<a target="_blank" target="_blank">MasalaBar</a>, the newest addition to Bandra, the trendy suburb that's a favorite with the Bollywood set, uses molecular mixology to evoke a sense of theater in its cocktail menu. The Bollywood Bhang, for example, is served in a skull glass and emits vodka basil dragon smoke.
Mumbai's cocktail scene —
MasalaBar, the newest addition to Bandra, the trendy suburb that's a favorite with the Bollywood set, uses molecular mixology to evoke a sense of theater in its cocktail menu. The Bollywood Bhang, for example, is served in a skull glass and emits vodka basil dragon smoke.
Courtesy MasalaBar
MasalaBar's An Evening at Chowpatty aims to evoke a sense of a day out at Chowpatty Beach. Coconut water (commonly sold at stalls at the Mumbai beach side) and coconut fizz (plus curry powder) help the cocktail achieve a sense of place.
An Evening at Chowpatty —
MasalaBar's An Evening at Chowpatty aims to evoke a sense of a day out at Chowpatty Beach. Coconut water (commonly sold at stalls at the Mumbai beach side) and coconut fizz (plus curry powder) help the cocktail achieve a sense of place.
Courtesy MarsalaBar
Masala Bar's Mumbai Matinee is as smokey as it looks. Gin-based and flavored with the oil from grapefruit and orange skin, it tastes like a gentleman's club.
Mumbai Matinee —
Masala Bar's Mumbai Matinee is as smokey as it looks. Gin-based and flavored with the oil from grapefruit and orange skin, it tastes like a gentleman's club.
Courtesy MasalaBar
Sunset @ Carter, another MasalaBar favorite, is a whiskey-based concoction that comes topped with almond foam. Mumbai's mixologists are using scientific methods to give cocktails a molecular twist.
Sunset @ Carter —
Sunset @ Carter, another MasalaBar favorite, is a whiskey-based concoction that comes topped with almond foam. Mumbai's mixologists are using scientific methods to give cocktails a molecular twist.
Courtesy MasalaBar
Trendy Restaurant and bar Farzi Café uses molecular gastronomy concepts in its cocktail offerings. The Farzi apple foamtini is a mix of vodka, shaken with muddle granny apple, lime juice and flower syrup, and served with mint foam and mint mist.
Farzi Café —
Trendy Restaurant and bar Farzi Café uses molecular gastronomy concepts in its cocktail offerings. The Farzi apple foamtini is a mix of vodka, shaken with muddle granny apple, lime juice and flower syrup, and served with mint foam and mint mist.
Courtesy Farzi Cafe/Ajay kumar Gautam
Farzi serves up a side of nostalgia in the form of banta, or goti soda, a childhood favorite with Mumbai children. Traditionally, kids get banta from street carts, though at Farzi the concoction comes spiked with booze.
Banta cocktails —
Farzi serves up a side of nostalgia in the form of banta, or goti soda, a childhood favorite with Mumbai children. Traditionally, kids get banta from street carts, though at Farzi the concoction comes spiked with booze.
Courtesy The Bombay Canteen
Farzi's mixologists aren't adverse to a little boozy theater. Like all good ideas, the Farzi Idea comes with a physical light bulb.
Boozy theater —
Farzi's mixologists aren't adverse to a little boozy theater. Like all good ideas, the Farzi Idea comes with a physical light bulb.
Courtesy Farzi Cafe
Farzi also has an alcoholic version of another kid favorite: the slushie. It comes in sangria and margarita flavors.
Margarita slushies —
Farzi also has an alcoholic version of another kid favorite: the slushie. It comes in sangria and margarita flavors.
Courtesy The Bombay Canteen
Some bars, like Colaba Social, accent cocktail lists with surrealist touches, such as the dream-like margarita-beer cocktail titled Two Lost Souls Swimming in a Fish Bowl.
Colaba Social —
Some bars, like Colaba Social, accent cocktail lists with surrealist touches, such as the dream-like margarita-beer cocktail titled Two Lost Souls Swimming in a Fish Bowl.
Courtesy Colaba Social
Many of Mumbai's newly formed cocktail bars are hidden gems, some tucked away in old mill compounds. One such bar is a speakeasy, aptly named Please Don't Tell.
Please Don't Tell —
Many of Mumbai's newly formed cocktail bars are hidden gems, some tucked away in old mill compounds. One such bar is a speakeasy, aptly named Please Don't Tell.
Courtesy Please Don't Tell
Bartenders at Please Don't Tell serve up bespoke cocktails. Tell them your favorite spirit and they'll find a drink to match your mood.
Mood matchers —
Bartenders at Please Don't Tell serve up bespoke cocktails. Tell them your favorite spirit and they'll find a drink to match your mood.
Courtesy Please Don't Tell
Mumbai's growing cocktail scene

Story highlights

In some of Mumbai's trendiest bars, drinks evoke memories of Indian childhood favorites

Mixologists are creating versions of classic banta or goti sodas spiked with gin and vodka

CNN  — 

Mumbai’s cocktail scene may be growing up, but it’s refusing to grow old.

