Christopher Hitchens walks into a bar in Khar 

“Good writing is to some degree dependent on good conversation.”

Indeed, our first impression of Hitchens - Cocktails and Ideas was this: on a wildly busy road in Khar in the very noisy city of Mumbai, here is a good place to catch up with a friend or five and have a long, lazy, varied chat.

A watering hole for the readerly and the writerly, Hitchens is a moody, low-lit, plant-speckled, two-level space that pays tribute to British-American journalist Christopher Hitchens. Visitors who aren’t already familiar with this contrarian author of 18 books will find striking portraits of him all around, and quotes by him (like the one above), hand-painted on the walls of the ground floor. It’s impetus enough to go look the literary master up.

Here's another fitting quote: “You have to choose your future regrets.”

At Hitchens, regret may arrive in the form of the bar’s ‘challenge drink’, based on the author’s preferred combination of libations. The Hitch Mix, the solo drink listed on the beverage menu’s first page, has ‘whisky, red wine, and what our bartender is in the mood for’. If brave tipplers finish the drink, they get to keep the special mug in which it comes.

Hitchens was known to be an unfazed imbiber. For the rest of us amateurs, there are other intriguing options. From mixologist Pawan Singh Rawat’s list of 10 signature drinks, we chose one that sounded least sweet. The Poet’s Anthem, featuring mezcal, vermouth, bell pepper, and bitters, came garnished with a crisp, caramelised candy-like slice of bell pepper that was great fun to munch on. For future visits, we have our eyes on a pisco sour with olive oil from the elevated classics. And from the Temperance menu we’re curious about Letter to Carol, with its mix of pineapple, pistachio, curry leaves, and coconut.

In his memoir, Hitch-22, the eponymous writer quotes his mother in saying, “The one unforgivable sin is to be boring.” A bar bite of buttery kaffir lime-spiced nuts was, indeed, un-boring enough for us to have three bowlfuls. We’re pleased to report that there are plenty of other fascinations on chefs Gracian de Souza and Harsh Parikh’s Indian- and Asian-inflected modern European menu. For example, a terrine of potatoes and chicken with the tingle of housemade hot sauce; little toasts topped with mushrooms done three ways; puffy tofu on a pool of scrapeable sambal; and a buff steak with peppercorn jus that was enthusiastically passed around the fairly stuffed table because it was done so perfectly.

The bar’s co-founders, film production designer Aparna Sud and film producer Rakesh Singh, have gathered a band of creative folk across fields to help set up the space. Upstairs, portraits and famous lines by other writers (including Jorge Luis Borges, Dorothy Parker, and Saadat Hasan Manto) line the walls. Alongside another bar counter is a crimson-curtained, curved performance and events space. A jazz night and a reading by actor Naseeruddin Shah are imminent.

Price for two: ₹2,000 without alcohol
Timings: 7 pm to 1 am daily
Address: Pooja House Building, Mangal Sandesh, Plot No 490, 17th Road, Khar West, Mumbai
Contact: 999209 99948 and 99209 99938