With artisanal cocktails and a cozy décor to match, this new spot makes you feel at home, especially if gulping comes naturally to you...

Usually, gulping anything resonates with finishing a drink or your food quickly. Revolving around those lines, is Bengaluru’s latest hang out Gulp Cocktails and Kitchen. Situated in the older side of Banashankari, this new restobar adds that lively environment to a place that is mostly looked at as a residential one. On an overcast Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves sitting in the VIP section of the restaurant and admiring the beauty of the ambience. Spread across two floors, Gulp has a very subtle theme, with lighter hues and mostly flowers being painted on the walls. It certainly seemed like a place where you could spend hours by yourself because you will feel right at home.

Now, usually, when a space calls itself a cocktail bar, it denotes that they specialise in cocktails, with Gulp, let’s just say that they take that very seriously. We were presented with three of their cocktails — Naati Liit, KGF and Sparkling Bubble Bath. More than the cocktail, what blew our mind was the way they were presented. The Liit had white spirits, curry leaf syrup, sugarcane juice and lime. The tip of the glass was smeared with lemon pickle to add extra flavour. The KGF was served in a glass that was shaped like a skull! It had whisky, lager beer, hazelnut, edible gold, lime and orange juice. The hazelnut flavour was the most dominant here. Finally came the drink that is expected to be the talk of the town — Sparkling Bubble Bath. It had Short Story gin, elder flower, saline, blue, curaçao, cucumber, tonic, lavender foam and lime. The drink was literally served in a mini bath tub! Talk about taking things to the next level! All the drinks were refreshing and well, they had already set our benchmark pretty high.

It was time for some starters and we were served nachos but with a twist! Now this may upset some people because instead of the tortilla chips, they used banana chips. They call this dish Banana Chips Nachos and it had all the ingredients used in nachos and surprisingly, they paired well together and were delicious. So, banana chips lovers, this is a must try! This was followed by Rosemary Chicken Tikka, which had a smoky flavour and was delicious.

Next up were some dishes from the main course. We went ahead and chose the Ludhianvi Chicken with Butter Naan, Beetroot Curd Rice and Palak Kichadi. The naan and chicken curry were a bit spicy but the first spoon of the curd rice just after the chicken curry felt wonderfully soothing. It was so delicious that we couldn’t stop ourselves from having several more spoons. The Palak Kichadi was also flavourful with the taste of ghee overpowering the dish, just as it ought to. We ended our meal with a Gulkhand Gulab Jamun and believe us, we did not regret it at all!

Meal for two: INR 1,500 onwards. At Banashankari. 

Email: alwin@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @al_ben_so