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For years, The Ghetto was one of the few places in the Breach Candy and Pedder Road area where you could get a drink. The stodgy bar at the Shalimar Hotel was the other and we’re not counting a country liquor bar hidden in a recess behind Warden Wine Shop. In 2008, the shining stalagmite of Hubtown Skybay, a parking lot and commercial building, sprouted on Breach Candy. Today, it’s the address of a number of restaurants and pubs, the latest being the bar Doppio. The Ghetto needn’t worry about competition. The clientele at the two places is a study in contrast. The 22-year-establishment is full of scruffy youngsters, who look like they have jobs involving the arts and entertainment, and old-time ad execs comfortable in the graffiti-filled, UV-lit cocoon of their youth. Doppio, on the other hand, is a grown-up bar where the customers seem like prosperous looking businessmen and corporate types.
Coffee is the theme at Doppio (Italian for a double shot of espresso). The cocktail menu has a number of coffee-flavoured drinks and the place itself has a warm, espresso-coloured tone. The aesthetic is a slightly confusing mix of colonial and contemporary. The high-backed chairs, ornamental bookshelf and couch-filled alcove evoke a hunting lodge or library. The lamps on the tables are the sort you’d find in a reading room. In contrast, a striking installation of metal rods and bulbs with long filaments runs down the length of the room. Dominating the bar is an out-of-place illustration of an al fresco café and a woman’s wind-blown head.
In general the drinks were far better than the food. The espresso martini (Rs400) was a balanced potion of strong and sweet coffee, coffee liqueur and vanilla vodka. The crème caramel (Rs400) was a creamy drink of coffee liqueur, half and half, brandy and caramel syrup, tasted like Bailey’s and will appeal to those who like their libations to be liquid desserts. The Doppio mojito (Rs400), their version of the cocktail that differs from the original recipe in the use of lemongrass-flavoured rum, suffered only from a slight excess of sugar. The Watering Hole (Rs500), a blend of voda, watermelon syrup, Campari and soda, was our favourite – our palates were grateful for the bitter hit of Campari after all the sweet flavours.
The grub, a generic, yawn-worthy mix of European and Asian fare to be found in so many bars and cafes, seemed to have been prepared by chefs schooled in the heavy-handed Indian tradition of cooking the life out of produce. The pasta in our sage and walnut butter gnocchi (Rs400) disintegrated upon being forked and came blanketed in a tomato sauce that tasted as if it was out of a bottle. The stir-fired honey chilli chicken (Rs375) was a poor version of the Chindian dish, lacking heat and the umami of soy. The Vietnamese fish tacos (Rs475) were passable parcels of fish, pickled carrot and basil but there was nothing Vietnamese about them. The chermoula grilled fish (Rs525) comprised a chunky piece of fish on a bed of ancho-chilli risotto and leek fondue. The fish was fresh and well-grilled but the risotto and fondue were so loaded with cheese the other flavours were almost entirely eclipsed.
Doppio’s attempt to single itself out in the city’s bar scene with its focus on coffee isn’t enough to tempt people to visit it time and again. It’s yet another drop in the annoyingly large cocktail of bars and restaurants that charge fancy prices for average food. For us then, The Ghetto remains the only joint in the area worth going to for an evening of drinks (and potato skins).
Doppio Bar and Brasserie, Second Floor, 201, Hubtown Skybay, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Breach Candy. Tel: 98205 56084. Open daily, from 7pm to 1.30am. Get directions here.
