Sidecar, the capacious wood-panelled bar located at M Block Market in Delhi’s GK2, won the title of India’s best bar for the third time in four years in the 30 Best Bars India rankings for 2023 which was unveiled to a packed house at an awards ceremony held at the Taj Cidade de Goa Heritage hotel yesterday.
Pune’s Cobbler & Crew was ranked second, followed by Lair, New Delhi (no. 3), Copitas at Four Seasons, Bangalore (no.4), Hideaway, Goa (no. 5), ZLB 23 – The Leela Palace, Bangalore (no. 6), The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai (no. 7), Home, Delhi, (no.8), Masque, Mumbai (no. 9) & Slink & Bardot, Mumbai (no. 10).
Sidecar also won awards for the Best Independent Bar and the Best Cocktail Menu. Cobbler & Crew on the other hand walked away with the honours for the Best Bar Team, Best Bartender, and Best Work in Sustainability jointly with another Pune bar Soy Como Soy. Aashi Bhatnagar, Cobbler & Crew’s young mixologist became the first woman to win the Best Bartender award in the event’s four-year history.
As many as 11 new names feature in the Top 30 list for 2023 as compared to the previous year. With 7 bars, Mumbai once again was the city with the highest no. of bars in the list, followed by New Delhi with 6, Bangalore and Goa with 5 each, Gurgaon with 3, and Kolkata with 2. Pune squeezed into the Top 30 with one bar, thanks to the impressive performance of Cobbler & Crew, while Native Cocktail Room brought Jaipur the big honour by entering the list at no. 21.
This year marked the fourth edition of 30 Best Bar India, the country’s most prestigious bar ranking platform, a property owned jointly by Man’s World magazine and Tulleeho.com. The rankings are based on a nationwide polling process involving a 275-member jury of bar enthusiasts, drinks connoisseurs and alcobev industry professionals based out of more than a dozen cities. Winners in special categories like Best Bartender, Best Bar Team and Best Bar Design are chosen by a separate technical jury of industry experts.
Bangalore bars were in the big spotlight this year winning a slew of awards. TOIT, one of the city’s favourite watering holes, bagged the Best Microbrewery/Taproom award, while ZLB 23 – The Leela Palace won the Best Hotel Bar award jointly with fellow city hotel bar Copitas at the Four Seasons. ZLB 23 also won the Hotel Best Bar Design award.
Pune captured both the People’s Choice awards, which are based on a social media poll open to the general public. Elephant & Co was the People’s Choice for Best Bar, while TOIT, Pune, bagged the People’s Choice Award for Best Microbrewery/ Taproom.
Comorin, Gurgaon had the rare honour of being awarded The Best Restaurant Bar award for the third time in three years, while PCO New Delhi won the Highest Climber in Rankings award for 2023, by jumping eight spots to no. 12. The newly instituted Best Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Menu went to Chennai’s Pandan Club, for its innovative storytelling and presentation of Zero ABV drinks. This was the first time a Chennai bar has won an award as part of the 30BestBarsIndia honours.
Industry stalwart AD Singh, founder & MD, of Olive Group of Restaurants, was honoured with the Industry Icon Award, while Polo Lounge, Hyatt Regency Delhi, took home the Timeless Bar Award, an honour reserved for a bar that has been in continuous service for around three decades.
30BestBarsIndia 2023 Ranking
- Sidecar – New Delhi
- Cobbler & Crew – Pune
- Lair – New Delhi
- Copitas – Four Seasons Hotel, Bangalore
- Hideaway – Goa
- ZLB 23 – The Leela Palace, Bangalore
- The Bombay Canteen – Mumbai
- HOME – New Delhi
- Masque – Mumbai
- Slink & Bardot – Mumbai
- Comorin – Gurgaon
- PCO – New Delhi
- Hoots’ – New Delhi
- Americano – Mumbai
- Cocktails & Dreams, Speakeasy – Gurgaon
- PCO – Mumbai
- Slow Tide – Goa
- The Bar – The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata
- Whisky Samba – Gurgaon
- Bob’s Bar – Indiranagar, Bangalore
- Native Cocktail Room – Jaipur
- O Pedro – Mumbai
- Olterra – Kolkata
- Windmills Craftworks – Bangalore
- Pablo’s – Goa
- Joseph’s Bar – Goa
- Ekaa – Mumbai
- The Library Bar – The Leela Palace, New Delhi
- TOIT – Bangalore
- For The Record: Vinyl Bar – Goa
