Sip on Bengaluru: Cocktails inspired by the city’s scents

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. You can see that the servers at Soka are fully invested in its complex new limited menu inspired by the scents of Bengaluru. At each table of the intimate 38-seater bar, servers take guests through the details of the five cocktails in the menu, Vāsané, which positions itself as an “olfactory archive of Bengaluru".

The first drink that arrives is “Strictly Couples", a tall glass of smoky light-green fluid with a generous amount of chili salt rim, accompanied by a small cloche. “Take off the cloche and inhale the smell under the dome quickly," instructs the server. I take a whiff and the sharp smell of freshly cut grass wafts up.

The cocktail itself is cucumber-forward, made of Patron Silver tequila, orange liqueur, jalapeños, clarified cucumber, chilli tincture, and tonic. It was inspired by the city’s iconic Cubbon Park, and is an interpretation of its distinct scent identity.   The limited menu, on till 10 December, is based on the work of multidisciplinary artist Indu Antony, who published her book Vāsané, chronicling the unique scent profile of Bengaluru, last year.

Vāsané, which means ‘smell’ in Kannada, is part oral history and part archive, and is packaged with 12 vials containing scents that Antony and a local perfumer crafted, distilled and bottled over two years. Also read: When AI blends into the restaurant world “We sampled over 150 smells from Indu’s archive before picking five that would represent each smell through a unique cocktail," says mixologist Avinash Kapoli, partner at Soka. Each cocktail is served alongside a coaster infused with a fragrance, covered by a cloche.