What has truly charmed the trade and tipplers alike about the country’s cocktail game, in recent times, is the constant reinvention. With a flourishing subculture of cocktail experiences, what is happening at bars, experiential dining places, even micro breweries, has evolved into thought-provoking concepts, nuanced storytelling, celebration of provenance and nostalgia in a bid to woo the oohs and aahs!
We’ve bid adieu to the idea of creating a menu that’s split between families of cocktails and various other spirits. Now, celebrated watering holes look at menus as timeless plays and novels that are almost like collectibles. These menus have become a window into the host city’s glory, the country’s hidden crafts, and stories from the past, all served up with a dash of showmanship and sensibility-driven hospitality. More than a just post-work pit stop, they’ve become destinations worth a special journey. Bartenders too, are graduating to don multiple hats: Modern therapists, theatre-artists, a ‘griot’, a confidant. Here is our selection of some of the most ingenious, intriguing and interesting bar menus that is sure to leave you shaken and stirred.
PCO Bombay, Lower Parel, Mumbai
Eleven years on, the capital’s firsttexture, and flavour of occasion as interpreted in a glass.
