There is a sense of comfort when visiting a dive bar. You know the staff will be familiar, the service will be prompt, the food will hit the sweet spot, and the atmosphere will be uplifting. You can always find people celebrating wins, mulling over lost love, catching up with a pal, or grabbing a quick drink at their neighbourhood bar. Chef Niyati Rao of Ekaa has taken this idea and upgraded it to come up with Bombay Daak – a daaru and chakhna bar.
“I always tell people that it is an elevated daaru chakhna bar,” says Chef Rao.“A dive bar is usually a place where Indians drink and eat but I’m more interested in what they eat and drink,” she declares as she talks about Bombay Daak.
Chef Rao is known for her highly acclaimed, ingredient-froward fine-dining restaurant, Ekaa which she started with her husband, and business partner Sagar Neve. Neve is also the founder of Nisa Experience, a chef-centric hospitality company. The couple’s restaurant Ekaa was listed as #98 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list 2024.
Head mixologist Yatish Bangera has curated a cocktail menu at Bombay Daak where local ingredients and liqueurs come to the forefront.
As you enter, the retro Bollywood music will remind you of Mumbai’s iconic Sunlight Bar in Kalbadevi, known for its mixtape jukebox. With seating at the bar, and a skylight, Bombay Daak has hints of an elevated experience thanks to the attention to detail and carefully thought-out interiors. It’s the in-between spot that is perfect for the Gen X lot and millennials to reminisce about their days and the newbies to discover the fun and adventure of Mumbai’s dive bars. Plus, we think it can also make a fun date spot to grab a few drinks and get to know each other over plates and plates of chakhna!
Bombay Daak captures the essence of a dive bar, but elevated. An Indian bar along with a Japanese Izakaya seating function, gives it an intimate vibe. A nod to the colonial past, the interiors are adorned with 110-year-old vintage lamps sourced from Chor Bazaar. The place is filled with knick-knacks that act as conversation starters. Some of them are even part of Rao’s father-in-law’s collection!
Chef Rao and her partner, Neve, dedicated more than a year to travelling to explore India’s drinking culture and the stories that are interwoven with cultures, regions, communities, and geographical aspects. “I’m a fine-dine chef,” states Chef Rao. “Whatever we do, we will try our best to do it but with a little more finesse,” she adds.
During her research, she realised that she had been sitting on a treasure mine for such a long time that “I didn’t understand why nobody thought of a daaru chakhna bar, and that is why I wanted to work with this concept because nobody has tapped into this before.”
Chef Rao grew up witnessing drinking parties at home where her mom would quickly whip up some snacks. “So technically, my entire life as an Indian living in a proper Indian household has been R&D,” she jokes. To enhance her research process, she has spoken to 112 people with the same experiences but in different states and communities. She admits that her R&D started getting easier when she “stopped Googling and started talking to people.” The names of some of these people can also be seen on the “donors board” at the entrance which takes inspiration from the traditional gymkhanas.
She shares that she has always been fascinated by an Izakaya. “It is a shady bar where salarymen go and get drunk after work. That’s what daaru and chakhna bars also are but Izakayas are always given respect,” she muses. “During my time at Noma, I would see tapas bars. It was something so simple and amazing.” With Bombay Daak, she intends to shift the perspective from tapas to our desi chakhna which happen to be a connecting factor across bars.
Chef Rao highlights the common bar food across states in India – Desi Chinese, fried fish, chakli schezwan in Mumbai, fried chicken or paneer, bhajiyas in northern and central states, fried mutton in the south, fried freshwater fish in Bengal, fried pork, and fried and smoked fish in the northeast. The common factor thus, is that Chef Rao is fried, greasy food to enjoy alcohol.
The food menu is inspired by local chakhna across the country. Think a not-so-typical Curd Rice (₹700), Maska Bread (₹350), Daak Rice Plate ₹(750), Milkmaid Prawns (₹680), Luncheon meat (₹450), Duck Puff (₹500), Tangra Hangover (₹500), much more.
The Wai Wai (₹380) is a staple dish in Manipur and this masaledaar-crushed noodle was made similar to a chaat with over 15 ingredients. But what caught our eye (and palate) was the Kappa & Catch (₹650) which features Indian taro, coconut milk, and a spice blend. With a generous amount of chaat masala, this was the perfect chatpata bite of food we had that night. The flavour was something new for us and it surprisingly worked well for us. The Duck Puff was flaky, and standard, no complaints there but the pumpkin sauce was a good addition on the side.
However, what stole our hearts was the Maska Bread. Soft, moist bread with a slight crust on top – this variation at Bombay Daak is an ode to Mumbai’s maska pav and the very popular garlic cheese naan served at these dive bars. Topped and stuffed with a generous amount of garlic, butter, and cheese – this Maska Bread is decadent and a perfect indulgence with drinks.
We ended our meal with an elevated version of the classic cheese-pineapple-cherry served in very few bars these days. This doesn’t come in the usual toothpick but is in a dessert format with cheese biscuit, pineapple softie, and Luxardo cherry. As a fan of the traditional dish, I enjoyed this take as a dessert and it hit the nostalgia aspect.
The Whistle Podu (₹850) was a savoury-ish cocktail with a base of Greater Than, rasam powder, hydrosol, amaro, and caramelised tomato. Our pick, however, is the Santra Season (₹900) which is Bombay Sapphire, pickled karvanda, pea shoot lillet, thecha, santra, Malvani masala, hydrosol, and tonic water. This drink came in a Pawa bottle and was a refreshing, citrusy cocktail!
Bombay Daak also offers a tasting menu of six cocktails which are named after the components of the Indian tadka – Ghee, Mustard, Cumin, Curry Leaf, and Kashmiri Chilli. The idea behind this is to combine 10 ml of each drink to pour it into a separate glass, to get the sixth drink, and thus finish the tadka.
The logo of Bombay Daak – a tiger with a fish in its mouth! According to Chef Rao it indicates it’s a place where we are indulging in absolute pleasure and devotion because it’s a bar. “Oh, and it is an intoxicated tiger that cannot walk straight,” she adds.
We also love the tiny drawers stocked with tissues and cutlery, making it easy for diners to grab one without hassle. Trust us you will need many with all that finger lickin’ goodness around.
Address: Shop No – 5 / 21, ONGC Complex, HIG Colony, Nityanand Nagar, Reclamation, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050
Call: +91 89287 91611
Follow: @bombay.daak