In some of the city’s trendiest bars, drinks are spiked with a dose of nostalgia.

“I wanted to recreate some of my favorite flavors from my childhood,” says Arjun Chaudhary, the assistant restaurant manager at Farzi Café, a bar and restaurant that opened in 2016 and is already one of the city’s hottest dining venues.

In addition to its haute Indian fare, Farzi has developed a reputation for innovative cocktails.

Among its signature drinks is a selection of boozy banta – a riff on the carbonated beverages that have been a local summertime kiddie treat (much like soft serve ice cream or cotton candy) for decades.

Banta, or goti soda, predates big brands like Pepsi and Coke, and has long been a staple on the streets of India’s bigger metropolises.

Alcoholic slushies

Served in distinct green bottles, the beverage came in flavors native to the country, like masala and shikanji (a spicy, cumin-infused take on lemonade).

Now, Mumbai’s mixologists are creating versions spiked with gin and vodka.

(Farzi Cafe, Kamal Mills Compound Ground Floor, Kamala Mills, Near Radio Mirchi Office S.B Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai; +91 8800 690 418)

Another new restaurant and bar, Bombay Canteen, goes one step further, serving up not only boozy bantas out of an in-house soda machine, but alcoholic slushies and popsicles, to help patrons really regress.

Two in-house slushie machines churn out sangria and margarita variants (both infused with Indian flavors).

Customers can also opt for a pina colada-cherry duet popsicle, with white rum, pineapple juice, coconut syrup and cherries and cream.

(The Bombay Canteen, SB Road, Lower Parel Process House, Kamala Mills, Mumbai; +91 22 4966 6666)

Smoke and mirrors

MasalaBar: Molecular mixology
MasalaBar: Molecular mixology
Courtesy MasalaBar

In many of Mumbai’s bars, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the cocktails for science experiments.

MasalaBar is the newest addition to Bandra, the trendy suburb that’s a favorite with the Bollywood set.

It uses molecular mixology to evoke a sense of time and place in its cocktail menu.

Each of the bar’s 10 signature cocktails is based on a famous Mumbai location, whose essence is captured by the use of innovative ingredients and techniques.

An Evening at Chowpatty – a reference to a popular Mumbai beach – incorporates coconut water – a typical beach thirst-quencher.

This version, though, comes with curry leaves and vodka and is topped with coconut foam.

(MasalaBar, Level 1, Gagangiri Apartments, Carter Road Bandra, Mumbai; +91 845 1900 257)

Theatrical drinking

Bottoms up: Beer and margarita cocktails at Colaba Social.
Bottoms up: Beer and margarita cocktails at Colaba Social.
Courtesy Colaba Social

Trendy new drink spot Colaba Social has a more tongue-in-cheek approach to its cocktail list, which values theater above all else.

Take, for instance the Schizophrenia, a vodka-lavender mix that comes served hidden behind a mirror with a straw poking out.

Other concoctions take on an even more surreal approach, such as the trippy-titled Two Lost Souls Swimming in a Fish Bowl, a mix of domestic beer and margarita.

(Colaba Social, 24, Ground Floor, B.K.Boman Behram Marg, Apollo Bunder, Colaba, Mumbai; +91 80970 05123)

Shhh, it’s a secret

Bespoke cocktails: Please Don't Tell.
Bespoke cocktails: Please Don't Tell.
Courtesy Please Don't Tell

Nothing gives something caché like a secret, which is probably why Mumbai’s cocktail gems are mostly hidden.

One popular spot for the city’s bustling bar scene is a handful of abandoned industrial complexes.

Among them is Kamala Mills, which once housed a chunk of the city’s textile industry.

Today it looks more like a construction site but hidden within is a maze of hip restaurants and bars, including the speakeasy-themed watering hole Please Don’t Tell, or PDT.

Patrons enter the establishment through a phone box, and once inside, dance the night away while sipping on bespoke concoctions, like the Nurse Naughty Pants – a mix of Bacardi rum, maraschino liqueur and homemade red bell pepper syrup.

(Please Don’t Tell, Kamala Mills, Lower Parel Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai; +91 22 24900 738)