So I’ve been wondering why my week flies by so quickly and the weekend stops down just long enough for me to get really excited about it before *boom* it’s right before Monday again. And I realized (much to the amusement of my friends, who seem to all know this already) that my life is pretty hectic. But “good” hectic I assure you.
So Friday night I spent at Henry Tham’s in Colaba, Mumbai (which is actually quite rocking on the weekend so much so that is impossible to get from one end of the bar to the other without getting a full body massage.) An interesting Aussi-Panju DJ I met a few weeks ago called Nathan aka Johnny Deep was spinning funky fat funky minimal the sound of Ibiza (I’m so old I don’t even know what that means.) Anyway he was fun and the rest of my bar-hopping involved a trip to Redlight, Kala Ghoda Mumbai (no brainer if you want to dance to your favorite tunes like nobody’s watching) and then Oba, Colaba Mumbai (Rishi Acharya’s new pad which has the most awesome hip-hop DJ (Henry) in town for starters and it’s open late. Win win combo wouldnchya you say?)
Oh and by the way if you want something a little more laid back here’s new bar alert: a new “lounge eatery” just opened it’s doors in South Mumbai’s. It’s called “Tawouk.” (Wikipedia fans you’re right it comes from the Turkish word for chicken “Taouk” I’m told it has the feel of a house party minus the hassle. The DJ spins house and hip hop and you can play Nintendo Wii! “I thought of everything I’d like to see and experience when I go out, and put it in here,” says Suren, who used to design high performance engines and had a modeling stint in the US before he turned to the restaurant business.
Mid Day describes the owner as a “dishy” software engineer-turned-restaurateur Suren Joshi who has collaborated with Zenzibu owner Sunpreet Singh to set Tawouk up a stone’s throw away from Bombay Stock Exchange.
Potentially worth checking out for all the dishy-ness on (and off) the menu.
Where its at: 105, Apollo Street, BS Marg, near Stock Exchange, Fort, Churchgate
So then Saturday rolled around and since it was a dry day we did the right thing and had a house party at a friend’s apartment. (Random thought; I find a majority of our conversations on Saturday’s have to do with something hilarious that happened on Friday.) Anyway the only celebrity spotting I did was Juhi Pande who truly has the most charming self-deprecating sense of humor I have ever seen on a girl. She revealed a life-long phobia of worms, caterpillars, centipedes you name it and mused that perhaps in a previous life she may have been a leaf and eaten by one. She even made like a leaf. I love her. She cracks me up. (P.S. She now has abs of steel thanks to crunches & skipping.)
Sunday of course was the piece-de-resistance as my friend Jean-Marrie Tassel aka “Jim” (it’s just easier that way) would say in his fabulous French accent. By the way he (and his friend Claire Thibault) are the friendliest French people I have ever met in my life and constantly appreciative that people in Mumbai are so nice to them. So if you happen to see them please say hello (nicely) they’re only here for another few weeks and I don’t want anything to kill their Bombay buzz!
Bonobo is a trendy roof-top restaurant that offers brunch and live music (yippee it seems to be spreading!) in the center of bustling Mumbai on Linking Road of all places and delivers just what it promises.
Bar. love. food.
The name, Bonobo, actually comes from a breed of pygmy chimpanzees (which explains the pink and yellow monkey’s on the little boy’s and little girl’s rooms) but the owners, Nevil & Sahil Timbadia, say it’s just to arouse curiosity. I love that all their bar staff is just as excited about getting you drunk as you are about getting you drunk! Perfect.
But what really did it for me was “Nikhil D’Souza and the Naked Tops” a super lounge band that sounds like a cross between John Mayer and Maroon 5 (which they cover very well by the way and you can hear loads of on their MySpace page) with an eye-candy lead that sings in the voice and style of Damien Rice.
Go rent the movie “Closer.” Now.
Till then watch the video of this fantabulous song (which they covered to perfection) called “The Blower’s Daughter” I can’t take my mind of of you… yup you said it.
One of the Naked Tops, Vinay Lobo (so named because they both have shaved head’s I’m presuming) made me feel all warm and fuzzy when I told him they were very good he told me I was very cute. (Score!) The other, Sankarshan Kini aka Shanks blew my mind with his insane ability to play just about every instrument possible. When I asked him how that happened, he smiled and said, “Just happened along the way.” Love that.
Sapna Bhavnani and Sameer “Daddy” Malhotra showed up to support the band, whistled, clapped, danced, delivered shots and filmed with infectious energy. Sapna even got all the girls to dance up front (much to the band’s delight) in exchange for “girlie songs” (how cute is she?! And seems like a much softer soul than her heavily tattooed exterior might lead you to believe.)
So where is all this talent suddenly coming out of the woodwork from? (Or have I been hanging out in all the wrong places?!) at any rate I love it and I’m waiting for my next Live and Loud fix. Bring it on!