New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru may be at the forefront of India’s cocktail culture, but the country’s smaller towns and cities are no longer mere bystanders — they’re on the move and turning the tide. At the 30 Best Bars India 2022 Awards held in January – the definitive list of the country’s best bars – four of Pune’s top restaurants and bars were named winners in three categories: Elephant & Company (People’s Choice Best Bar 2022), Tweet (People’s Choice Award for Best Microbrewery/Taperum), and Malacca Spice, and Kubler & Crew (Best Work in Sustainability 2022).
Malacca Spice | Photo credit: Black Hat
In 2021, the Pune metropolitan area officially became the largest in Maharashtra by area, with a geographical area of 7,256 sq km. For decades, the city has been popular as a top-class educational destination and military base, and today, it is Pune’s vibrant food and beverage scene that has gone beyond recognition. Unlike earlier, the city no longer lives in Mumbai’s shadow and has come into its own.
Vikram Achanta, co-founder of Toliho (a beverage training and consulting firm) and 30 Best Bars India, believes that the ‘secret’ to Pune’s growth in F&B lies in the talented hands of the city’s talented entrepreneurs. It is also encouraging that Koregaon Park and Kalyani Nagar, or the upscale neighborhoods of Baner and Baliwadi, where consumers are concentrated, are promoting concept restaurants and cocktail-first bars.
Pickled Melons in Soy Como Soy
“Whether it’s the guys behind Cobbler & Crew or Soya Como Soya, or old institutions like Malacca Spice, everyone is passionate about F&B. That’s not all – when it comes to beer in India, Pune is way beyond the curve. Ahead. The tap rooms and microbreweries here continue to push the envelope,” he shares. While the liquor laws in Pune are no different than anywhere else in Maharashtra, Vikram believes the availability of a larger selection of brands. It benefits the state.
Hathi & Co
which sets Pune apart.
Apart from this, there are several reasons why the ‘eating out’ culture is flourishing in the city. Praful Chandwarkar, founder of popular Southeast Asian restaurant Malacca Spice, who has closely watched Pune’s evolution, attributes the city’s booming economy largely to the rise of the automotive engineering and IT hub. “Pune’s high GDP acted as a catalyst for all luxury related businesses, especially the restaurant business in the early 2000s. Also, rents here are much higher than Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore. are much more affordable,” he adds. According to the NoBroker forum, the city’s consumer prices, including rent, are 27.2% less expensive than Mumbai’s.
A drink at Cobbler & Crew
Interestingly, students from all over India and other smaller countries like Afghanistan, Nepal and Iran migrate to the city, making it a melting pot of cultures. In the absence of their families, these youngsters are always looking for reasons to go out and have adapted quite quickly to the nightlife. As a result, bars in the city have seen a lot of buzz, says Nikki Ramani, managing partner of Brusky Hospitality LLP, which runs Pune’s popular The Daily All Day and Tsuki.
Also, the emergence of large corporates in Pune has created a community of professionals who are well-travelled and passionate about the food they eat. Sandy Singh, co-founder of Iceberg Hospitality, believes that this is what has also forced restaurateurs to stay ahead of the curve behind some of Pune’s most popular restaurants, including Prem, Swig, Kinky, Yuriska, and now soy como soy. “Earlier, only a handful of chefs took courses at top culinary institutes like Le Cordon Bleu or the Culinary Institute of America. Today, there are many more who return to the city, who follow what’s trending around the world. are armed with knowledge about,” he adds.
Miso Ramen at Soya Komo Soya
A fine palate
According to state excise, there were 2,792 restaurants and bars in Pune district before the pandemic — a number that restaurateurs in the city believe is only set to rise. While Pune’s hipsters have always been on the radar, the trend is slowly moving towards pleasing a segment that is more evolved in their food choices.
Tweet, which was instrumental in building the craft beer culture in Bengaluru and Mumbai, has chosen Pune as its next outpost in 2019. “Over the years, we’ve seen a steady increase in consumers patronizing craft beer over other commercially produced beers and spirits,” reveals Kevin Tellis, head of operations at Toit. There is change – patrons are willing to experiment with a variety of beers, apart from the usual wheats and lagers,” he adds.
