Most of us have grown up watching movies and TV shows where the best friend pair dreams of opening a bar, a restaurant, a cafe, or a diner. It’s somewhat akin to a dream: to have your closest friends be not only your partners in spirit, but also partners in business. Those who have watched (and love) How I Met Your Mother will know exactly what I’m talking about. Puzzles. Puzzles is the bar Ted and Barney day-dreamed of opening—a space that somehow lived up to their all-time favourite MacLaren’s Pub, also the main setting where the entire plot of the show unfolds. Why Puzzles, one might ask? That, precisely, is the puzzle!
“I think I must have watched the show about six to seven times,” says Sachin Bobal, one of the founder-trio. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to have a Puzzles of my own. Now, we’ve finally done it!” he adds, as I raved to him about just how spectacular it is to see something so movie-like come to life. The cherry on top? The name, 304, is an ode to the dorm room they once shared during their youth. Led by founder-trio Kabir Chugh, Himkar Kumria, and Sachin Bobal, this space is exactly what you’d imagine three avid enjoyers of music, drinks, and design would come up with.
Joining the slew of speakeasies in the capital, 304 greets you with a variety of doors to choose from on entering. While finding said doors is in itself a task and a half (directions are provided on reservation), the mystery is most definitely worth the wait. Among the many attractions is the cocktail menu, named after the trio’s many hilarious memories of college, a vinyl-led music program, and a curated set of small plates, best described as funky and experimental. With themed music nights throughout the week, the space describes itself as a bar made solely for the introverts of the world. From Taylor Swift to Kishore Kumar classics, the space is everyone’s cup of tea. Here, you come not just for a drink (and then some more), but for great music, and even better stories.
Star Dish (or shall I say, drink?)
While there are a couple of great finger foods up for grabs at the bar, the show, undoubtedly, is stolen by the drinks. My favourite, for obvious reasons, was The Girlfriend’s Room.
Sultry, sweet, and silky, this drink is a romantic encounter in cocktail form. It’s dark-hued, rich, and makes for the perfect glass to start with. With a heart of cranberry super juice and oxidised wine, the drink also features strawberry black grapes, butterfly pea tea, infused vodka, and their house black currant liquor. So clearly, if you like your drinks fruity, deep, and in many ways, intimate, this is the one to pick, almost blindly. While the wine gives it a tangy, pungent kick, the vodka and black currant liquor even it out quite well. I drained mine empty without even realising it!
On the food front, my most enjoyed small plate of the evening was the Magic Galouti, featuring a melt-in-your-mouth galouti kebab, pickled onion, spicy chutney, and paper-thin malabar parotta. While portion size is nowhere as hefty as it seems, the dish makes for a delicious pairing alongside your drinks. The galouti was soft, buttery, and well-spiced, while the carb-heavy parotta was cooked to perfection.
What Else Is On The Menu?
The menu consists entirely of small plates, done with a generous side of experimentation and fusion. The chefs at play have taken local favourites, loved and revered across the capital, and turned them into something you might not have ever even thought of. Case in point: Japanese dahi puri, gajar mattar momo, hari mirch mac and cheese, dal makhni nachos, and aloo gobhi fries. And trust me when I say this, that’s not the half of it.
If you’re someone with one too many experimental bones in your body, the Japanese dahi puri is a must-try. While it looks fairly unsuspicious, what the puri hides inside is the best kind of disguise. It combines two flavours that are worlds apart—not in my wildest dreams did I imagine I could taste umami and sev with chutney in one, succinct dish. However, if you love your comfort flavours like nothing else, skip! Biting into this flavour bomb is a journey that takes you from the crunchy puri and sev to the umami-heavy dahi, and finally, to the sweet-and-sour chutney. I would try it just to be able to say I’ve had something as wild as this.
For comfort food lovers, I also tried their Chipotle honey chicken satay, which was served with chilled pickled cucumber and sesame seeds—a fail-proof order that tastes akin to your favourite style of chicken. It goes well with drinks and makes for a more wholesome starter than others. Other no-nonsense, delicious offerings include the chicken seekh roll, Kerala chicken, guacamole sev puri, and the Nihari toast.
While the bar doesn’t get far too much into different courses, on the dessert front, there is one rather delicious offering, perfect for mango lovers. The sweet treat features a makkhan toast with 35% fat sugarless dairy cream, perched atop which is sliced mango. It hits the spot perfectly, especially in this season, without becoming too sweet or indulgent at any point.
Attention: Do note that the entire menu is built as a side to your drinks. Most orders are served small, fit to enjoy as chakhna, not a main. Do not drink on an empty stomach, kids!
What About Drinks?
The best part about this speakeasy is perhaps the child-like nostalgia it comes attached with. The entire space is an ode to the trio’s many, many college memories, and the most blatant among the lot is the drinks menu: made to mimic a photo album of their memories that diners can flip through, quite literally. Each cocktail has a name wackier than the last, a depictive photograph represents what the drink stands for, and each narrates one hilariously memorable inside joke they shared at university.
Take The Drunken Bastard, for instance. As the name suggests, the cocktail is a mix of numerous clarified spirits, including vodka, tequila, gin, rum, triple sec, and white tea. And to soften the blow, it also comprises orange zest tincture, orange bitters, and clarified gummy bear water. Yes, in simpler words, one could say it’s their own rendition of an LIIT. Named after a rather sloshed condition that Sachin found himself in, The Drunken Bastard features the image of a passed-out man right next to a toilet seat. Apt, I must say.
Similarly, each drink comes paired with a sitcom-like story. Monkey On The Crotch (when an actual monkey got inside their hostel and occupied a seat right on someone’s crotch), Let’s All Say F*ck (a rather free-spirited moment when the trio decided to point their middle fingers as if it were a peace sign), Saleem ki Chai (a Delhi favourite that they loved), and Bitchy Boys are just a few.
Vibe Check
If you’re something along the lines of a teetotaler, I would still suggest taking a trip down to GK-1 to visit this speakeasy-cum-bar. Why? Because the vibes, in plain words, are immaculate.
All-time bestselling albums line one of the walls, anchoring the room from behind the music setup. The vinyl console holds its own with an analogue-like feel, and the bar looks like something straight out of New York City. Low lighting, plush seating, and warm tones give it a comforting outlook. While not too big, the discreet space makes for a lively hangout spot for drinks with friends post-work, or even a bar-hopping stop while on your journey to take over the city.
Read more: At CinCin, Order The Agnello, And Let The Cocktails Do The Talking
Also read: A Transcendent Kakori Leads The Royal Table At Kesar Bagh
