Source: LPM Restaurant & Bar

Reported By: Matthew Kennedy

The Tomatini is having its moment — again. On Wednesday, November 12, 2025, LPM Restaurant & Bar will host its second annual Tomatini Day, a global celebration honoring the cocktail that helped define the savory drinks movement. Now 15 years since its creation, the Tomatini continues to symbolize the spirited elegance of LPM’s bar culture and its seamless blend of craft and joie de vivre.

A week-long program will span the group’s international outposts, culminating in a festive November 12 service where all guests dining at La Petite Maison will receive a complimentary Tomatini or TomatiNO. The gesture reflects both the drink’s influence and LPM’s enduring commitment to celebrating shared hospitality experiences.

Originally crafted in 2010 by Jimmy Barrat for La Petite Maison Dubai, the Tomatini quickly captured the global imagination. Barrat — 2011 Diageo WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year UAE Champion and 2012 Global Runner-Up — built the cocktail as an ode to his French Riviera home, turning ripe coeur de boeuf tomatoes, salt, pepper, and white balsamic vinegar into the makings of a martini.

Made exclusively with Ketel One Vodka, the recipe blends freshly muddled Campari tomatoes, a pinch of salt and pepper, three-year-old white balsamic vinegar, and simple syrup, followed by a cherry tomato garnish dipped into salt and pepper. The final flourish — a theatrical crack of black pepper from LPM’s oversized pepper mill — has become a ritual all its own.

Barrat reflects on the drink’s evolution:

The inaugural Tomatini Day in 2024 saw thousands of guests participate across the group’s 10 international locations. Nearly 78,000 Tomatinis were served over the year, solidifying the drink’s place in contemporary cocktail culture.

Social media lit up with snapshots of the signature cherry tomato garnish and pepper-mill theatrics — a visual shorthand that helped cement the event as a fixture in the hospitality calendar.

This year’s celebration, held in partnership with Ketel One Vodka, promises to build on that momentum. Guests can expect returning highlights alongside new programming infused with LPM’s playful spirit.

The Tomatini is now a pillar of LPM’s identity, and its global bar teams take pride in serving the drink consistently and creatively. “From Dubai to London to Miami, the Tomatini has become our global signature. Our bartenders take pride in serving something so instantly recognizable, and it reflects the creativity and consistency guests have come to expect at La Petite Maison,” says Tibor Krascenics, Global Bar Manager at LPM Group.

Barrat’s long-standing friendship with Ketel One’s 11th-generation Master Distiller Bob Nolet underpins the cocktail’s success. For Nolet, the partnership feels naturally aligned.

Since 2023, Tomatini sales across LPM Group have increased by more than 35 percent, signaling its continued influence. LPM’s Dubai location — where the drink was first created — recently secured 60th place on the World’s 50 Best Bars extended list in 2025 and was crowned Time Out Dubai’s Restaurant of the Decade.

This acclaim arrives as LPM expands its creative footprint. The group’s new Déjà Vu bar menu, conceived as a vintage French editorial magazine, pays tribute to the Golden Age of the French Riviera. Blending mixology and nostalgia, the menu will roll out globally beginning Autumn 2025.

With 10 global locations and three more announced to open over the next three years, LPM continues championing an elevated approach to Mediterranean dining and spirited hospitality. Tomatini Day is a nod to that ethos — a celebration of a perfectly balanced glass that brings coastal warmth to bars around the world.

As the Tomatini turns fifteen, the cocktail remains as compelling as ever: fresh, savory, and thoughtfully made. A small taste of the Riviera, shaken and served with style.