Idoru

It’s supposed to feel like home. But how many homes have you been where a casual mascarpone dip-based bite is topped with red caviar – ikura, the Japanese kind? The ikura is also a feature of a Roku Gin-based cocktail (Ikura Opera), in which the delicate salmon roe is served on an ornate golden spoon and bursts slowly in my mouth.

The array of Japanese spirits is displayed against a technicolour blue, complementing the Munro speaker and custom panels that decorate time and space. Opulent orange seats and bow-tied bar-keeps – we almost expect Sukiyaki on the sound system like we’re in Mad Men – but Sukiyaki is neither on the playlist nor on the menu. It’s retro neo-noir Dark City crossed with Tokyo’s future nostalgia. That is why anything from classic Japanese pop interspersed with Leonard Cohen whispering in your ears, to FKA Twigs and A Tribe Called Quest – all seems to fit in where we are – crystalline, no matter where we sit. We’re near the console that flows seamlessly into the bar, watching our unbeknownst host, the owner, groove behind it. Now it does feel like home.

The blues strings resonate so clear, in fidelity so high, as if the band plays live right above (or inside?) our heads. Sound and taste come together with a sip of my friend’s blue cheese feni-based drink (Blue Note). One of us hopes Jennifer Connelly's version of ‘Sway’ is on one of the 200 LPs waiting to be spinned on the turntable. We’re hung up on Dark City.

We’re being schooled on cocktails and the six senses by the comprehensive, very chatty bar menu. Every now and then, we stumble upon something familiar – is that ‘Bombay Duck’ we read in the Highballs section? After gorging on the tteokbokki (savoury stir-fried rice cakes), we browse the food menu – a seemingly sparse one-page (standard for a cocktail bar) but still heavy on options, not necessarily Japanese. The pungent mustard in the bourdain sando pairs well with the smoky mango and honey of the to odoroki, recommended by our host. The cocktail does an appearing act from a magic smoke box with a spotlight shining from the hand of our server. The food and drinks will appear in their own time – that’s what they decorate time for. 

Pace your drink against the tone of every guitar lead. Browse the vinyls behind the console. Grab a smoke in the airy, ultramarine blue-lit section. Get up and dance with the host. If you stumble and fall, shake it off. That’s when it feels the most like home.

Time Out tip: Valet’s available, and walk-ins encouraged. The spot’s an under ten-minute rickshaw ride from Bandra (W) station.