Food: This Andheri bar hits a bull's-eye with its e-beer system

The potato wedges came in a tiny container

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that Café Mojo had launched their E-beer system. Naturally, we were curious to check what the fizz was about. Situated near the Chakala (JB Nagar) metro station, it's easy to find. For once, its location on Google Maps was correct. During a tour with our host Emma, the shiny new beer taps grabbed the eye. The space has two-storey al fresco section, indoor seating with an AC section for private parties, and a smoking chamber. We skipped the loud indoors, and opted for the relaxed al fresco seating.

Also read: Now, pay as you drink with an E-Beer system at cafe in Andheri

The potato wedges came in a tiny container

Our service check
To place an order at Cafe Mojo, you must first get a prepaid card (wallet) available for free, and valid for life. It comes with zero balance you are required to add money (Rs 500, Rs 700, Rs 1000 and more). We added R2,500 to the card which was our limit. You can use the card to draw beer from the tap as well as pay for food. It also ensures that you don't overspend, and, if in large groups, each can pay for their drinks.

An attendant at Café Mojo shows how to use the tap. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The café has six tap stands serving beers from two brands (expect more soon), and you are free to draw from any of them. To draw beer, however, you first need to activate a tap by placing your prepaid card on a reader, placed under it. Cafe Mojo doesn't make the beer, but gets kegs, which are then served through a pressure-dispense bar tap, which usually serves beer with help of external pressure from a cylinder of CO2 (or nitrogen). These taps have a handle that allows you to draw beer, and a pressure regulator under it. Money is automatically deducted from the card based on the amount poured (including spillage, if any), hence the name, E-beer system.

Visitors can seat in two storeys of al-fresco spaces

The staff (including senior managers) hadn't got a hang of the tap. A tad upset watching our our beer get wasted, we decided to fill the glasses. The taps aren't easy to operate. But once you figure the mechanics of the handle and regulator, (we did after some spillage), it's easy.

But despite the spillage, beer is cheap (Rs 320 per litre, tax-inclusive), which comes to Rs 107 a pint (330ml) on tap. Even pint bottles are cheaper at R130, making it one of Andheri's cheapest watering holes.

Rating: 9/10

Best of the rest
There are plenty of choices in hard liquor too. But, after raising our expectations with its beer, the food doesn't match up. Our order: French Fries (Rs 130), Potato Wedges (Rs 130) and Honey Chilly Lamb (extra taxes extra for food) - arrived in tiny portions though it was yum. We ditched the food and opted for the beer and free peanuts. At the end of it we love the beer, the prices, the free peanuts and the ambiance, all of which make for a great evening and sufficient reasons for a return.

At: 34/21, above Aura Grande Hotel, near Akruti Centre, Central Road, MIDC, Andheri (E).
Call: 66880909
Cafe Mojo didn't know we were there. the guide reviews anonymously and pays for its meals