Matters of the Spirit: With funky names, whimsied menus, and celebratory concoctions, this hop across Dubai bars is sure to get you thirsty!
“And the winner is Salmon Guru,” announced the presenter, anointing the best cocktail bar in Dubai at the Time Out Nightlife Awards for 2022. Quite a coincidence as it’s Salmon Guru I was heading to for the start of a bar hop with a few other Indians from the local bar and beverage scene — Sunny from Stranger and Sons, Jeet from Masti, Cindy from Tides, and Chirag from Five, the Palm. Salmon Guru is yet another international bar that has chosen to set up its shingle in Dubai and no surprises given how explosive the local nightlife scene is, as evidenced from my two nights out.
Salmon Guru: Where myth meets mastery
The name is an interesting mix of Norse myth, where the salmon — amongst its other redeeming qualities — is known as a fish that swims against the stream, and Indian terminology, in acknowledgement of the wisdom seeking qualities of the bar. All of that has been turned into good use in a cocktail I drink, called the Ultra Marino. As the name suggests, its origins lie underwater as it lies in an amphora in a tank for 72 hours. The cocktail is poured out of the amphora over a solid block of ice into my old-fashioned glass and served with a parmesan cheese cracker perched on the rim.
The Ultra Marino is born of a project that Diego Cabrera of Salmon Guru initiated with Spanish gin brand Gin Mare, wherein in a secret location in Ibiza they aged underwater 12 amphorae, under the premise that the Mediterranean Sea would have an influence on the cocktails via “a controlled transmission of salt and other minerals”. The cocktail that I’m having is a Gimlet variation and is funky enough with Gin Mare/Los Siete Misterios Mezcal/Manzanilla Sherry/Rhubarb cordial and the taste of Parmesan sets off the crispness of the drink perfectly.
Always open to whimsy
Salmon Guru is very literally an open bar. The five of us just walk in and are seated at a handy bar counter. There’s a rotovap machine next to us, that has been used most recently for infusing gin with fresh basil, says the bartender. The shelves on top are groaning under the weight of glass jars with pipes snaking out from them. Cocktails are pre-batched and kept in the jars and tapped out from them. In another corner, a set of barrels are positioned in the Solera system, for another one of their signature cocktails. The menu itself is divided into five parts — Strong, Refreshing, Sour, Crazy, and Fruity. A touch of whimsy and eccentricity abounds, as Sunny Nigrel, one of our crew, is served his drink in a Dragon that’s puffing smoke from its nostrils. As we finish our drinks, the team that has been attending the awards walks in with the trophy, and shots on the house are served up.
Roka: A Japanese twist to highballs
From Salmon Guru, we move on to Roka — another global outpost in Dubai’s Business Bay — a Japanese restaurant that serves contemporary Japanese robatayaki cuisine. Most restaurants in Dubai have a large bar area, so even if you don’t have a reservation, you’re normally quite welcome to walk in for a drink at the bar. It’s only some of the swishier ones that might keep you out. The five of us line up at the bar. I’m advised by Chirag to try the highballs, and deservedly so, given the fascination that Japanese bars have with the highball.
These highballs are streets ahead of anything I’ve ever tasted though. I order Strawberries and Cream, a sumptuous combination of Grey Goose, strawberry wine, strawberries and cream soda. Sweet and creamy, without being cloyingly so and absolutely delicious. Chirag has the eponymous Roka Highball, with Suntory Whisky, Palo Santo cordial, lemon grass, and jasmine.
Palo Santo (literally holy wood) is a kind of wood that is native to South America and Mexico and once burned “during ancient ritualist ceremonies in Mexico and Ecuador”. The tree apparently has myriad health benefits from anti-inflammatory properties to the ability to treat respiratory ailments. I can’t quite pinpoint the taste that it accounts for in the highball, but further reading up helps pinpoint it as a kind of bitters that also helps in “unifying the flavours of a cocktail”. Hope to see it on some Indian menus soon!
Inti: A blend of Japanese and Peruvian fare
This was my second day on the hop and images from my first night out had been spotted by Nikhil Bhandari, a bartender at Inti at the Dubai Edition Hotel. I knew Nikhil well from New Delhi, and his stints at Together at 12th, and Home, and I was looking forward to catch up with him again. Dubai, as I’m discovering, has a fascination with Japanese and Peruvian cuisine and Inti is where it comes together in what we know as a Nikkei experience (for one closer home, visit Pune’s Soy como Soy).
Our party of five undergoes a slight shift as Jeet is replaced by Myo, a bartender from Papa’s, who hails from Myanmar. Winner of several local awards for a bar with a view, Inti has a retractable roof that given the current pleasant weather has been drawn up, giving us stunning views of Dubai’s skyline including an eye-popping view of the Burj Khalifa. We settle in at the bar, where I order the cutely named Macchu Peachu, a mix of Maker’s Mark, Peach, White Wine, and Jasmine Green Tea. Nikhil takes me on a tour of Inti — including Waska their private lounge — and introduces me to his bar manager, a Turk, with whom I swap tales of drinking Raki in Istanbul.
Ergo: Therefore, a concept bar!
Jimmy Barrat is a legend in the bar industry as someone who headed the drinks programme for Zuma globally, and took Zuma Dubai to the World’s 50 Best Bars list, and also helping it stay there. He got itchy feet recently though, and along with other members of the Zuma team, decamped to The Dubai EDITION to open Ergo, a concept bar in which he is also a partner.
Ergo has a large open bar and well-practiced now, we settle in at the bar and I ask the bartender for a light cocktail. “Have a Coca-Cola” he tells me with a sparkle in his eye. Ok, I tell him, I’ll have a cocktail to end the evening with. Famous last words as it turned out. He looked at me disbelievingly and got me started on Vice City, with a mix of rum and Cognac, along with sesame, toasted coconut, and fried banana. Well named I thought, as I chugged it down. At the Time Out Awards earlier in the evening, Brit/Iranian stand-up comic, Omid Djalili had us in splits as he said he’d been offered at his hotel a choice of “Russian vodka or Ukrainian h—ers”, but he couldn’t have both, “so it was either a vicious hangover or a STD”.
Clap: Well-worth the applause
From Ergo we move on to Clap, Japanese themed again, on a DIFC rooftop. Cocktail in hand, we’re ushered further in into Ongaku (music in Japanese), a high energy discreet hangout with a glorious terrace and views. One more I cry as I step out into the night, and Cipriani’s beckons around the corner. Bellini in hand (created in 1948 by Guiseppe Cipriani at Venice’s Harry Bar) I stand propped up by the bar counter as I watch the dance floor as Dubai parties on relentlessly. Coming soon… Day 1 of my bar hop.
Vikram Achanta is founder and CEO of Tulleeho, a drinks training and consulting firm, and a co-founder of www.tulleeho.com, a drinks website. He is also co-founder of 30 Best Bars India, India’s first bar awards and ranking platform. His Instagram handle is @rumdoodle69.
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