Bisi Bengaluru: The gluggly Drunkling is here

Drunkling
Take a good bottle of Old Monk, a few inebriated blokes tottering in the city, some good old retro music and the olden day MO: a pub that is a pub, and you've got yourself Drunkling, the new address for tipple in Koramangala. Their partners, Sudheer KS, Rajshekhar Reddy, Yogesh M, Dominic Savio and Nandhu Naidu are the quintessential old Bengalureans that ache for the uncomplicated pub city of yore that kind of lost its way in the quagmire of being trendy, current and loungey. So this is a happy warm pub, for wholesome down time with the buddies and ordinary pub grub. Dominic, the managing partner, was behind the bar potions that have trickled down many bengalurean throats was the tap man at Black Cadillac, with the now shut popular Tavern and so on. Case in point, the Pop My Cherry cocktail we had, subtle flavours, not high on sugar, perfect in its bitter meet honey taste, could have been a fuller glass though.

Sudheer KS, a former state Level boxer turned pub owner was tired of the many ideas littering Bangalore's tipple streets, so he got designer Arun Balan to design a pub, and a pub is what you get. And a walk down memory lane with retro music, which we sure hope they stick with. Coz there aren't many places that offer retro, you know the kind with melody, meaning and words! "We were searching for a name and Drunkling is the a person who takes care of his drunk buddies and it sort of fit. My father was in the hotel industry for a long time, and after he passed away, I always had a passion to start a regular pub, and Drunkling is a dream fulfilled. The sizzlers are good. The idea was to bring back old Bangalore back, in terms of a pub-ish feel with good retro music, ordinary pub food which is tasty," says Sudheer, who wants to bring the glory days of the pub city into reckoning. It's a bit of tavern, Pub World with a Soho kinda swank added to give it an elegant wholesomeness. With something for everyone: a quiet dinner, a drink or just a night out.

Strangely enough, Koramangala needed an unpretentious hub to drink, with good music and a good enough bite that offers you just a place to be, for a quiet dinner of sizzlers in the rough white wooden and grey sizzler diner on the ground floor, or to up the tempo in their pub and terrace upstairs that speaks of rich wood, brick walls, leather chairs and English pub interiors. 

We started our evening with stuffed mushroom, juicy and delicious. The wings were crispy fried in a tangy sauce, a bit dry. We had the bacon wrapped sausage and prawn, yummy, the kind of pub grub that makes the poison go down easy. The fish achari, thankfully was not bassa, was tasty, came with pickled onions and pudina dahi chutney, good. What we liked was that most sauces are made in house and the attention to quality instead of price is what Sudheer is focused on.

For mains, we dug into the beef burger that came with crunchy cole slaw and crispy fries, it was alright, loved the crispy onions, the patty was juicy, a nice sunny side egg on top, and the softest of buns. Not slobbery, quite good. The pizza, made from scratch was alright, but the kitchen sent it overflowing with cheese, pepperoni and pineapple. A little less toppings perhaps, so we can taste the wonderful mingle of crusty pizza, with pepperoni and bits of pineapple? A sprig of basil to enhance flavours too would be nice.

The sizzlers served only in the dining area down stairs are tasty and regular fare. The mash might need some work though. We had the spicy beef with mushroom sauce, and it came in crackling, spluttering, again, the beef was perfect, juicy and kicked with spice and it went perfectly with the mushroom goodness. The fact that it was perfectly plated with the corn, broccoli, veggies and onions in their place instead being a whole mish-mash was nice. They offer different their own concocted marinades and sauces, so order what you like. 

We heard the sandwiches, the pesto panini is yummy, and of course a good wholesome sponges bread only adds to the meal. The desserts are succinct in menu, a lava cake which was soft and delicious with Joy ice cream, (yay) something we Ooreans have grown up with, and was sourced for the place, and a crunched up bite of delicious brownie, all nuts on the outside and melt in the mount on the inside, do have it. It's price point is easier on the pocket, and it's a place you see yourself walking into for a quick beer and meal, even alone.

Pub grub that is a work in progress as they just opened, not fancy, but regular fare, it calls all the old pubbers to crawl around the woodwork, Drunkling is just that: that special hub that takes care of the tipple and the aftermath with amber warmth and retro music. And some regular grub to layer that lining. To let your inner Drunkling out! Burp!

Drunkling is just that: that special hub that takes care of the tipple and the aftermath with amber warmth and retro music.

Meal for two: Rs1200 onwards 
Must haves:  Beef sizzler, bacon wrapped prawn and sausage, lava cake and brownies
Where: 145, 60ft Road, KHB Colony, Koramangala 5th Block
Call:  080 49652632