{"id":1259,"date":"2026-06-29T18:28:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/india-marketing.jp\/?post_type=india-news&p=1259"},"modified":"2026-08-02T01:10:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T16:10:40","slug":"idoru-bangalore-bar","status":"publish","type":"india-news","link":"https:\/\/india-marketing.jp\/en\/india-news\/idoru-bangalore-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"The day Japanese-style bars become the brand axis of India's fine dining and drinking scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nThis article is based on what we could verify As of August 1, 2026<\/strong> in public records and news reports from India. India revises its tax rules and regulations frequently, and the details here may have changed since. When making an actual business decision, please check the latest information with primary sources such as the ministries responsible and local experts.\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Two bars representing India's two largest cities traded philosophies for a single night. \"Idoru,\" a Japanese-inspired bar in Bandra, Mumbai, traveled to \"ZLB23,\" a Kyoto-inspired speakeasy in Bengaluru, for its first-ever guest shift outside Mumbai. Their shared language is Japanese-style bartending and a craftsman's spirit of hospitality. This one event plainly shows a trend already underway: Japanese liquor and bar culture beginning to function as a \"brand axis\" in India's fine dining and drinking market. For Japanese liquor makers and dining brands thinking about entering India, this is a clue that cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n\n

The news that started it: the night Idoru came to Bengaluru<\/h2>\n

The stage was ZLB23, a speakeasy inside The Leela Palace Bengaluru. The team from Idoru, the bar in Bandra, Mumbai, appeared there as guests, and for one night only, the two venues traded places and ideas in a guest shift. For Idoru, this marked the first time it had ever operated a venue outside Mumbai.<\/p>\n

That night, Idoru's signature cocktails on offer were \"Enmi,\" \"To Odoroki,\" \"Ikura Opera,\" and the house-standard \"Margarita.\" The food, rather than chocolate-based, lined up bar snacks that combined Japanese umami with multinational ideas: a dish pairing cauliflower with ranch, chamoy, and party mix, an Idoru-style \"pizza,\" Dashi Mascarpone, Bourdain Sando, and Mini Don. The food was put together by Idoru's head of food, Chef Nooresha Kably, with local execution handled by The Leela's Executive Chef Nirav Gadre. Drinks were served by Idoru's Bar Operations Head, Rahul Kamath, and his team.<\/p>\n

Idoru co-founder Anil Kably put the point of these collaborations into clear words: \"We've never once seen [the bar] takeovers as a promotional event. That's a chance to exchange ideas.\" His flat statement that this is an exchange of technique and philosophy, not promotion, reflects an attitude shared by both bars.<\/p>\n\n

Background: why two Japan-inspired bars chose each other<\/h2>\n

This pairing is no accident. Idoru is a bar launched by the four people behind Izumi, one of India's most celebrated Japanese restaurants, Nooresha and Anil Kably, Neale Murray, and Owen Roncon. The name Idoru is a Romanization of the Japanese word \"aidoru\" (idol), also drawing on William Gibson's novel of the same name. Behind an unmarked door in Bandra, up a flight of stairs, a roughly 28-seat space opens up, where a soundtrack built around the partners' own personal record collection sets the mood. The bar's design philosophy is straightforward: build drinks around six axes, sweet, spicy, sour, umami, bitter, and salty.<\/p>\n

ZLB23, the host, is a Kyoto-inspired speakeasy that opened inside The Leela Palace Bengaluru in February 2023. It's known for its elaborate approach, guests pass through a garden path, walk through a working hotel kitchen, and finally arrive by service elevator. Its calm, refined world, inspired by Kyoto, is matched by a menu that takes Japanese ingredients and techniques head-on: the \"Kyoto Collins,\" made with whisky, lapsang souchong, and an aromatic wine, and \"Shoyu Ramen,\" which layers tequila with sake, white miso, and shochu.<\/p>\n

In other words, this guest shift is a case of two bars drawing from the same source, Japanese craftsmanship, hospitality, and cocktail technique, reaching across geography, east in Mumbai and south in Bengaluru, to shake hands. No Japanese brand went in directly, and yet Japanese aesthetics have become a shared language in India's fine dining and drinking scene. That is the essence Japanese companies should take note of here.<\/p>\n\n

India's top-tier bars, by the numbers<\/h2>\n

That this is not a passing fad is also backed by international recognition. ZLB23, the host venue, was named \"Best Bar in India\" at Asia's 50 Best Bars 2024, and climbed to 31st in the 2025 edition (up from 40th the previous year). It is said to be the only speakeasy inside a five-star hotel in India to make this ranking.<\/p>\n

