Sidecar Ke Kalakar: An Ode To Stories, Cocktails, And Bartenders

Sidecar has been declared one of the best in the world more than once. Hence, when I entered the bar at Greater Kailash II, I knew I would be amazed, and was excited to find out how. For me, Sidecar was till then a story. A story told and retold by all the cocktail lovers I knew, and a story without a villain; for few places have only lovers, and Sidecar was one. This was, however, my first time.

I was there for their sixth signature cocktail menu, Sidecar Ke Kalakar, an ode to the artists behind the bar. Before the cocktails, I sat with the menu for some time, for as a lover of literature it would have been a crime not to. The emphasis was on the idea of the craft, or the kala. The drinks in store were reminiscent of different crafts—that of the dancer, the writer, and, of course, the bartender. The menu likewise was inspired by different terminologies related to the arts—fourth wall, mudra, negative space, double exposure, unplugged and so on. Each drink was a careful concoction, and I wanted to try as many as possible.

The Art Behind The Bar

The evening started with co-founders Minakshi Singh and Yangdup Lama introducing us to the vision behind their new curation. In conversation with Outlook Traveller, Singh explained that the idea came from Sidecar’s identity as a “bartender’s bar”—one where the people behind the counter lie at the heart of the experience.

“For the longest time, all our menus have been created by bartenders,” she said. The team works collaboratively, from younger members to senior bartenders, but this time they wanted to turn the gaze inwards and explore “what really goes into the art and craft of making drinks”. After eight years of Sidecar, Singh felt it was time to showcase bartending itself as an art form. “That is where the name Sidecar Ke Kalakar came from. It is a little hat-tip to the world of bartending and bartenders today.”

Lama sees this performance as extending far beyond the drink itself. “When you are behind a bar that is brimming with people, you feel like you are performing on stage. You are the actor there; it is your performance.” Facial expressions, body language, grooming and conversation all become part of that performance. A good drink, therefore, is only one part of the experience.

The launch of the new menu was associated with the unveiling of HUEMN's first-ever bar apron. Drawn from their signature “half & half” deconstruction technique, the apron brought together the forms of a shirt, dress and apron in one hybrid silhouette, with a group photograph of Sidecar’s kalakars at its centre. The photograph was captured by Raju Raman and creatively designed by HUEMN’s co-founder Pranav Kirti Misra. The innovativeness blew my mind. But I had to keep my calm for the cocktails.

That attention to art is not accidental. Lama told me that he has loved sketching since school, particularly still life, and continues to sketch ideas for bars before handing them to architects and fabricators. Singh too, is deeply involved in the creative process, from designing furniture and lighting, to working with artists across their spaces. For her, art is a form of being. “It is part of who we are as people and very much part of what we do every day.”

When A Cocktail Tells A Story

I started my tasting with Unplugged, a dessert cocktail, the only one of its kind on the menu and it caught my attention first.

It was built on mahua rum and house-made toffee liqueur, softened with Frangelico, cream and a tinge of cinnamon. I loved the feeling after the first sip—sweet, creamy and mellow. With that I had truly unplugged from the outside world and plugged in to enjoying the drink, the ambience, and the interaction with the founders.

Next up was Negative Space. The term means the empty space around and between the subjects of an image. When my glass arrived at the table, I could see and drink the vision. At the centre was a single green sphere of Himalayan mint ice; surrounding it was the clear landscape of savoury tomato and balsamic. No one could have convinced me that tomatoes would taste so good with Grey Goose vodka and mint, until I tried this one.

Every artist has a muse, and so did Sidecar’s kalakars. But unlike the poets who are often possessive about their muses, Lama was generous enough to share his muse with us. For, one of the highlights of the evening was the cocktail-making workshop. The cocktail we made was called The Muse which was inspired by, but a reinvention of the the classic Sidecar, a cocktail after which the bar is named.

For me, this was an evening of many firsts, as this was the first time I was making a cocktail, and that too guided by someone who had featured in Bar World's 100 Most Influential Figures for three consecutive years. With measured portions of bold Bourbon, house orange liqueur and gooseberry, followed by a good shaking with ice, The Muse was ready. Did I make it right? Well, tasting Lama's version soon made me realise I had a long way to go.

But the exercise did bring me closer to the process of making a cocktail, a skill Lama has nurtured for over 30 years, and that was the point. For him, that process is still deeply hands-on. He prefers the word bartender to mixologist, explaining that a bartender should not only know the recipe but also know how to make the drink well. As he put it, “A mixologist can give you a recipe but may not be able to make a drink for you, or give the full experience.”

His preference for the hands-on approach also explains his unease with the growing reliance on pre-batched cocktails. Yangdup believes, “The romance of the bar was watching the bartender put every ingredient into the glass or shaker and make a drink right in front of you,” he said.

Passion In The Glass

There was an inner nagging by the poet in me for Longhand. This was a chironji-infused whisky that mimics the scent of an old writing desk, along with roasted wood and nuts, sharpened by the medicinal boost of eucalyptus. This is a drink you sip slowly over those long hours of pouring your heart out on paper in longhand. Notes of spice, with a profile reminiscent of an Old Fashioned, made me want to savour this long enough to last the night.

Along with the cocktails there was an array of food options to keep you going into the night. From momo and spring roll to popcorn, chermoula chicken skewers and wai wai sandekho, there was enough to satiate every mood and complement each drink. The momo especially were reminiscent of Yangdup’s roots in Darjeeling, and their subtle flavour was delightful to pair with the stronger Longhand.

Photography is my other love apart from writing, so Double Exposure was the natural choice. If in photography it means two photographs captured on one frame, in a glass it meant a deep, dark base with a clear vodka re-distilled with cacao nibs hiding inside it. The base was prepared using cold brew coffee, stout beer and jaggery. If coffee and chocolate is your combo, then go for this moody drink, where the chocolate notes develop on your palate with every sip.

More Than What Is In The Glass

As the evening progressed, it became clear why Sidecar’s founders place so much emphasis on the space around the drink. For Lama, a bar is ultimately about bringing people together. Growing up in Darjeeling, he saw food and drinks as a way of creating memories, and that idea has stayed with him,

“The whole idea of a bar becoming popular is not only about what you have to sell,” he said. “The important thing is whether you are able to bring people together under one roof in a social space.”

That is also why, for Lama, the mark of a good bar is not necessarily an extraordinary cocktail. “The day the beer starts to taste better at a particular bar is when you know it is a good bar,” he said. It is about the bartender, the people around you and the sense of comfort that makes the same drink taste different in a particular place.

I could see that philosophy play out at Sidecar as the evening progressed. There was conversation, experimentation and the easy exchange that comes when a bar feels like more than a place to order a drink. The cocktails were clearly important, but so was everything happening around them.

The founders’ approach to experimentation is similarly rooted in reinvention rather than chasing recognition. Sidecar’s accolades may have put the bar on the global map, but Lama does not see awards as a reason to stop changing. “If you don't change, it becomes too boring. Innovation is part of the game. It has to be ingrained in us.”

Both Singh and Lama identify as restless creators at their core. Even when everything is going right, Singh said, there is an instinct to ask what comes next. That restlessness is reflected in the way Sidecar approaches its menus, spaces and collaborations. 

And perhaps that is what made Sidecar Ke Kalakar feel different from simply another cocktail menu. It was not only asking me to taste a drink; it was asking me to think about the person, craft and creative process behind it. I had entered Sidecar expecting a story I had heard many times before. By the end of the evening, I had finally experienced it for myself. Have I joined the bandwagon of the lovers of Sidecar? You bet.

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