environs as a topographical map of the world and choose your drinks — or foreign destination — accordingly.

For example, should you wish to travel to Mexico, visit Olé Mexican Grill, which evokes Oaxaca with its hand-painted tiles and terra-cotta pottery. Here, you can wash down guacamole prepared tableside with an orange margarita, made with Hornitos, Cointreau, sour mix, orange juice, and lime juice. If you prefer your agave juice straight up, you can order the Monte Alban mezcal ($5) for a true Oaxacan touch. Six tequila flights ($6.50–$8) allow you to sample several aged tequilas and come with sangrita — spicy tomato juice traditionally used as a chaser in Mexico. The bar also stocks bottled Mexican beers ($3.75) including Carta Blanca, Sol, Pacifico, Tecate, Bohemia, Modelo Especial, and Negra Modelo.

If you’d rather hop the pond than head south of the border, try the Elephant & Castle. Although part of a chain, the downtown bar and restaurant has ample British spirit, thanks to its red British phone booth and convincing pub menu. If you like your drinks from the tap, order up a pint of Bass Ale ($4.75) or Boddingtons ($4.75). If you prefer your brew from a bottle, you can sample more from the UK, including Fuller’s London Pride ($4.50), Fuller’s ESB ($4.75), Old Speckled Hen ($5.75), Old Peculiar ($5.75), and Samuel Smith Pale Ale ($5.75) and Taddy Porter ($5.75). The bar also stocks several Scottish imports, including Belhaven Scottish Ale ($5.75), Belhaven St. Andrews ($5.75), and McEwans Scotch Ale ($4.50).

While in England, you may well want to cross the Channel, so to speak, using the MBTA’s Red Line. The reproduction Art Nouveau métro entrance at Sandrine’s Bistro isn’t the only Parisian touch that will transport you from Harvard Square to the City of Light. The bar makes a wonderful kir royale ($14) — a sweet, effervescent drink made with Champagne and crème de cassis, a black-currant cordial. You can also enjoy kir ($10) made with white wine and crème de cassis or an Alsatian Picon ($7), which features Kronenberg beer mixed with Picon, an orange bitter cordial.

From France, head due south and cross the metaphorical Pyrenees to savor Dalí Restaurant and Tapas Bar’s exceptional sangria ($5.50/glass; $18/liter; $30/two liters). Should you seek a Spanish drink that has yet to be co-opted by Tex-Mex chain restaurants, try one of several licores imported from Spain: sloe-berry pacharán ($6); orange-flavored Gran Torres ($6); vanilla-flavored Licor 43 ($6); anise-flavored Las Cadenas ($6); or Orujo de Galicia ($8) — a Spanish grappa. And should you be making merry with a group, order the porrón ($25), a communal drinking vessel filled with cava, a Spanish sparkling wine.

Imagine again a map of Europe; now move onward and upward to Jacob Wirth Restaurant, where beer lovers can enjoy a perpetual Oktoberfest. Boston’s second-oldest restaurant boasts an extensive menu of draft German beers ($4.25–$6.50/pint; $17–$28/pitcher): Spaten Lite, Spaten Optimator, Warsteiner Pilsner, Frankenheim Alt, Warsteiner Dunkel, Radeberger Pilsner, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Franziskaner Doppelbock Weissbier, Hoffbrau München, Ayinger Celebrator, or Clausthaler.

A taste of Poland is located, strangely enough, in Southie. At Café Polonia, you’ll find grzace ("warmers"), a traditional winter drink from Poland’s mountain regions. The beer warmer ($5.95), which comes in a glass stein, is steaming beer flavored with raspberry syrup and carnation. The wine warmer ($4.95), served in a hefty mug, features red wine mulled with carnation, ginger, and cinnamon. There are also several bottled beers ($4). Okocim, EB Pils, Zywiec, and Lorza are from Poland; Obolan is from the Ukraine; and Kalnapilis hails from Lithuania.

You can sample another of Poland’s favorite beverages in the country it is most synonymous with: Russia. In Brookline’s small and elegant Café St. Petersburg, diners wash down their meals with a number of homemade vodkas — including ones infused with lemon, horseradish, garlic and pepper, and cranberry.

While still in the East (or, er, Brookline), voyage to Fugakyu, where you’ll encounter a river of artful sushi boats and private booths. The Choya martini ($6.75) features Choya plum wine, vodka, and dry vermouth, while the sake martini ($5.75) contains sake, vodka, vermouth, and an olive. The Roy Yamaguchi sake ($29.95/375 milliliters) is homemade, and the house sake ($4.75/small; $7.78/large) is served warm. For a refreshingly sweet drink, try the Kinsen plum wine ($5.25). Meanwhile, several Japanese beers — including Kirin Ichiban ($4.75), Sapporo draft ($4.75), and Yebisu ($7.75) — appease those with less adventurous tastes.

From Japan, head southwest to India — or, rather, to the Bombay Club, in Harvard Square. In addition to Indian beers such as Flying Horse ($7.95) and Kingfisher ($4.95), the Indian restaurant and bar serves up two deceptively sweet cocktails. The Kama Sutra ($7.50) is a blend of Hpnotiq (which is itself a blend of cognac, vodka, and tropical-fruit juices), pineapple rum, triple sec, and a squeeze of lime. The potent Indian Flame ($7.50) features citrus vodka, Licor 43, mango juice, grenadine, and a splash of soda water.

Next, set your drinking sails for a passage across Boston’s version of the Arabian Sea. Tucked away in the South End is Addis Red Sea, an outpost of Ethiopian cuisine that serves several African beers and wines. Tusker ($4.95) is a lager from Kenya; Harar ($4.25) is an Ethiopian Pilsner. More unique still are two honey wines imported from Ethiopia: Axum ($5.25/glass; $21/bottle) and Royal Mead ($5/glass; $21/bottle).

A trip to Cuchi Cuchi, in Central Square, takes you south of the Equator. Its clericó ($20/liter) is a sangria-like concoction from South America made with white wine, sparkling cider, and fresh fruit. The Pisco sour ($9) originated in either Chile or Peru (both claim responsibility). Cuchi Cuchi’s version features Pisco Capel (a Chilean brandy distilled from grapes), simple syrup, pasteurized egg whites, and a dash of bitters. The caipirinha ($10) hails from Brazil and here is made from lime slices muddled with sugar, Cachaça (Brazilian sugarcane liquor), and lime juice.

Grabbing one of the few bar tables at Chez Henri, in Cambridge, is the barhopping equivalent of outwitting US Customs by getting into Cuba itself. But it’s worth arriving early to be able to relish a Cuban sandwich along with the bar’s renowned mojito ($6.95). Other Cuban-style cocktails include the original daiquiri ($6) and a Havana special ($5) made with pineapple juice and rum. The flamingo ($5.25) features pineapple juice, rum, and grenadine over crushed ice, while the periodista (that’s Spanish for "journalist") combines triple sec, apricot brandy, rum, sugar, and lime juice. The brisa ($7.25) is a potent mixture of Ketel One vodka, agua dulce, freshly squeezed grapefruit, and cranberry juice, served straight up.

Genevieve Rajewski can be reached at ticktockwordshop@comcast.net