India's bars overall are also being lifted as a whole. At Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025, multiple venues from India made the top 50.<\/p>\n\n\n
Store<\/th>City<\/th>Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025 ranking<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>\n
Lair<\/td>New Delhi<\/td>8th (India's best)<\/td><\/tr>\n
Soka<\/td>Bengaluru<\/td>28th<\/td><\/tr>\n
ZLB23<\/td>Bengaluru<\/td>31st<\/td><\/tr>\n
Bar Spirit Forward<\/td>Bengaluru<\/td>37th<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

That several Bengaluru venues made the ranking is significant. The city, known as an IT hub, is also becoming a hub for a sophisticated bar culture. It's likely precisely because of this depth of reception that Idoru chose Bengaluru as its \"first outside Mumbai\" destination.<\/p>\n\n

Industry reaction<\/h2>\n

In the local bar industry, guest shifts (takeovers) between venues like this are shifting in meaning from mere customer-draw events to \"venues for exchanging technique.\" Idoru's co-founder's declaration that this was \"not promotion but an exchange of ideas\" is being taken as a statement symbolizing that shift.<\/p>\n

Looking at the tone of food-and-drink media coverage, Indian bars like ZLB23 are described as \"refined, design-conscious, and increasingly confident,\" spoken of as venues that are defining how India's cocktail scene positions itself on the regional stage. A team originating from the Japanese restaurant Izumi has also built a reputation in the bar space, and hotel-born ZLB23 is gaining presence in international rankings, there's a sense that both makers and media are treating Japanese aesthetics as a marker of elevated status.<\/p>\n

Another point drawing local attention is the crossover of \"hotel x independent bar.\" The structure at play here, a hotel bar, ZLB23, inviting in a street-level independent bar, Idoru, points to a new form of collaboration in which a five-star hotel partners with an outside, edgy brand to capture buzz and expertise.<\/p>\n\n

Implications for Japanese companies: become a \"supplier of brand story,\" not just an exporter of single products<\/h2>\n

This is where the concrete lesson for Japanese companies considering India begins. What this event teaches is that in India's fine dining and drinking market, \"Japanese aesthetics and philosophy\" are starting to circulate as a value ahead of \"Japanese liquor and ingredients themselves.\" Materials like sake, shochu, whisky, matcha, dashi, and miso are already being used as cocktail components in India's top-tier bars.<\/p>\n

If a Japanese liquor maker were to enter India, the idea of simply getting a bottle placed on the shelf would be weak. What it should aim for is one action, one company: partnering with a highly regarded venue like ZLB23 or Idoru to co-develop a single signature cocktail built around the company's own ingredient. This lets a brand ride on a venue's reputation to build trust without having to set up a large local subsidiary or distribution network all at once. By the same logic Idoru used in designing its guest shift as a technical exchange rather than a promotion, a Japanese company offering \"ingredient supply plus co-developed technique\" is likely to be welcomed by local makers.<\/p>\n

For a real sense of how this kind of cross-border collaboration lands, it helps to look at coverage tracing how Mumbai's nightlife and Japanese-style drinking are being received in India, a report on trends in Mumbai's upscale nightlife<\/a>, and coverage looking at how Japanese-style \"drinking parties\" and highball culture are starting to take hold locally, an analysis of the spread of highball and drinking-party culture<\/a> Read together, these let you grasp this as a trend rather than an isolated point.<\/p>\n\n

Ripple effects into the food OEM sector<\/h2>\n

The impact isn't limited to alcohol. Food OEM is a particularly good fit for this same approach. What India's luxury hotels and bars want isn't mass-produced goods, but small-batch, high-quality ingredients with a story behind them. If a Japanese food maker can establish just one track record of \"an ingredient adopted in a dish at a top Indian venue,\" that alone becomes a credential that carries weight in other B2B negotiations. As an earlier example, coverage tracing the spread of the upscale dining scene in Colaba, Mumbai, an analysis of Colaba's upscale dining trend<\/a> is also worth referencing.<\/p>\n\n

Practical information and related links<\/h2>\n

The venue for this guest shift, ZLB23, is a reservation-only speakeasy inside The Leela Palace Bengaluru, accessed through the hotel. Idoru is an independent bar based in Bandra, Mumbai. For anyone wanting to keep following developments in India's fine dining and drinking market, the following articles on this site are a good starting point.<\/p>\n