Hathi & Co
It’s not just craft beer, cocktails are also taking the Pune crowd by storm. Vijita Singh (Elephant & Company fame), co-owner of chic Cobbler & Crew, which launched its journey in September 2022, believes that its core audience, which falls between the 25-35 age group, are’ t whiskey and water drinkers. “They are cocktail lovers who hop back and forth to explore different tastes and flavors,” she says.
Thatcha in your cocktail
Kubler & Crew’s bar program features 16 cocktails, the most popular of which are those with alcohol as a base. Their popular Oh Temptation features liqueur, aperol, grapefruit juice, and house-made strawberry wine with a unique garnish. Bhakrawadi (a delicious breakfast). Another best-seller is the Golden Lady, a tequila-based cocktail with whole chili peppers, basil and black cardamom, interestingly garnished. Thatcha (a Maharashtrian spice with green chillies) .
“Most of our staff is not from Pune, apart from my partner Mayur Marna. Our bartenders go through one-hour brainstorming sessions every day, where they explore different ingredients,” says Vijayta, adding that chef The food menu, designed by Amit Kumar (sous chef at the two-Michelin star Bourne in Belgium), focuses on small portions. Drinks that pair well with: Togarashi prawns, chicken katsu and a specialty of Sri Lankan sea bass.
Tweet
Another interesting player in Pune is Tao-Fu, located in the sprawling JW Marriott on Senapati Bapat Road. Featuring Chinese heritage recipes, the restaurant has a unique cocktail menu that pays homage to the Chinese zodiac signs, with an additional section of tea-infused craft cocktails. The five tea cocktails range from rose chamomile, oolong tea, jasmine tea to hibiscus and earl gray tea.
An eye for collaboration
Pune’s openness to collaborating with top names in the alcove industry is admirable, but it has to do with the city’s never-ending appetite for new concepts. Whether it’s Soya Kumo Soya, which serves Nikkei dishes, or Suki, a food-forward concept focusing on Thai, Japanese and Cantonese cuisine, both have their own bar programs with the likes of Youngdip Lama (of Sidecar fame) and Gurung Tanka (ex). Developed by Stalwarts. PCO). “Being a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese, Soy Como Soy has six varieties of Pisco Sour on the menu. Whether it’s the Sakura Pisco Sour or the Blueberry and Lavender, these drinks are highly appreciated by our patrons,” Sandy shares. she does.
Malacca Spice | Photo credit: Black Hat
In Tsuki, who was born three months ago, the bar program is beyond technique. From pre-adding flavors like tamarind and yuzu to wine to more pronounced drinks, they’ve done it all. “It’s all about taking flavor profiles from the kitchen and marrying them into your cocktails. One of my favorites is a tequila drink called the Wabi Sabi,” Nikki mentions.
Old favorites in town aren’t far behind — Malacca Spice, which opened in 1997, reinvented its bar program last year to focus more on cocktails. Alvika Chandavarkar, the restaurant’s project manager, explains that their menu earlier focused on house wines and pure spirits. “Until now, most shops served excessively sweet drinks. Our new menu, developed in collaboration with Countertop, is more ingredient-based and technique-forward. We use a lot of fruit – water from apples to star fruit, and Southeast Asian ingredients such as galingal and bird’s eye chilies. Moringa is another favourite,” she shares, adding that the 25-45 age group The response has been phenomenal.
Spotlight on Sustainability
Sustainability is another philosophy that is slowly being embedded in bars today. Therefore, the team at 30 Best Bars India thought it fit to create an award recognizing the efforts of those who have been more environmentally responsible. Once again, Pune was the star of the show, with Malacca Spice and Cobbler & Crew jointly winning Best Work in Sustainability 2022.
For some, like farm-to-table restaurant Malacca Spice, their commitment to being responsible goes way back. After growing produce in their friend’s fields for a long time, they established their own farm, Cherish, to organically grow a large selection of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Praful Chandawarkar highlighted that Pune’s access to good agriculture and water resources has helped their case.
Cobbler and staff
Kubler & Crew is equally serious about adopting sustainable practices in everyday operations. “All of the bar’s cocktail stations have pre-rinsers with low water flow to save water during operation. These rinsers use only enough water to clean the equipment without any wastage. Enough is enough,” concludes Mayur Marne, partner at Kobler & Crewe, adding that they have also devised strategies for ice management and the reuse of chipped glass. They also collect waste surpluses, including bubble wrap and empty plastic, turning them into disc-shaped coasters that are used at the bar.
