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Delhi’s Lair named Best Bar in India

The 2024 edition of the 30 Best Bars India list has been revealed, with speakeasy-style cocktail bar Lair taking the top spot.

Lair wins Best Bar -30 Best Bars India 2024
As well as being named the number one bar in India, Lair won the Tanqueray Best Cocktail Menu award

The list was announced during a ceremony at the Taj Cidade de Goa Heritage hotel in Goa last night (13 January).

Lair is a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in New Delhi’s Vasant Vihar. It opened in December 2020 and was designed by architecture and interior studio Renesa. In 2023, it ranked third on the list.

The fifth edition of 30 Best Bars India saw Bangalore make history, with two new entrants in the top three: Bar Spirit Forward at number two, followed by Soka at number three.

Bar Spirit Forward, which debuted on the list in second place, was also recognised with the Monkey Shoulder Highest New Entry award.

New Delhi’s Sidecar, founded by Sharik Khan, Minakshi Singh, Yangdup Lama and Gautam Nijhawan, fell from the top spot in 2023 to fourth in 2024, while the city’s PCO climbed from 12th to ninth.

The rankings are based on a poll of a national jury of 275 bar enthusiasts, cocktail connoisseurs, hospitality experts and industry influencers.

The ceremony included an award for the highest climber, which went to The Library Bar at the Leela Palace in New Delhi. The bar climbed from 28th spot in 2023 to 14th in 2024.

Other individual prizes included the Best Restaurant Bar Award, which was given to Gurgaon’s Comorin for the fourth year running.

Comorin founder Rohit Khattar was named the Heineken Industry Icon for 2024.

The Jim Beam Best Independent Bar was given to Bar Spirit Forward, with The Singleton Best Hotel Bar going to LB23 at the Leela Palace in Bangalore.

Lair also bagged the Tanqueray Best Cocktail Menu award, while Mumbai’s Bandra Born was awarded the Best Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Menu.

Goa’s Hideaway received two prizes: the Bacardi Reserva Best Bar Team prize and the Jim Beam Best Bartender award for Aditya Tribhuvan.

The Second House in Goa was recognised with the Patrón Best Bar Design award, while The Ivory Club at Hyatt Regency in Trivandrum was awarded the Godawan Best Work in Sustainability prize.

PCO shared the Toki Traditions Reinvented prize with Rick’s Taj Mahal in New Delhi. The award celebrates bars that balance modern trends with a deep respect for their roots.

Outside of the jury vote, Bob’s Bar in Bangalore received the People’s Choice Award for Best Bar.

The full list, which can be found below, featured bars from eight cities as well as Goa, with a record 10 new entrants.

Mumbai dominated this year’s list with eight bars, followed by New Delhi with six, Goa and Bangalore with five each, and Gurgaon with two.

Hyderabad debuted on the list with one bar, RÜ, alongside single-bar entries from Pune, Kolkata and Jaipur.

Vikram Achanta, co-founder of 30 Best Bars India, said: “Bangalore is rising, with five bars in the top 30 and bagging two of the top three slots. The presence of several stalwarts of the bar world in the city also drives the clear demonstration of the inexorable rise of cocktail culture in Bangalore.

“Overall, it was a great year for the south with a bar from Hyderabad breaking through into the top 30 and, for the first time ever, a bar from Kerala winning the prestigious Godawan Best Work in Sustainability Award.”

During the ceremony, the 30 Best Bars India team announced a partnership with the Moonshine Honey Project. Moonshine will adopt a hive on behalf of each of India’s top 10 bars for a year, championing sustainability by supporting bee populations.

Radhakrishna Nair, the award’s co-founder, added: “The fact that there are two new entrants in the top three, 10 new entrants in the top 30, and 21 new bars in the top 50 is a testament to not just the rising quality of bars in the country, but also the increasingly intense level of competition for the rankings since 30 Best Bars India first began ranking bars in 2019. There really is very little that separates the bars in the top 30. Each of them is a winner.”


30 Best Bars India full list

New entrants are marked with an asterisk.

  1. Lair, New Delhi
  2. Bar Spirit Forward, Bangalore*
  3. Soka, Bangalore*
  4. Sidecar, New Delhi
  5. Hideaway, Goa
  6. ZLB23, The Leela Palace, Bangalore
  7. Cobbler & Crew, Pune
  8. Americano, Mumbai
  9. PCO, New Delhi
  10. Home, New Delhi
  11. Slow Tide, Goa
  12. Copitas, Four Seasons Hotel, Bangalore
  13. Comorin, Gurgaon
  14. The Library Bar, The Leela Palace, New Delhi
  15. The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai
  16. Muro, Bangalore*
  17. AER Lounge, Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai*
  18. Hoots’, New Delhi
  19. Ekaa, Mumbai
  20. Slink & Bardot, Mumbai
  21. Grumps, Goa*
  22. AM PM, Kolkata*
  23. Room One, Goa*
  24. Bandra Born, Mumbai*
  25. Native Cocktail Room, Jaipur
  26. RÜ, Hyderabad*
  27. Masque, Mumbai
  28. PCO, Mumbai
  29. Cocktails & Dreams, Gurgaon
  30. Petisco, Goa*

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