Barfind gleamed red before my eyes. I was drinking away in the cryptic recesses of Mumbai's Kitab Mahal, surrounded by buttoned-up mercantile chaps, white-collar lackeys milling in the doorway, and selfie-hungry Gen Zs sprawled beneath antique chandeliers. Everything you associate with a classic underworld dive is here, accompanied by a profound, bittersweet homesickness. The cocktail menu is illustrated with the imprints of glassware they had no choice but to leave behind.

The artwork unfolds like saudade, the Portuguese expression for an aching nostalgia: cross-sectional orthographs of their flagship venue line the walls alongside retro bodega bottles, travel-stamp stickers, and commissioned prints packed with outré in-jokes about seventeenth-century plague masks, Dàntè Alighièri, and Da Vìnci’s Last Supper. As I languished in this bar within a bar, tucked into the dark-wood interiors of the iconic KMC café—with its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, old-world louvred shutters, and a mezzanine seemingly built for mysterious backroom deals—I found myself wondering what it is we really remember about the bars we go to. Is it the physical space itself, or the people we used to be when we drank there?

Birds Of A Feather

Diganta Chakraborty, founder of Barfind and the young, contemplative foodpreneur behind The Soul Company and Elemental, is simply a man voluptuously excited by life. He seems to harbour no resentment about having to leave Kolkata, where Barfind first operated from the catacombs of the heritage Queens Mansion. The high-concept speakeasy was barely five days old before a dragnet of tenancy regulations caught up with it.

After sending out an SOS to Chef Niyati Rao and Sagar Neve, the co-founders of KMC, the entire team threw themselves into the task of relocating to Mumbai with near-fanatical zeal, like migratory birds following the magnetic field of destiny. "Actually, in Kolkata, I assembled the stainless-steel bar with my own hands," Diganta recalls. "The head bartenders, Laksh and Subha, also know how to fix anything. We're basically a DIY cult now." The mad frenzy of everything that followed began there. Barfind did what misunderstood prodigies do when the world refuses to make room for them: they packed up their posters, sharpened their tools, and carried their laboratory of ideas to a new frontier.

A Bit Of Chemical Derringdo

Issuing forth from the alchemical genius of Matteo Ciarpaglini (of Noma and Bar Paradiso fame), Head of Beverage Development, the liquid programme does quite a number on the mouthfeel, serving up familiar classics with a mashup of unexpected flavour pairings. Consider the ‘Garibaldi’, for instance, a daring twist to the sweet, pulpy highball that emerged in Italy sometime in the 1950s and has remained a beloved mainstay ever since. I sipped the velvety elixir from its tall glass and was greeted by an effervescent burst of citrus. But there was something deeper too—a spiky, almost tart character that I asked Laksh about. "That's probably the kiwi notes balancing the vermouth," he told me. Freaking brilliant! Then there is the ‘Gilda Martini’, which I was particularly smitten with, an homage to tapas, fiery skewers, and Rita Hayworth's undying sex appeal. "It's an umami martini, not dirty or dry," Laksh explained. "It's got lemon-infused gin, dry vermouth, and smoked green pepper vinegar, which helps the flavours remain longer on your palate."

For the next round, the squad poured me one of Barfind's instant hits: the ‘Spumante Marino’, a stripped-down, refreshing drink in which the heavier spirits step back to let delicate botanicals breathe, all deftly playing off a cordial made from sea asparagus. Another standout: the Espresso Martini may be a canonised tipple, but it's clear that Matteo wanted to flex his creative muscles here. Built on a split base of vodka and Rémy Martin cognac, the ‘Pistachio and Coffee’ features Red Bourbon and Caturra beans sourced from Dubai speciality roaster Julith Coffee. A surprisingly light pistachio foam hovers above the drink, finished with a scattering of fresh lemon zest at the last moment. The result is a nightcap that proves the old maxim: greater than the sum of its parts.

Kolkata, With a Plot Twist

Peruse the food menu, and you'll find dishes borrowed from the Bengali vernacular, albeit transformed in an unorthodox fashion, including a particularly phenomenal ‘Bhetki Fish and Chips’, the sage butter-enriched ‘Kasundi Prawns Ravioli’ (an ode to the sinus-dilating powers of mustard), and the ‘Panch Phoron Chicken’ tossed playfully with chana chor garam. For a Kolkata street-food crossover, order their genre-bending take on jhalmuri. I don't know how Chef Niyati's R&D team figured out that cramming mutton boti and impossibly creamy aloo posto into a plate of puffed wheat grains would produce something so viciously addictive. Still, I'm very grateful for their kooky, sedately superior efforts. Then there's the KMC Style ‘Baingan Bhaja’. Tear the crunchy, tentacle-shaped limbs of the Japanese eggplant straight from the stem. Don't be coy with it. And trust me on this: save room for the coffee tiramisu rasgulla, sinfully laden with mascarpone and cocoa powder.

Finders, Keepers

One morning, you might walk past and find it all gone, and it wouldn't be all that surprising. Barfind was never meant to stay put. They leave almost nothing behind. The entire enterprise simply trundles away like Howl's Moving Castle, whisked off to Bengaluru or ready to disappear into someone else's city. There is a peculiar satisfaction in knowing that what you've experienced cannot be neatly replicated, and that the whole affair leaves scarcely a footprint behind.

P.S. Need something non-alcoholic? Just ask for their zero-proof creations, which carry the same spirit of experimentation without the spirits.