Bar Review: The Big Nasty

At Kishore D. F.’s newest nightlife venue, The Big Nasty, which opened exactly a week ago off Carter Road, there’s grey in the stone benches, on the columns and even in the waiter’s T-shirts. When combined with wire mesh partitions, iron shelves at the bar, and textured steel flooring, the result is something that has thus far never been seen in a night spot in Mumbai—a place that resembles a factory or a prison depending on which way you choose to look at it. We leaned towards the latter for a couple of reasons: the lattice-patterned lamps that hang over the stone and wood benches made us feel a bit like we were at an interrogation table, and the lop-sided ratio of waitstaff to customers resulted in the former hovering over the relatively large room much like security guards.

For these reasons, The Big Nasty reminded us of the many canteen brawls we’ve witnessed in Hollywood films (for a more local interpretation of incarcerated intoxication, we would have recommended the now sadly, shuttered The Jail.) The DJ’s choice of country music for the soundtrack to a Saturday night also gave the bar a decidedly hick-ish feel. We appreciate the need to differentiate but we counted no less than three hits by country superstar Alan Jackson within a span of 30 minutes.

In keeping with the down-home feel, most of the cocktails (Rs300 excluding tax) were served (as they rightfully should be) in highball glasses (as opposed to the shorter, lowball glasses most establishments use for their cocktails). Sadly, the mandarin mojito was not available while the regular mojito had a syrupy taste; it just wasn’t mixed well enough, which was the same problem with the Nasty Mary, their take on a guava Mary. The pale, watery-looking drink was suitably spicy courtesy of the whole green chilli that was dunked in it but there was too little vodka for so much guava juice. The kalimoxto, which mixes together Sula Satori Merlot and Coke, sounded like it could go horribly wrong but tasted like an innovative, slightly tarter take on a sangria. The Bombay Sapphire martini was as efficiently made, which led us to conclude that it’s best to stick to simple orders here.

The Big Nasty has a fairly large food menu, with burgers dominating the offerings. The beef sliders however weren’t a good advertisement for their larger counterparts; the patties were almost half the size of the miniature burger buns. They were still tastier than the bland pakoda-like paneer spindlers, but less flavourful than the generously sized jalapeno poppers.

Right now, it would be hard to find The Big Nasty if you didn’t know about it. You enter from a side entrance to the same building that houses multi-cuisine restaurant Shatranj Napoli. The location is enviable, given that it is walking distance from Olive, Out of the Blue, and the ever-changing strip of eateries off Carter Road. Kishore D.F.’s last venture, the highly successful WTF! in Khar won instant fans for its kitsch-filled, bright and friendly ambience; The Big Nasty on the other hand, perhaps because of its layout—one big room as opposed to the three sections that make up WTF!—has to try that much harder to create an aura of warmth and camaraderie. When we left The Big Nasty at the relatively early time of half-past-ten last Saturday night, we left a place with potential that hasn’t quite hit home yet.

This review was conducted anonymously.

The Big Nasty

LocationShatranj Napoli
Second Floor
12 Union Park
Near Olive Bar & Kitchen
Off Carter Road
Khar

HoursDaily, noon to 1.30am