Manasvi Pote

Sushi in Bengaluru used to be a trust exercise ten years ago. You’d order it half-expecting disappointment, the way you brace for traffic on Outer Ring Road, but somewhere along the way, the restaurants in the city pulled up their socks. Now, there are chefs quietly perfecting their rolls, slicing fish with calm precision, and plating maki that holds its shape even when you can’t grip your chopsticks right. What makes Bengaluru’s sushi scene work is that it's evolved quietly and assuredly – which means that what you're getting is rolls prepared with genuine care, not dishes created specifically for Instagram. The result is sushi that doesn’t pretend to be totally authentic, but isn’t too desi, either. And after witnessing the ups and downs of Japanese cuisine in the city, I can safely say that this guide's covered pretty much all the places that won't let you down. 

When I first moved to Bengaluru, everyone tried to induct me into something different. Beer culture. Karaoke culture. ‘Bro-you-have-to-try-this-washbasin-shot’ culture. And of course, the city’s favourite answer to all life problems: Bob’s Bar. I spent months hopping from cheap bars with plastic chairs to very serious cocktail labs, and somewhere along the way, I realised Bengaluru has a bar for every version of you: the broke version, the romantic version, the brooding ‘I need whiskey and silence’ version, the ‘let me wear something shiny tonight’ version. Though Bob’s will live on in beloved infamy because it feels like home, Bengaluru’s bar scene is admittedly thriving, with a handful of bars having ridden the frenzy of the launch phase to a genuine, long-lived popularity. Some feel newish but full of possibility. Others take cocktails so seriously you find yourself sitting a bit straighter in your chair. Yet others will have you singing Hey Jude with strangers over a plate of paneer chilli.  Here’s my list of bars that genuinely made me stay a little longer than I planned. Trust me, there’s so much more to drinking in this city than you think.

My first Bengaluru café wasn’t the kind that did oat milk or had place to plug in a laptop (or had even heard of such a concept). It was Brahmin’s Coffee Bar, where I learnt that regulars can demolish an idli, finish a vade and drain a steel tumbler of kaapi in less time than it takes to find change in your pocket. That’s the rule here: the best cafés don’t wait for you. They’re fast, focused, and unapologetic about what they do well. Some give you buttery pastry that barely survives the walk back to your car, others have stuck to the same four items for fifty years, and a few balance laptops and latte art with ease. These are the ten cafés that tell the city’s story right now.

Dali & Gala feels like someone handed a cocktail bar to a group of artists and told them to do whatever they wanted. Located inside The Museum building on Museum Road, the bar spreads across a mezzanine level filled with more than seventy pieces of art inspired by Salvador Dali and his muse, Gala.  You don’t walk in as much as fall into it. Rotating sculpted heads greet you at the bar, a copper ‘eye wall’ watches you from across the room, and whole corners are dedicated to sun, moon, sea creatures, love, and slight mischief. It’s dramatic, but not in that exhausting way that beckons the thought ‘must you do this?’ The crowd moves between seven little pockets of space: date-night couples tucked into the Rose Room; groups taking photos in the mirror-lined corridor; and friends laughing at the risqué sculptures. The lighting is low enough that you don’t examine anything too closely. You don’t need to, anyway.  The cocktails are very much the real deal. The menu leans heavily towards mezcal and tequila, but the bar team handles whisky, gin and rum with the same confidence. Drinks like Disco Porn, Gala Negroni and Phone Sex sound playfully silly, but are made with a serious hand. If you’re not in the mood to experiment, their section of straight classics is solid. The food is mostly Burmese small plates that work beautifully with the drinks. Raw Mango on Crack is crunchy and bright, the Pork Chilli has real heat, and the Crispy Prawns disappear from the table fast. It’s not a heav

