MIXOLOGISTS — like magicians — strive to shroud the sleight of hand. The contemporary crafted cocktail is a distilling of decades of experience and expertise in getting it just right.
In 2011, at the New York City bar Death And Company, mixologist Joaquín Simó created the Naked and Famous — a refreshing cocktail comprising equal parts mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and fresh lime juice. He knew to ride the up-and-coming wave of mezcal-based cocktails but also sprinkled in his expertise and experience to remix elements from two Prohibition-era cocktails — The Last Word and Paper Plane. One would hazard that this arriving at striking simplicity was among the many reasons that inspired Karthik Kumar to choose this moniker for his newest bar in Koramangala. Bengaluru’s Naked & Famous (Kumar is both co-founder and beverage director) is riding the wave of cocktail bars shaking up the country, but it’s got a bold twist.
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Shaken And Stirred
While the architecture of the traditional bar counter has been staged to mirror the relationship between a priest and a confessor, Naked & Famous goes in for an octagonal bar, divided into four distinct stations arranged by technique rather than spirit. There are two seats tucked between each station, releasing the bartender from behind their pen. Not just a structural gimmick, it transforms the relationship between the drinker and the maker — they can be friends now. We’re encouraged to move around: stopover at the Built Station for highballs; the Stirred Station for slower, spirit-forward cocktails; the Shaken Station for drinks with aeration and texture or stick to the script at the Neat Station for “spirits without intervention”.
It’s opening week, so we park ourselves at the station manned by Karthik himself, and ask for the Critic’s Choice (a bit on the nose, forgive us!). While bringing together tequila, apricot liqueur, cheddar cheese, sour cream and fizzing it up with bubbles for our cocktail, Karthik reminisces about his journey of being in-charge of the good times. From a young adult making sure that the spiked punch got passed around at family festivities, to slinging Cosmos and LIITs at the city’s favourite watering holes, to creating his own brews for bar programmes, and now running his own joint. “I’m a long way from blue curacao as the only liqueur,” he jokes, capping our drink off with a biscuit. From the very first moment, our drink feels luxurious yet familiar…like the club snack of syrupy pineapple-cherry-and-cheese jabbed with a tooth. But with this blend, the cloying aftertaste of the old-school bite has been elevated into a creamy, savoury sip.
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Lulled by its excellence, we order The Showgirl, a slightly showier riff on an Old Fashioned, with the volume turned up on the cherry flavour of the drink. Sozzled, we reach out to our multiple orders of the small plate of bacon skewers to sop up the excess spirits. Greasy bacon bits stacked on a skewer like the thousand sheets of a mille-feuille pastry might be the personification of cardiac arrest on a stick but they were excellent with the accompanying pungent sauce. And anyways, I’d rather die smiling than slimming. We also quickly gobbled up little fried potlis packed with corn, spinach and cheese, punched up with chilli and garlic, to soak the booze. We licked our plates clean and noticed the ceramic crockery imprinted with cats in curious contortions.
Closing Act
Ensconced within the interiors of Naked & Famous (its giving stylish, comfy furniture moved into a grotto, with its textured walls) we’re mesmerised by the reddish-glow of the central feature in the octagonal bar — ropey wood bent into a column blooming with light-studded bold flowers.
Since we’re flying, might as well commit; we ask for 3 Acts of Citrus. The tart of the marmalade two-steps with the spike of the green lime brilliantly while the whisky seals the deal. We’re glad for our additional order of the bacon skewers and a zesty lamb massaman curry that was the much needed soothing warmth that hit the spot. We call it a night with panko-fried bananas with vanilla ice-cream…a delightful dance of textures and temperatures. And we’re sent off with a complimentary cup of chicken soup; it is indeed, we can attest, good for the soul.
Naked & Famous makes musical chairs fun again.
Naked & Famous, Second Floor, 4, 100 Feet Road, KHB Block, 5th Koramangala. Call 9035094173 for reservations. Daily, from 6 pm to 1am.