Mumbai Bar Guide

Mumbai's cocktail scene grew up fast after about 2018. The Bombay Canteen, Soda Bottle Openerwala and a handful of others trained a generation of bartenders who now run their own rooms. A half-dozen of those rooms can hold their own internationally. Alongside them, the heritage hotel bars — some of them dating to the 1880s — are still worth a slow evening.

Colaba and Fort have the heritage end: Leopold Cafe, the Sea Lounge at the Taj, the bar at the Bombay Yacht Club. Bandra Kurla and Lower Parel hold the new mixology rooms, often run by people trained in London or Singapore. Bandra West is the residential bar quarter, with gastropubs and a few rooftops looking out at the Arabian Sea. South Mumbai still rewards taking the long way: Marine Drive, a single-malt at Ellipsis, dinner at Trishna.

Most bars run 7pm to 1.30am — last call is earlier than the city size suggests. A serious cocktail runs 40-60% of London prices. Our local correspondents work out of Bandra and walk these rooms most weeks. The 70 best are below.