Tucked away down an alley in Vasant Vihar, Dhruv Kapoor and Vansh Pahuja’s Together is a cocktail bar built around sound as much as spirits. Instead of loud beats competing with conversation or trendy interiors stealing the show, this new address centres the experience on carefully curated music and the joy of listening.
That emphasis on music doesn’t feel accidental — it’s a deliberate departure from the way many new bars behave these days. I can’t remember the last time a bar unapologetically let the music take over. It’s strange, but somewhere along the way, perfectly polished spaces started mistaking restraint for refinement—clutching onto the “serious business” of being an events venue a little too tightly.
Does nobody want to have fun anymore?
Most cool new spaces are cultivating an almost impenetrable ambience, impossible to disrupt, nurturing a growing (secret) longing to break free. What we’ve been missing is a sweet escape: a place that lives somewhere between high-energy pubs and elevated cocktail bars, with great drinks and chakhna but better, more intentional music experiences. That’s exactly where Dhruv Kapoor and Vansh Pahuja’s latest addition to the cocktail bar space comes into the picture—a hidden bar inspired by Japanese listening rooms.
“We are not a speakeasy,” admits Dhruv, co-founder of Together—and rightly so. For this new bar, the only clue to the audience was, “Find the cat.” A black one, to be precise. So, as a curious cat myself, I found myself inspecting a dark alley in the Vasant Vihar on an innocent Tuesday evening. With my four-beat gait and a desire for a good drink, I was on the hunt for a “hidden” bar with a striking yellow signboard.
The doors open into a red-lit passage, its walls stacked with records, evoking the feel of a darkroom. Beyond it, you’re led into the bar. The first thing that catches your attention isn’t the space—it’s the music. Carefully selected and purely nostalgic—it’s a treat for your ears and instantly lifts your mood.
The cave-like arches allow the sound to echo through the space. Inside this dim bar, you’ll likely notice an impressive music system. “We’re inspired by the Japanese culture of a listening room, and we have the best music system around,” admits Dhruv. The space jives to its own rhythm—almost as if the architecture was built to follow the beat.
True to concept, the bar’s signature drinks are intriguingly listed as Track 1, 2, 3 and so on. The menu draws inspiration from Japanese highballs and leans heavily into umami flavour profiles. After trying Track 1, 8, and 10, I found the flavours to be a touch intense—so they may not suit those who prefer a milder cocktail. For vodka lovers, Track 5 was sweeter, with delicate hints of lychee.
My latest discovery has been the bar bites. The era of peanuts and soggy, overly salty chicken or vegetable toss is thankfully over. Bar food has quietly evolved, and at Together, it shows most deliciously. Their tacos, for instance, are a clever reinvention—the shell isn’t the usual one, but a thin, crisp wonton sheet that snaps with every bite. The prawn tempura, paired with dynamite sauce, was the perfect accompaniment to the umami-forward cocktails. And the sandos? Messy and unbeatably delicious—exactly the kind of bite you want when you’re a little boozy.
The people behind the bar are fairly well-travelled, collecting stories and sensory cues from across cities and cultures. And there’s a certain advantage to youth—it allows you to experiment freely, chase what feels cool without overthinking it. Instead of leaning into the now-tired narrative of “bold” for the sake of it, Together feels impressive not just for what’s in the glass, but for the philosophy behind it.
Take the cat.
“The idea is to find the cat,” Dhruv explains. “My neighbour has ten cats, and they always find their spot in a room—they settle in naturally. We kept thinking about that. We want people to do the same here.”
And perhaps that is Together’s quiet triumph.
In a city obsessed with what’s next, what’s hidden and what’s louder, this bar asks you to simply arrive. To listen. To linger. To be the cat.