Siren sits behind heavy curtains on the second floor of a Lavelle Road building. The reveal, when you walk in, feels almost theatrical: the room glows in deep reds, small pockets of light land on velvet seats, and the long bar comes with a lit-up dragon that keeps tabs on how many drinks you’ve had. Above the centre of the room hangs an antique canoe refashioned into a light installation. You’re already impressed. It’s intimate in the way that it may not be for you if you’re hankering for a hectic weekend night out. You can hear the ice tinkling about inside a cocktail shaker and the murmur of low conversation inside the room. It’s an excellent bar for people who prefer evenings that unfold gently: date night, slow dinners, long overdue catch-ups that don’t want to compete with loud music. The cocktails themselves are shaped around Chinese festivals and flavours. Spring Sunsets, for instance, is brightly peachy, with orange notes. Double Seven mixes whiskey, fruit and chocolate to deliver something playful. Remember Jie is soft, floral and silky, while Bang Bang is bold, with spicy flavours inspired by Sichuan chicken. But if you’d rather stick to familiar ground, the classics are solidly dependable.  The bar snacks are light but not boring: century peanuts soaked in soy, beer-battered prawns, sticky pork ribs, chicken skewers, grilled mushrooms. Plates arrive quickly. They’re light enough for you to keep drinking instead of shifting focus to food.  The vibe: Dark, warm, roma

There’s something calming about the top-notchness of Bar Spirit Forward. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s designed like the backstage lounge of an old theatre. Maybe the dark wood and leather and soft lighting evoke a pre-Depression era charm that makes you feel like you have a lot of money to spend recklessly (maybe you do).  The bar sits snugly inside Hotel Southern Star on Lavelle Road, and despite the discreet entrance, it fills up quickly. You’ll find bartenders from other bars drinking here on their nights off, which is usually the first sign that the place knows exactly what it’s doing.  Most choose to sit at the lovely long bar counter. It’s a pleasure to watch the bartenders work – they do it quietly, but with an assurance that tells you your drink’s going to be good. The drinks menu leans classic (expected, in a hotel bar), and they’re proud of it. The Vesper Martini comes pre-diluted and frozen, is poured straight from the bottle, and finished off with blue cheese olives. The Southern Star – a tequila drink – packs gentle spice from fermented fruit. The Old Cuban, Milk & Cookies, and their Tutti Frutti Negroni are also all excellent if you want elevated comfort.  The food menu is intentionally small. A few plates, like chicken liver pâté, anchovy toast, and warm buns, pop in and out of rotation as the chef tests new ideas. All are fairly well done. The vibe: Grown-up. A second-date bar if there ever was one. The drinks: Precise classics, pre-batched martinis, seasonal

Lucky Chan feels like a party that figured out how to serve really good food. It’s loud, bright, and fun in a way most Bengaluru restaurants don’t dare to be. The sushi belt circles the room, carrying neat rolls of tuna, avocado, and crabstick, all while people point, laugh, and keep grabbing plates they swore they were done with.The dim sums are soft, flavour-packed, and arrive faster than you can decide what to drink. The bao buns are fluffy, the ramen bowls are huge, and even the mocktails feel like they’re having a good time. Everything comes out quick but never sloppy, and the staff somehow remember what table ordered what even when it’s packed. The vibe is easygoing – families, couples, college kids, everyone’s just here to eat and hang out. There’s no space for pretense. If you’re the kind who likes your meals with noise, colour, and a bit of chaos, Lucky Chan is where you go.

KOKO’s a safe pair of hands. The lighting’s warm, the music sits low enough to make decent conversation, and everyone seems a little too well-dressed to be accidental. It’s one of those spots where you can’t tell if it’s a dinner or a night out – which honestly makes it both.The food doesn’t mess around. The sushi is clean and balanced. They don’t overdo the fancy condiments and sauces because they don’t need to, because the fish is incredibly fresh. Dumplings come soft, glossy and perfectly portioned. But it’s the lamb chops – tender and sticky – which are what you end up thinking about the next day. KOKO’s one of those places that don’t bother with a wildly, shockingly inventive menu. It just does everything right without much fanfare. It’s also one of those places where you notice the service right off the bat, because the staff is sharp, quick, and doesn’t need to be prompted. I meant what I said about the place being a safe pair of hands – they won’t let your wine glass sit unfilled.  And yeah, it’s not cheap, but it earns the price. The space feels thought through, and because of that, it’s earned a string of loyal customers. You come here once, tell yourself it’s just for a special occasion, and then you end up coming again because nothing else feels quite as good.

