Lounge
Sip on Bengaluru: Cocktails inspired by the city’s scents
Summary
Soka, a bar in Bengaluru, is serving a limited menu that distills the scents of the city, from the grassy smells of Cubbon Park to the Karaga festival's camphor-heavy air, into a drink
You can see that the servers at Soka are fully invested in its complex new limited menu inspired by the scents of Bengaluru. At each table of the intimate 38-seater bar, servers take guests through the details of the five cocktails in the menu, Vāsané, which positions itself as an “olfactory archive of Bengaluru".
The first drink that arrives is “Strictly Couples", a tall glass of smoky light-green fluid with a generous amount of chili salt rim, accompanied by a small cloche. “Take off the cloche and inhale the smell under the dome quickly," instructs the server. I take a whiff and the sharp smell of freshly cut grass wafts up. The cocktail itself is cucumber-forward, made of Patron Silver tequila, orange liqueur, jalapeños, clarified cucumber, chilli tincture, and tonic. It was inspired by the city’s iconic Cubbon Park, and is an interpretation of its distinct scent identity.
The limited menu, on till 10 December, is based on the work of multidisciplinary artist Indu Antony, who published her book Vāsané, chronicling the unique scent profile of Bengaluru, last year. Vāsané, which means ‘smell’ in Kannada, is part oral history and part archive, and is packaged with 12 vials containing scents that Antony and a local perfumer crafted, distilled and bottled over two years.
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“We sampled over 150 smells from Indu’s archive before picking five that would represent each smell through a unique cocktail," says mixologist Avinash Kapoli, partner at Soka. Each cocktail is served alongside a coaster infused with a fragrance, covered by a cloche. You need to take in the smell and feel it before taking your first sip, explains Kapoli, adding that the aroma is complimentary to the drink and not a duplication—it’s about creating a sensory experience evocative of a place, a mood, or a memory.
He explains the process behind creating “Strictly Couples": “If you go to Cubbon Park in the morning for a run, you inhale the scents of freshly cut grass mixed with petrichor, and you also have street vendors selling food, one of which is freshly sliced cucumber with salt and chilli powder. So when you order the cocktail, you take a whiff of the grassy Cubbon Park smell, and then you sip on the drink."
There are four other drinks on the menu inspired by four distinct smells—not all of which would be conventionally described as pleasant or palatable. The whisky cocktail “Put one Dum", for instance, is inspired by Antony’s memory of sitting on a corner of Church Street watching cigarette butts floating in rain water, and has a distinct hint of tobacco. “Chai & Sponge Cake" pays tribute to the famous Iyengar bakeries of Bengaluru, and the cocktail embodies that warmth with Bombay Sapphire, Lillet Rose, clarified masala chai, and orange bitters.
The annual Karaga festival’s heady mix of camphor and floral smells is captured in “Only God can Judge Me", a drink made with Bacardi Carta Blanca, camphor and tender coconut water; while the city’s love for curd rice and sambar are interpreted as “GSB Goose Sex", made with Grey Goose vodka, clarified yogurt, and hints of mustard seeds and curry leaves.
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Vāsané, both the project and the menu, reminds us once again that food and culture are intertwined, and when they blend seamlessly, they can create magic.
