At Naar, a cocktail with whisky, citrus—and a hint of deodar

There’s a moment, about halfway through dinner at Naar, when you realise no one is in a rush and, more unsettlingly, neither are you. It must be the setting. In just a year of its opening, chef Prateek Sadhu’s 16-seater restaurant in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, has shot to number 30 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. And on this particular night, the restaurant is turning out a meticulously crafted 11-course menu by Sadhu and his guest chef Manu Buffara (Latin America’s Best Female Chef 2022 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy). Alongside, though, is also an off-the-book cocktail programme celebrating The Singleton’s signature serves. 

There’s the theatre coming from the kitchen, but the place remains in sync with its surroundings—calm, precise, and entirely at ease with the clear Himalayan air. “The mountains don’t let you pretend. Everything here is slower, more real. You can’t rush seasons, you can’t force ingredients. That naturally keeps you grounded,” says chef Sadhu.

This particular weekend is technically part of The Singleton Social's ‘Analogue Jams’ series. However, there are no instructions or engineered moments. Instead, it’s an invitation to slow down with a steady flow of great food, easy jazz, and whisky-led cocktails. “We don’t approach collaborations as a checklist. It’s very instinctive. I’m drawn to people who cook with intent. The same goes for our partners—it has to feel like a natural extension of what we believe in. If it doesn’t feel real, we don’t do it,” Sadhu explains of his pop-up dinners that have seen the likes of chef Jorge Vallejo of Michelin-starred Quintonil in Mexico City, chef Chalee Kader of Michelin-starred Wana Yook in Bangkok and chef Gresham of Bandra Born in Mumbai in the past year.

The mountains, unsurprisingly, make their way into your plate—but this time, it is also in your glass. The cocktails are tree-themed but not just to sound interesting on paper. Instead, the drinks menu subtly taps into the aroma and flavours of the conifers that dot your view. Take The Deodar Tree, where the deodar needle vermouth adds a charred woody warmth to the fruity vibrancy of strawberry cheong and the tang of galgal swirled into The Singleton 12-year-old. Dishant Maharana, brand ambassador of Diageo, who collaborated on creating these cocktails, says they’re “rooted in the essence of the tree–its bark, fruit, and bloom…with a layered complexity that unfolds in each serve”. Which, conveniently, is exactly how the evening works too.

The rest of the bar menu too reads like a slightly odd orchard landscaped with fruits: The Pine Tree with pine needle honey, smoked pumpkin, and asparagus seeds; The Apple Tree with apple liqueur, saffron and mango; and The Paja Tree with paja berry liqueur, coffee, and gucchi morel. Each one slots neatly into the feast, pairing with courses that move as easily. Arriving with my cocktails is the Spiti potato in Himalayan dog mustard and monkey fruit chutney as well as the duck in a pahadi sauce lifted with buransh and sour butter, to name a few. It ends with a sea buckthorn and timur custard dessert. Plate after plate, the shared commitment to local ingredients, seasonal produce, and the flavours of both chef Sadhu’s and chef Buffara’s home restaurants create a fluid conversation between the Himalayas and Brazil.

But the secret ingredient here isn’t the individual cocktail or dish. Neither is it what’s undoubtedly a perfect coming together of ingredients, technique, and creativity. The idea, as Diageo India’s Varun Koorichh puts it, is simple: “Experiences like these go beyond occasion; they are an invitation to pause, engage the senses, and appreciate the richness of a single, well-lived moment.” By the end of the night, nothing dramatic has happened but you have stopped and smelled the deodar. That seems to be the point.