Mai Mai has an uncharacteristic calmness for a joint that sits on one of the busiest stretches of Indiranagar. The room’s warm, softly lit, and small enough that you notice the quiet buzz emanating from the open kitchen, cookware moving with a purpose, and a team that pays attention without hovering. There’s something calm and assured about the safe – a prelude to the knowledge that good food’s on its way.  The menu pulls largely from East Asian comfort food, but gives it a gentle, personal twist. The dumplings are silky (the sweet potato pepper variant’s a crowd favourite); ramen bowls bring depth and warmth; bibimbap comes layered with house-fermented kimchi, and the lotus asparagus roll’s got an acidic crunch that keeps you guessing.Service moves calmly but quickly, and the team treats the food with respect – it’s immediately clear the restaurant’s not after chasing trends, but is simply doing what it knows well, and consistently. End with the chocolate and mandarin cake – it has a bright, citrus lift that’s a perfect ending note for a good meal.  Time Out tip: Ask if they’re doing a nigiri special that night. It’s rarely printed but usually excellent.

Few places in Bengaluru inspire the kind of loyalty that Brahmin’s Coffee Bar does. Open since the 1960s, it’s one of those rare spots where the menu has barely changed in decades, and nobody’s complaining. There are just four things to eat here — idli, vade, khara bath, and kesari bath, along with filter coffee. That’s it. But those few dishes are done so well that people line up starting at 6am. The idlis are soft and pillowy, meant to collapse under the weight of coconut chutney. No sambar here – just ladles of chutney poured over until you lose sight of the idli itself. The vade is at its best straight out of the fryer, crisp on the outside, airy inside, and perfect with the chutney-soaked idli on the same plate. Khara bath (a spiced semolina upma) is comfort food at its most straightforward, and if you have a sweet tooth, the kesari bath balances it with ghee and sugar. Filter coffee comes in a steel tumbler, frothy and strong, just sweet enough to round off breakfast. There are no tables. Everyone eats standing up, outside or by the counters, finishing in minutes before making way for the next person in line. The pace is fast, but it doesn’t feel rushed – it actually feels natural and right to be done with your meal so quickly. On any given morning you’ll see office goers, students, retirees, and couples on early dates. For the price of ₹100, you can fill up for two, which makes it both a Bengaluru essential and an oddly great budget date spot if you’re willing to trade

There are cafés that serve good pastry, and then there is Lavonne, which pretty much shaped Bengaluru’s pastry culture. Started in 2012 by three chefs who wanted to build a serious pastry school, Lavonne grew from training professionals into running cafés that feel both polished and approachable. If you’ve eaten a really good croissant in this city, chances are the baker either trained here or was inspired by it. The flagship Indiranagar café’s on a quieter street just off Double Road, and the set-up is fuss-free: clean white walls, wooden accents, tables that don’t feel squeezed together. There’s a small outdoor area shaded by trees, which turns into the best spot on a breezy afternoon. It’s not trying to be Instagram bait, and that’s refreshing. The pastry counter is always the main attraction. Croissants – plain, almond, or chocolate – hold their shape and give you that satisfying flake when you bite in. Quiches are hearty without being heavy, spinach and ricotta being a reliable pick. Then come the cakes, which rotate but almost always include mousse-based entremets with layers of cream, sponge, and glaze that look delicate but taste properly rich. On weekends, these go fast. By evening, you’re often left with only a couple of options, so regulars know to swing by earlier in the day. The savoury menu is shorter. The Louisiana fried burger is their standout – it's slow roasted pork with hoisin sauce in a soft bun, messy in the right way. There are sandwiches and salads too

If you’ve ever looked for a place where you can answer emails, sip a flat white, and actually want to stay long after, Paper & Pie has made that its entire pitch. Located in central Bengaluru, this café leans into the city’s co-working-while-sipping-coffee culture without feeling sterile or transactional.  The space is polished and bright, with plenty of seating for laptop workers, solo readers, and groups who’d rather hash out ideas over cappuccinos than in a boardroom. The interior is warm wood, open tables, and lighting that flatters both people and food. Unlike a lot of cafés where ‘work culture’ means fighting for a plug point, here, the set-up actually accommodates you. The food menu is ambitious for a café, borrowing from bistro-style plates as much as from classic pastry counters. If you want something gourmet, the braised lamb crepe and the lamb shank with saffron risotto are surprisingly refined. For lighter bites, the spinach and ricotta quiche or the black bean and beetroot burger make sense as quick fillers. And yes, the pastry counter delivers too. Croissants, babkas, and banana-walnut cake are consistent crowd favourites, and they actually sell out quickly, which isn’t always the case in cafés that put display before flavour. Coffee, thankfully, holds up its end. The usual espresso-based suspects alongside pour-overs and cold brews. It’s not trying to compete with hyper-specialty cafés, but the beans are well-roasted, and drinks come out very well balanced. Ser