Have you tried the Chawanprash-infused bourbon on PCO Delhi’s new, Forbidden menu?

India’s first speakeasy PCO (Pass Code Only) unveiled its transformed space and identity 12 years after its inception; check out the bar’s The Forbidden cocktail menu inspired by the secrecy of speakeasies 

Guilty pleasure dances attendance to the tunes of (forbidden) concoctions at Delhi’s covert bar PCO (Pass Code Only). Snuggled next to a beauty salon in the city’s unassuming, but delightfully verdant neighbourhood, Vasant Vihar — and with no marquee assigned to its address — a glass panel door is your sole cue to the speakeasy’s three-by-three-foot antechamber. Inside it is a kiosk, reminiscent of the PCO (Public Call Office), with a dial pad. When you punch in the secret code, a white door on your right opens to the bar’s vintage yet vibrant interiors. The faint, but distinctive scents of fresh furniture and paint announce the advent of change at India’s first speakeasy bar that ranked 12th among India’s 30 Best Bars 2023 and 54th in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2022.

A tiny library, Bartender’s Bibliotheca, which houses over a dozen books on cocktails and bartending, greets you at the entrance. A few steps ahead, there is an ice-carving station. A winding staircase, leading to the bar’s top floor and its basement, stands against the tomato red, sage green and bricked walls adorned with quirky posters collected by PCO’s co-owner Radhika Dhariwal.

“We have been running this place for over 12 years now and it was time to upgrade it, so we have renovated and changed its interiors and menu, which is inspired by, and features, forbidden ingredients,” she says. The seating areas are allocated to the other two floors of the bar that spans 3,000 square feet and accommodates nearly 45 people.

On the top floor, Radhika acquaints me with the bar’s new addition: the omakase counter. Stationed in a room lined with tufted-back banquettes and interspersed with cane seats, this counter serves as the bartender’s laboratory where he curates customised drinks, drawing references from the choice of flavours or the mood of the guest.

At the basement, Radhika and PCO’s other half, Rakshay Dhariwal, who is also the founder and managing director of Pass Code Hospitality, credits the bar’s aesthetics to interior designer Anica Kochhar. “Downstairs, the bar counter has been extended, nearly doubling its previous size. Here, we have added draft machines and expanded the workspace, allowing our mixologists to serve drinks more efficiently. The wine cellar downstairs has been converted into a smoking room. We also made softer changes to the décor, furniture, and wallpaper, incorporating elements from our newest menu, The Forbidden,” he says.

An artsy representation of the very core of speakeasy bars, which gained prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era, the menu comes rolled in a leather scroll case. Inspired by the visual narrative of Indian miniature paintings, and printed on a 21.5 x 16-inch canvas sheet, the menu puts the spotlight on artist Rushil Bhatnagar’s artwork that interprets the forbidden ingredient in each of the dozen cocktails at PCO. The ingredients are: coconut, MSG, poppy seed, tobacco, Chawanprash, raw milk, bubble gum, Kinder Egg chocolate, agar washed apple juice, ketchup, and porcini mushroom hydrosol.

“To work with forbidden ingredients is a task,” says Vikas Kumar, the head mixologist at PCO. He lists Ignorance is Bliss as one of the most challenging concoction he has created so far. “This is a take on Manhattan. Angostura bitters has notes of Chawanprash. So, I thought it would go with whisky. We sous vide (an infusion technique) a bottle of bourbon with 100 gms of Chawanprash (which is banned in many countries). Also, the coffee beans have been infused with sweet vermouth,” he says.