Bangalore Bar Hop(s)

My first impression of Bangalore was at a big bus terminus. Of course, I assumed it was mostly the same as Chennai. I'd heard stories, but it looked similar. That was until I turned around and saw a dozen liquor stores, bars, and people trying to get me to come in. In Chennai the liquor stores are hidden, look like slum huts, and the sellers frown on you for buying alcohol which is clearly a social evil. I caught a cab, had to negotiate a price and was a little unhappy about that. I really hate autorickshaw drivers. But, soon after I met up with my host and he showed us around some nice parts of town. It turns out Bangalore is MUCH cleaner than Chennai and much more cosmopolitan. So he asked what I wanted to do. I said "It's Saturday night, let's go have fun. I want to go to a pub."

Off we went in another rickshaw, with a meter! It turns out, generally the rickshaws use meters in Bangalore, go figure. Fair price. I like paying a fair price!

We go down to M.G. Road and Brigade road (the down town shopping district) and there are lots of bars and restaurants and coffee shops and clothing stores, and all the other stuff you expect out of a modern cosmopolitan city.

So we step into a place called Mojo. Loud music, beer on tap, old music posters, dark wooden walls, cheap prices. It's almost a perfect dive bar. Almost! The only problem was the beer was Kingfisher or Foster's. They are both terrible, but hey, not Tamil Nadu, no glycerine! The beer on tap is not skunky because people actually drink it. So we had Foster's because my sister was already tired of kingfisher's shit (I'm very proud of that). Foster's isn't much better, but man, beer on tap is sublime. We drank a couple pitchers, ate some good spicy veg food, ate some popcorn, had a hell of a time. We tried to go around to some other places, but nothing good in the beer way. So my host says, we have a Hard Rock Cafe. My sister and I laughed a little, because we haven't been in one in at least 10 years, but we figured they might have better beer. So we went.

I have never been so happy to see the inside of a Hard Rock Cafe! As expected, the beer was overpriced, but it was Tuborg, and they were playing music that was about 10-20 years old, and hit me right in my comfort zone. I drank the beer and danced in my own little spot. Sang the songs of my high school days, and felt a little surreal. I was in a Hard Rock Cafe, drinking kinda crappy beer, listening to kinda crappy old pop and alternative, and enjoying the hell out of myself. I think it was just such a release from Chennai. No such place exists in Chennai, and I've been longing for one. I had a good ol' time in a Bangalore Bar Hop, but no beer with hops... Still searching for that in India.