Good old Soak

When fashion designer Ravi Bajaj decides to open a wine bar, you are assured of elegance and expect it to be trendy and rocking. Elegant and trendy, Soak is. But, it has yet to rock...

Blame it on the fact that Ravi hasn’t gone into a marketing spiel, the approach to the bar, or on the lack of a mature wine audience in Delhi – the truth is that Soak isn’t quite soaking it up yet!

“Oh, rock it will,” says a confident Ravi. “We haven’t yet started marketing it. But let me tell you. I was over at Polo Lounge the other night and saw this group of lalas you normally wouldn’t expect in a classy bar. My biggest shock came when I saw each of them was nursing a glass of red wine! Who says wine isn’t popular?”

Ravi’s retail store occupies a prominent corner in the trendy GK-1 N-Block market. Walk though the menswear section and take a lift to the first floor where the door opens onto a dark ambience shot through with muted red lighting. Comfortably padded velvet-wine high-back sofas line one wall; alternatively go for the table and chair arrangements nearer the bar counter or just perch on the bar stools across the granite counter.

Be warned – Soak is not the place for a high-pitched evening of fun and dance or even foot tapping music; this is where you come for a quiet evening to chat with friends over a drink or two. Teak wood flooring, brass lamps, muted music and soft lighting provide the right ambience for a relaxed evening and conversation. Food from Le Café, Ravi’s café on the top floor is a good accompaniment to the drinks.

Hailed as Delhi’s first wine bar, Soak is still a “work in progress” with a balanced wine list of 33 varieties, hoping to go to 60-70. Ravi protests. “All bars in five stars have a huge edge over us, since they have to pay much less as duty because they earn foreign exchange.” However, he hopefully interjects, the tax regime in Delhi will surely change with the Commonwealth Games.

To keep the play on an even field, Soak minimizes the mark-up on wines, making up for the loss through sale of beers and other spirits. Go for a bottle of the bubbly, choose from the 12 wines offered by glass or go for their martinis, vodkatinis or Wine Spritzers. Or, settle for beers such as Stella and Hoegaarden, both brands represented by Ravi Bajaj.

What inspired Ravi to start a wine bar? Ravi waxes lyrical, “Wine is a very sociable drink, you could even call it fashionable. It indulges the senses and enhances the taste of food. It is quite complicated and a fascinating study. Consider the adjectives used with wine – bubbly, effervescent, full-bodied, and so on ... ”

Voila! As a designer, wine and all that goes with it appeals to Ravi’s sense of style and sensibilities. And Ravi’s dream was to unfold the equivalent of “a traditional Parisian ambience to meet for a ‘glass of wine’ anytime from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. over delectable Tapas fare.”

However it will take time for that to be realized. As of now the place lacks a ‘full bodied’ wine list, a trained sommelier to take you through the ropes and though the wine list is exclusive, it lacks the depth Soak aspires for. Avers Ravi, “I am not looking at making this a watering hole. I am quite happy selling 15-20 bottles a day. A more evolved audience will happen by and by ... My experience with Le Café tells me it’s better to start slow rather than with a bang!”

A froth of your choice!

Did you know that beer is the third most popular drink in the world after water and tea? And that it is the world’s oldest and most consumed Rockman's Beer Island beverage? That being true, isn’t it rather surprising that it took so long for someone to open a place dedicated to beer!

Rockman’s Beer Island located in Ambience Mall is the first of its kind. Guzzling beer is associated with fun, laughter and levity, and Rockman’s wide open spaces, big bar with comfortable standing space and German pub feel falls in line with this.

The corridor outside is fashioned like a German Street and decorated for Christmas when we visit. Rockman's has two sides, both of which serve the same drinks-the Bavarian pub and the multicuisine Kegs & Barrels. We do not even think twice and gravitate towards the pub, where we make a beeline for the bar stools. A mistake, because they are the most uncomfortable, slippery stools I ever kept slithering off. We chose not to change seats however because a pub means crowding around the bar. However Gurgaon seems to think otherwise, and most couples and after-conference groups present are seated around tables placed at comfortable distances from each other.

A state-of-the-art micro brewery, the Bavarian has six huge tanks of upto 2000 litres each for brewing, fermenting and storing the huge quantities of freshly tapped beer made here everyday. There is something exciting about sitting in the very area where your brew is being brewed. Entrepreneur C.S Aggarwal of Rockman Group of Companies, whose vision the beer island is, tied up with German company Kaspar Schulz, which has earlier set up more than 300 pub breweries across 50 countries. Weyermann Malts is another partner, known for developing varieties of malt recognised world over by the brewing fraternity.

The USP of Bavarian is freshly brewed beer with no preservatives and they serve four varieties of these – and none other. Though the bar stocks up on premium liquor, we will not even talk of that because how can you possibly visit Rockman’s Beer Island and drink anything but beer? Choose between four options – Lager Beer - (alcohol percentage 4.5, light gold in colour); Lager Strong (6.5, dark gold); Wheat Beer (4.5, light gold and the mildest), or Dark Beer (4.5, dark brown). You can ask for a tasting of each as we did, before you settle for the one you like. The Lager is a clear premium beer; the Dark Beer seems sweet at first sip but leaves a bitter aftertaste; the Wheat is a good option closest to what you would have been used to. It is cloudy, sweetened and more bodied. The beer is served in what the bar proudly announces are genuine beer glasses, a different type for each beer.

