BENGALURU BARS GET INTIMATE

The city’s beverage scene, long dominated by cookie-cutter mega microbreweries, Is evolving to become more sophisticated

- Shrabonti Bagchi

You feel you are entering a cocoon when you step into SOKA, the effect enhanced by a paper sculpture resembling a luminous insect that dominates the small room. The effect is intentionalSOKA, a new and of-the-moment cocktail bar in Bengaluru, all of 531 sq. ft, has only 38 seats, and rather than try to create the illusion of space, it seems to double down on the lack of it. The bar, which is generating no mean buzz in the city's crowded pub space, feels intimate, sophisticated and languid bar for grownups in the style of tiny Manhattan cocktail bars where you may bump into a retired Hollywood star nursing a very dry martini.

It is a distinct shift from the type of watering hole that has ruled Bengaluru for years nowlarge and loud with a hectic energy and vibe.

The menu at SOKA spells out this distinction as well, with idiosyncratic cocktails like the Next-Gen Martini, featuring Bull Dog gin, extra dry vermouth, Choya Yuzu Liqueur, and herb tincture, and the Mofo Don, which has tequila, pickled pineapple, red cabbage, cilantro, and jalapenos.

"It's a labour of love," says Avinash Kapoli, one of the partners at SOKA, who along with Sombir Choudhary has launched restaurants like Jamming Goat in Goa and Bengaluru. "We are passionate about cocktails, and after creating beverage programmes for restaurants and bars across the country, we felt like we needed to create our own space that would allow us to play around," says Kapoli. "We wanted to create a bar for bartenders." The food menu is limited and consists mostly of bar bites-what they call nano plates -with dishes like stuffed olives and an edamame and fenugreek tart.