What is a pornstar martini?London's passion fruit cocktail, born in 2002, at Fiena, King's Cross

The drink was created in 2002 by Douglas Ankrah, the owner of LAB Bar in Soho, at his bar Townhouse in London. Ankrah has said it was inspired by a visit to Cape Town in South Africa. As for the name, he told a drinks website it wasn't meant to be anything sexual: he simply thought it was "something that a porn star would drink".

Despite the name, it isn't a traditional martini at all. It's one of many variations that simply use "martini" in their name.

The classic version is a passion fruit-flavoured cocktail made with vanilla vodka, Passoã (a passion fruit liqueur), passion fruit purée and vanilla sugar. It was traditionally served with a chilled shot glass of champagne on the side. Over the years many bars have adapted the recipe, often adding citrus and pineapple juice, which gives it a different flavour and texture.

The pornstar martini was reported to be the most ordered cocktail in the United Kingdom in November 2018. In 2019, the British retailer Marks & Spencer renamed its pornstar martinis "passion fruit martinis", following complaints about the name. Background from Wikipedia's porn star martini page.

On our drinks menu, the Pornstar martini is made with vanilla vodka, passion fruit purée, passion fruit liqueur, vanilla syrup and pineapple juice, and like all our cocktails it comes with a 50ml spirit measure. If you like the idea of the original's sparkling side, there's Prosecco on the list too.

Not drinking? The Virgin pornstar martini on our mocktail list keeps the passion fruit and vanilla, with passion fruit purée, passion fruit juice, lime juice, vanilla syrup and pineapple juice. See our post on alcohol-free drinks and mocktails.

Fancy something else from the same family? Our Espresso martini is made with vanilla vodka, fresh espresso, coffee liqueur and vanilla syrup. See our posts on the Negroni and espresso martini, the cosmopolitan, the margarita and the French 75 and French 47.

A fruity cocktail works well with salty, crispy plates to share before dinner. From our main menu, try the Padron peppers, blistered with flaked sea salt, Garlic bread cheese, or the Arancini nduja with a rich pink sauce. It also goes nicely with something sweet from our dessert menu, like the Cheesecake with forest fruit sauce.

Our cocktails come up a lot in reviews. Yasmeen wrote that the cocktails were delicious (Yasmeen, Google review), and Kiley's tip: I’d also recommend sitting outside and enjoying a cocktail here. (Kiley, Google review) See our post on date night at Fiena.

“…nous recommandons les yeux fermés (we recommend it with our eyes closed).”

Jérôme, Google reviews, 2026