What I dislike about bars is that they do not serve munchies with drinks; this one doesn’t even stock any; so perforce you have to go for the food. In this case, not a bad thing to happen. The closest option for with-drink snacks are French Fries and must say, their platter is one of the best I have ever had! The food menu is straight from a German eatery and has some mouthwatering options. Try their Wiener Frankfurters Style and the Oktoberfest Hendl. The food is as much worth a visit as the beer is!

Rockman’s hosted a very successful Oktoberfest recently and plan to do so every year, which is when they brew their Oktoberfest beer, a famed beer with a milder taste brewed during the time in Germany. Once it catches on, one can just imagine what a success this festival would be! Rockman’s Beer Island also boasts of having the country’s second Smoke Solutions Zone (the first being at Indira Gandhi Airport) that provides a glassed-in area for smoking so that lovers of the poison stick do not have to step outside the mall for their deadly dose.

Did you know how beer is made?

We tried to find out at Rockman’s. Here’s how... Barley or wheat malt is mixed with crystal clear brewing water to create a beer mash. The wort (liquid extracted from mashing) is then heated to boiling temperature and the very best quality of hops (female flower clusters used as flavouring and stability agents) are added. This is the important part as it determines the flavour of the beer. When the mash process is over, the wort is separated from the solid component of hops and proteins, cooled to a temperature of 10 degrees centigrade, before cultured yeast is added.

Now the beer is taken to the fermenting cellar. Alcohol and carbon dioxide are created during this process. When that is over, the product we get is called Young Beer. This is stored in storage cellars within the premises and the beer is given time to mature. An ultra modern filtering process takes place before it is dispensed for consumption through pipes that lead straight to the dispensing taps.

And, your favourite froth is ready, bubbling and bursting with cheer...

Rockman’s Beer Island (Bavarian Pub, Kegs & Barrel)

Ambience Mall, Gurgaon

Category: Beer Bar

Opening hours : 11 am - 2 am

Dress code: 180 seated (Bavarian) 180 (Kegs & Barrels)

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Point of No Return

You visit some bars for their music, some for their quality of drinks, some for the people they attract, and some for their convenient location. You would go to Rubicon for an evening of comfort and elegance along with some good classic drinks. And that would be your rubicon (point of no return).

You can grow used to such elegance and luxury. An unobtrusive alcove in the mesmerisingly glittery lobby of The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon leads you through a tantalising tunnel lit up in rich ruby colour into a welcoming lounge bar. The décor, the lighting, Chesterfield wing chairs, the glitter of crystal and twinkle of amber liquids, all conspire to give an immediate sense of well-being and having arrived.

This is the kind of place where you would automatically reach for the single malts and Scotches, for they belong. Carefully selected wines from the hotel’s state-of-the-art walk-in cellars would be a close second. Cocktails would still seem part of the environs, but beer would seem an insolence!

A low seating bar with a counter introduces a new concept inspired by Japanese bars. This goes quite well with the “Let me be” rather than the “Come see me” ambience of the Rubicon bar. So even if you choose to sit at the bar, you can be comfortably unobtrusive rather than seated uncomfortably on high stools. Alcoves and winged chairs in other places, some near the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Gurgaon highway, also assure privacy. Ornamental details with exquisite metallic lattice work by Japanese designers Design Studio Spin weave a special magic.

The bar boasts an enviable range of single malts and Scotches, while the wine cellar is more than adequate with a range of labels selected more for their uniqueness and importantly, value for money. And so the ubiquitous French wines are picked and chosen and a freer hand allowed to Italian wines, which Kunal Chauhan, the EAM – Food & Beverage, believes are more price friendly.

Kunal has been adventurous with his wine selections, taking full advantage of the open market status of Gurgaon. So Leela Kempinski keeps introducing new wines and replacing old ones with fresher alternatives quite often. Chilean and Argentinean wines are also popular, particularly the latter that go well with Indian cuisine.

The beverage list is very extensive too, with almost everything anyone can offer-rare single malts, 75 labels of whisky, vodkas, flavoured vodkas, cognacs, etc. Japanese whisky such as Nikka and Suntory are already available with other labels poised for entry.

Rubicon also has an extensive selection of cocktails but interestingly, they rarely follow it. Because next door is their 24-hour dining, Spectra, which has fresh ingredients flown in everyday. And so bartender Ankit Sadana reinvents his cocktails list everyday depending on fresh ingredients available. The Cherry Martini he offers today may become a Strawberry Martini tomorrow and so on. We try the Pomegranate with Lemongrass Martini and Elderflower Martini (both passably good at Rs 450 each).

At Ankit’s encouragement we try two drinks – the Maracusa (Rs 450) with Gold Tequila, White Rum, Cointreau, passionfruit and lemon juice; and Fifth Avenue (Rs 650) – Cognac with dark Crème de Cacao and a generous dollop of whipped cream. These are real winners and highly recommended.

Delhiites, in case you are wondering why you would travel to Gurgaon for your tipple, pricing is an attraction. The same Chivas or Absolut peg you get for Rs 550 each in a Delhi hotel, is available for Rs 400 at Rubicon. During Happy Hours (10-midnight), you can avail two pegs for the price of one. So you could get two pegs of the rare Ladyburn 1973 Vintage Single Cask at Rs 4000 (normally you get a single peg at Rs 5000 in Delhi).

Oh yes, an added attraction is the live singing. Few classy bars still have someone sing for you to the strumming of a guitar, most having given way to DJs, though live bands are coming back in a big way now. From 7 to 9 pm is Jazz Blues by a two-piece band, which turns to retro for an hour, before house and progressive to hip hop so the late night happy hours crowd (10 pm and midnight) can shake a leg too!

Reason enough for Delhi to visit Gurgaon?

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