Delhi has its unofficial neighbourhoods for bar hopping, and GK-2 and Basant Lok in Vasant Vihar are right up there. Decades ago, Basant Lok was known for two things: Priya cinema and its companion hang, TGIF, but these days bars like Lair, AABBCC, The Bar Behind the Sandwich Shop, and Rumour are bringing in the crowds. The drinks are sorted, but food most often takes a backseat. There are exceptions, of course, restaurants like Khi Khi and Mestizo and burger joints like Chard and Aku’s. Upside, a new Asian tapas restaurant and bar in Vasant Vihar, wants to make a case for food as the draw.
The kitchen is helmed by Vikram Khatri, who spent 16 years with the Olive Group and is best known for Guppy in Lodhi Colony. His experience with Japanese and southeast Asian flavours comes through in a menu of tapas-style plates, robata, and teppanyaki, with a handful of mains thrown in. Don’t expect page after page of gyoza, dim sum, and sushi. Instead, the idea takes inspiration from Vaso, a Spanish tapas bar in Bangkok known for its kitchen-counter seating and high-energy atmosphere. Here, the format gets an Asian spin.
So, it’s pretty obvious that the open kitchen is the main character at Upside, visible from almost every corner of the 50-seater. You can watch the action as dishes come off the grill—a good way to work up an appetite. There’s also a mezzanine, while a basement space is expected to turn into a bar with an umami-forward cocktail menu.
For now, the drinks menu features signatures and classics organised around different flavour profiles. The classics, including the Grasshopper, Old Fashioned, Negroni, Paloma and Whisky Sour, are grouped under sweet, bitter, savoury, and sour, while the unnamed signatures explore more complex notes, such as nutty, rich, spicy, smoky, and cooling.
My first drink was a rather unexpected take on Korean ramen, bringing together two kinds of ramen (one fiery and the other milder), with mezcal and Patrón Reposado adding a smoky edge. The garnish is ramen noodles baked with seasoning and kimchi. I paired it with the rambutan ceviche, which came with a lotus blossom cookie made with ingredients like Thai lychee, raw papaya, pickled shallots, and apple with roasted jalapeño sauce and yuzu.
The raw bar had more to explore. The kanpachi tiradito had delicate slices of fish, charred avocado, and smoky aji panca, which brought a hint of heat without overpowering the fish. The salmon tataki was another must-try. It featured seared salmon, green asparagus, and microgreens, with roasted jalapeño-cucumber dressing and apple and yuzu adding a fresh, tangy kick. Inspired by Peruvian ceviche, it’s light, bright, and a good pick if you want to save room for the heavier plates.
The tapas section was a bit of a mixed bag. The butter-poached prawns sounded promising on paper, with their aromatic house chilli-garlic sauce, but the prawns themselves were a little chewy. The tuna and tofu tostadas, on the other hand, are just the thing to order to go with your drinks. Served as separate dishes, they disappear in a bite and make for a great chakna. Each comes on a charcoal tostada with smoky chilli aioli, avocado, yuzu teriyaki, and homemade soy glaze, finished with sweet potato crisps.
The menu also had many carb-loaded feats perfect for a drinking night; the indulgent Bread and Brie was a solid one. The sourdough was toasted with buttered parmesan and brie, then served with hot honey and chilli. Dots of saffron miso sauce added an Asian twist to the Italian habit of la scarpetta, or using bread to mop up whatever is left.
