In a bold new chapter for Mumbai’s bar culture, Maikada – tucked inside The Shalimar Hotel at Kemps Corner – is shaking things up with its latest cocktail programme: ‘City on the Rocks’.

This narrative-driven menu rewires classic mixology with nostalgia, bottling the spirit of iconic Mumbai neighbourhoods into every glass. With this, Maikada isn’t just serving cocktails, it’s offering a sensory, story-first map of the metropolis.

Curated in collaboration with Good Times & Co., the menu pays homage to six locales: Dadar Market, Chor Bazaar, Kala Ghoda, Juhu Beach, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, and Maikada’s own backyard, Kemps Corner.

Each cocktail arrives with a physical card – part clue, part provocation – pairing emotional cues with bold flavour profiles to create a tactile gateway into the city’s spirit. The blind tasting approach flips the usual order: here, the narrative leads the flavour discovery.

Designed for those who like their drinks bold, clean, and conversation-worthy, the programme champions spirit-forward cocktails that rely on thoughtful pairings over garnish or gimmick.

Horn Ok Please (vodka with ghati masala-honey cordial) and Aam-chi 36 (Tequila with mango, agave, tajin) reflect Maikada’s ethos, familiar yet elevated, contemporary yet rooted, and unmistakably Mumbai.

Small plates sharpen the experience with regional comfort food reinterpreted just enough – mini Vada-Pav with Pudina chutney, Chicken Tikka glazed in mango-mustard lacquer, and Beetroot Sliders topped with candied orange.

“I’ve always wanted a bar that felt like Mumbai: loud in flavour, soft in the right corners, and never boring,” says Yash Advani, founder of Maikada. “City on the Rocks’ captures the city as we know it, not filtered or polished, but complex and full of soul.”

As Mumbai’s bar scene evolves, Maikada raises the bar with a concept-first programme that serves culture, not just cocktails, framing what the city’s next chapter of drinking could feel like.