If you’ve driven down Gurugram’s Golf Course Road lately, you’ll know it’s turning into a mini Tokyo. From the casual charm of Japonico to the grill-heavy Kuuraku and the sushi shrine that is Ebisu, Japanese spots are everywhere. So, when another one shows up, it’s easy to feel the sushi fatigue.
But OJU, the bar-forward mischief child from the team behind Mumbai’s Neuma, is playing a whole other game. Backed by filmmaker Karan Johar and Truepalate Hospitality’s Ankit Tayal, Anshul Goel, and Vartik Tihara, it’s less solemn sashimi, more Japanese-meets-Peruvian playground.
“OJU felt like the natural next step for Neuma, a space where cocktails, food, and atmosphere come together in a way that makes you want to linger. I see it becoming that ritual you look forward to and the kind of place you keep coming back to,” says the filmmaker.
Designed by Aayushi Malik (of Jolene by the Sea and Pa Pa Ya fame), the space feels like a Tokyo cocktail bar colliding with a Gurugram party lounge. Here, tables encourage sharing plates and clinking glasses and feel less ‘proper dinner’, more ‘fuel for whatever happens next’.
The name itself tips a hat to the Japanese city of Ozu and the rhythm of the moon, but the mood here is pure after-dark theatre: moody lights, plush corners, and a soundtrack that dares you to abandon your chopsticks mid-bite and head straight for the dance floor. With 120 covers spread across alfresco seating, high tables, intimate sofas, and small chairs angled so you can see and be seen, every corner has its own energy.
Like a good film, the first act at OJU unfolds at the bar. Built in collaboration with Countertop—India’s most decorated cocktail collective, led by Pankaj Balachandran—and brought to life by in-house mixologists Siya Negi and Mukesh Patwal, the menu follows a lunar rhythm. It begins bright and easy, then slowly deepens into richer, darker flavours as the night unfolds.
The highballs set the tone: light, fizzy, and made for lingering, inspired by the izakayas of Japan. But OJU doesn’t just stick to whisky. Strawberries and Cream is a vodka-based clarified delight that tastes like spring in a glass. Lima, named after Peru’s capital, is a mischievous mix of lychee gin, Palo Santo gin, yuzu juice, Palo Santo cordial, and clarified green apple juice. It’s tart and fragrant, with a gentle smoky undercurrent.
The house signatures keep the party going. The Ume Sour, with plum gin, umeshu, umeboshi brine, lemon, orgeat, and vegan foam, lands bright and fruity. Nuts About You is a revelation: vodka, spinach cordial clarified with yoghurt and hazelnut somehow come together to taste like a green juice that decided to crash a cocktail party.
