Sundowner Smackdown

We visit Dome, Aurus and Escobar to find out which Sunday sundowner is worth a Monday morning hangover.

Sundowner at Aurus.

The word sundowner, a colonial term for a drink taken at sunset, once evoked balmy climes and sipping on a peg of whisky as you surveyed a herd of grazing zebra in the distant plains. Today, it’s been co-opted to give people an excuse to drink on Sunday. The new sundowner, or at least the one in Mumbai, shares with its antecedents only the time of the day, and is thus more the sort of generic drinking fest that Mumbaiites celebrate freely and all too often. In the name of research, we dispatched our writers to try out three sundowner sessions across town—at Dome, Aurus and Escobar—to find out if any of them are worth a Monday morning hangover. The results:

DOME
InterContinental Marine Drive, 135 Marine Drive. Tel: 3987 9999.
Pricing: Entry is free but via guest list (you just need to call to add your name to it). Tables for four people require a minimum spend of Rs12,500 and those for six to eight a minimum spend of Rs25,000. The minimum spend for a VIP table, on the pool deck, for eight to 10 people, is Rs35,000.
What to expect: Organised by Vodka brand Ciroc, the Dome sundowner’s biggest draw is its view. From the terrace, you can span the length of the Queen’s Necklace, catch a glimpse of Antilia twinkling as the sun sets over the Arabian Sea, and survey the hordes that throng Marine Drive for their evening walk. Its drawback is the branding of pretty much every nook, cranny, cocktail and yes, the waiters’ arms with the Ciroc logo (they brandished what looked like wrist armour that could possibly shoot out a spider web). No matter, as is a given for a South Mumbai location, the crowd is a mix of SoBo staples: in other words socialites (we spotted Sid Mallya holding court at a table), expats, businessmen, media folk plus the attendant poseurs who angle unabashedly for the flashing cameras.

If you choose to nab a table by the pool area, which gives you access to free massages, you might miss out on the thrum of activity on the main floor, where the DJ spins a mix of pop chart faves (David Guetta, Adele remixes and Rihanna) segueing into house lite as the sun goes down. If you don’t want to blow big bucks on a table (they start from Rs12,500 for a table for four and come with the advantage of sofa seating and dedicated service), then come early to grab standing room by some of the long bar tables. The food, a mix of sliders, hot dogs, pizza and tempura shrimp, is mainly there to soak up the liquor, which it accomplishes effectively. After the sun has set, with most revelers happily hammered, you can expect movement to be flexible, the mood joyous and the bill, high.
Dress code: Flip-flops and shorts are totally acceptable (especially if you book the pool-side table), not that anyone dares. Most women don floaty summer dresses, sparkly short numbers and jackets for protection from the wind; for the men, it’s a chance to bust out the blazers and linen pants.
Next one: Sunday, February 12, from 4pm to 8pm. The sundowners at Dome will continue until March.

AURUS
Ground Floor, Nichani Kutir, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu. Tel: 6710 6666.
Pricing: Rs2,000 cover charge per couples or stag.
What to expect: Gutted that you missed Sunburn this December? Aurus’s weekly Sunday sundowner serves as some consolation for both those who couldn’t make it to India’s biggest beach party as well as those who are experiencing Goa withdrawal syndrome. As a sundowner and Sunburn regular succinctly put it, “the Aurus sundowner is Sunburn packed into a few hours and on a wooden deck as opposed to a sprawling beach”. The Juhu beach location and the music are the two big draws for the crowd, a motley mix of indie musicians, VJs, models, and Bollywood celebs. The dance party unfolds on the outer, beachfront deck of the fine dining restaurant and lounge. At about an hour before sundown, the city’s techno, trance and house enthusiasts throng the area with the intent of submitting to the repetitive and throbbing beats of the music for the whole duration of the party, which lasts a good eight hours on average.

Since the launch of the Sunday sundown in 2009, Aurus has hosted a slew of both well-known and obscure DJs, from foreign acts like Peter Kruder, Shpongle and DOP to local heroes like Midival Punditz and Jalebee Cartel. After 10pm, the dancing moves into the gilded indoors of the lounge and lasts well up to 1am. The feverish pace of the dancing is only interrupted when revelers pause for alcohol refills from one of the lounge’s two bars set up both indoors and in the outdoor section. The drinks menu is the same as the one served on a regular bar night, alas with no discounts. If you work up an appetite after the continuous dancing, Aurus offers a special food menu drawn up by executive chef Vicky Ratnani. Your choices include barbecued meats such as lamb chops, beef tenderloin, and pork chops and bar grub staples like beef burgers, beer battered fish, and hot dogs.
Dress code: You can choose to dress up or down for the Aurus sundowner as it’s the only day of the week when the posh seaside lounge relaxes its smart casual dress code to allow men clad in shorts and flip flops. Women turn up in their beachwear best that includes tiny shorts, tube dresses, kaftans and breezy tunics.
Next one: Sunday, January 22, from 4.30pm to 1am. The sundown sessions will continue until Sunday, February 5, after which they will return in November.

ESCOBAR
V. N. Sphere Building, Fourth Floor, junction of Turner and Linking Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 4276 0000.
Pricing: There is no entry fee.
What to expect: It was hard for us to get a feel of what the vibe at Escobar’s just-started Sunday sundowner sessions is going to be like, because when we went by for the inaugural edition this past weekend, the owners were hosting a launch party. The guest list was a veritable buffet of C-list celebs, from soap stars to former reality show contestants. The handful of people who weren’t sporting fluorescent green VIP bands on their wrists seemed to be Bandra clubbers who decided to take advantage of the good weather and perhaps, the alcohol deals. The Sundowners menu at Escobar (where the average price of a drink is around Rs550) offers buckets of different spirits and cocktails priced at Rs1,000 and above. However, we should point out that they have used the term “bucket” rather liberally for the quantity of booze in each is good enough for just two people. The mood is expectedly laid-back but not quite relaxed because the terrace section of the resto-bar is dotted with bouncers in black T-shirts that read “911” for some reason. We were asked, not too politely, to leave the table at which we sat down because all seating was reserved for VIPs.

While we had no problem slouching by the bar—there’s not much of a view anyway, Escobar looks over two billboards and a tall glass-fronted building—we weren’t informed about this when we entered. There’s also the matter of the loosely-enforced dress code (see below). Thankfully, the bartenders at Escobar are an amiable lot and they made us an off-the-menu green apple mojito when we asked for recommendations. Though it was too sweet for our tastes, they were quick, efficient and never over-bearing. From the limited food menu, we’d recommend the crispy and spicy black pepper mushrooms over the skewers of chargrilled chicken supreme. Most just order the pizzas, which are made fresh and come with a commendably thin crust. The music seems to be a pleasant-enough mix of unobtrusive electonica (there will be a different DJ every time) played at a level that enables you to hold a conversation at your normal speaking volume. Which is just as well because if you’re looking for a spot at which to silently look over the horizon, the view-less Escobar is sadly not the place to be.
Dress code: When we called to check about the entrance fees, we were told that there is a strict dress code—caps, shorts and slippers are not allowed, and men are expected to wear white shirts. Since the shirt we were wearing had red and blue checks over white, we didn’t bother changing and weren’t barred from entering either. Inside, it was mainly the men who had adhered to the code with many wearing loose white shirts or bicep-hugging tees. We did however spot a guy in pink shorts and another donning a baseball cap.
Next one: Sunday, January 22, from 4pm onwards. The sundown sessions are slated to continue on a weekly basis until the end of March.