THE BEST RESTAURANTS AND BARS TO GO TO RIGHT NOW

GQ Editors pick India’s buzziest new spots—high-quality establishments that will endure long beyond the hype cycle.

- SANJANA RAY

IDORU

MUMBAI

Tucked away in a Khar bylane, right above Izumi, lies Idoru— occupying space that was once actor Kumar Gaurav's office. The 28-seater cocktail bar is the offspring of Zenzi, the pioneering noughties nightlife venue that both embodied and bolstered Bandra's original hipster spirit. The common strain is Anil Kably, who cuts a towering figure on the Indian F&B scene and has helped found both spaces (as well as Izumi). Now in his 60s, Kably seems to have absorbed the most important lessons of Zenzi’s dizzying success—and demise. Unlike Zenzi, which was sprawling, Idoru is cosy and compact. Zenzi’s owners also had to deal with an obdurate elderly neighbour who was always complaining to the cops about the noise, a long-festering problem the venue was never able to overcome over the years it existed. With Kumar Gaurav now fully ensconced in Goa, no such issue for Idoru exists today.

Yet what has been retained from the past, and what sets Idoru apart from any bar in Mumbai, is its counterculture soul. Zenzi was unapologetically music-first, a platform that championed a range of genres artfully curated by Kably and his Dutch partner Matan Schabracq, along with pioneering resident DJ Kris Correya, and his understudies Gordon Fernandes and Mikhail D'Souza. For Idoru, Kably has hired powerhouse music writer and GQ India contributing editor Bhanuj Kappal to run the programming. Kappal is a man with great taste, and every night, Idoru reverberates with rich, lush sounds emanating from two PLX 1000 turntables and custom speakers. On both nights I visited, Kappal was on the deck, spinning sets that told a story: zigging and zagging through the blues, funk, soul and hip-hop. The volume is loud enough that the music feels central, but soft enough to allow for adult conversations.