Elbo Room bar is one of Mumbai's coziest

It was already passed last orders when I walked into The Elbo Room for the first time, and fell in love with it.

I hung around the counter making new acquaintances fast whilst nagging the quick and polite barman for a drink I knew I wouldn't get, but did.

What first struck me was the scale and layout of the place. It is small and square-ish. Intimate, at least for Mumbai, where most cool drinking places are large and designed to impress if not intimidate.

The bar itself is the main feature, two-sided, which allows you to browse faces rather than stare vacantly at bottles of alcohol. The outdoors is a green patio courtyard, of which there are few in Mumbai.

Barring Busaba in Colaba, I can't think of another bar in the city that is this warm and this cozy, with little cubby holes next to seats -- well thought out.

I’d add inviting to that list, too, if it wasn’t for the two big bouncers in black outside the gate -- a little disorienting for a lovely suburban find like this.