Gautam Sriram

  There’s loads of slick places doing whacko drinks and fusion food. But I’d like to think Bar Kin Rü outshines them – in Hyderabad, at least. Yeah, they’ve gone experimental, but nothing they serve loses the hearty, robust flavours that often slip out of fusion menus. Best visited on a weekend, grab a bar seat to watch true-blue mixologists at work. The Sher-Rü-shayari comes with an actual shayari written on it, while Gongura delivers an unapologetically local, spicy Telugu punch. The Monday Morning feels like a European breakfast in cocktail form, complete with a cornflake biscuit and a tiny cupcake.  Bar bites are tiny, experimental. Classics like Patthar ka Ghosht and Yakhni Pulao retain their old-world charm. And as a hardcore non-vegetarian, I’m willing to admit just how much I liked the Jackfruit Haleem. And If you’re a sucker for vintage-looking stuff, you’ll love Rü. The space itself is built around the rocky landscape of Jubilee Hills, and manages to feel harmonious with the massive grey boulders instead of looking blocky and awkward. The bar’s divided into three distinct sections: warm indoor seating with copper ceilings; an airy outdoor section with a massive boulder centrepiece; and a subtler cocktail bar. They regularly host bar takeovers from across India and the world – rare for Hyderabad right now, at any rate, and they’ve done wonders when it comes to pushing the cocktail culture in Hyderabad. It’s also the only Hyderabad bar to feature in India’s Top 30 Bar

  Lokum means ‘realm’ in Telugu, and inspired by Bengaluru’s SOKA, that’s exactly what the makers of the bar have created in one of Hyderabad’s most upmarket corporate districts: a new realm.  LOQA goes against the grain in Hyderabad, which is very much a city dominated by sprawling, multi-floor bars with predictable indoor-outdoor layouts. The space is compact, cool toned, and moody. Designed to pull you in.  The cocktails and food are all original curations leaning into experimentation and fusion. Everything on the menu has a story, and the staff is eager to share it. The wait staff comprises bartenders – so their recommendations are worth listening to. The menu’s intentionally concise, with just 15 cocktails and a 25-item microbite menu, with a single dessert. They’ve done some stuff seriously well here – the Avakai Cheese Kulchas, Hamachi Avocado Ceviche, Boozy Choco Overload, and cocktails like the curd rice-inspired Fifth Dimension and the fruit-forward In Is The New Out. LOQA is also among the few bars in Hyderabad that regularly host international bar takeovers, making it a strong pick for anyone looking for one of the city’s most distinctive cocktail experiences. Designed by Sona Reddy Studio, the space is dressed in a deep bottle green layered with curtains, a bamboo labyrinth ceiling installation, retro-tech menu fonts, vintage TVs looping grainy visuals and neon-style typographic projections. Their purist approach extends to the techno-house music they play, at a

Wondering what’s up with the name? Zero40 is a nod to Hyderabad’s STD code (040), and the brewery itself is a happy byproduct of the founder’s long-standing love affair with beer. The Old Timer and the cider are crowd favourites, and for good reason. They’re the kind of beers that immediately put your mind at ease – and you still enjoy them by the second, third, and fourth glass. The space has an easy, laidback comfort that makes you feel like you belong, set among cement finishes, steel beams and pockets of greenery. It’s massive, and thoughtfully designed for every kind of drinker. High stools at the brightly lit central bar work for solo drinkers and small groups who’ve come to gossip. Along the edges are more private tables for dates, while long benches and picnic-style seating welcome extroverts arriving in larger groups. It’s very much a ‘the more, the merrier’ situation here – even for stags on days when most breweries won’t offer them refuge.  Tandoori starters and Telugu-fusion dishes lean heavily into bold, spicy, core-Indian flavours, balanced beautifully by what’s on tap. The Ghee Roast Chicken Pizza has long been a go-to favourite. Odds are you’ll be here guzzling beer for more hours than you can account for.