Mumbai restaurant review: A new secretive bar in Lower Parel

Lower Parel's newest secret bar, Please Don't Tell, offers good but expensive bite and drink options

Please Don't Tell 
Food: Good
Service: Quick
Ambiance: Grungy

We thought of a certain Mr Dhoble when we heard of the new secret bar in town, Please Don’t Tell (PDT), and wondered if you can fool the cops, prohibition-style and if Meyer Wolfsheim sits in the bar.

Please Don’t Tell sports an industrial chic theme

At first glance, you might not be able to spot PDT due to the lack of a board. But the red telephone box surrounded by some graffiti is the entrance, and opens when an attendant makes the secret call. It opens to a spacious bar with shutters covering alcohol-lined shelves (plus points for a kooky washroom and décor elements in the otherwise cliché industrial chic theme).

Clouded Judgement might cloud your judgement. Pics/Dhara Vora

The menu comprises of salads, bar food options such as fries and nachos, jazzed up local dishes such as the vada pav (well-plated) and main course dishes; again, with Indian accents including a Sambhar Risotto (yes). From the cocktails section, we ordered a Puzzle Guzzle and Clouded Judgement (Rs 700 each, all prices exclusive of taxes).

Canoodling was a de-constructed burger

For our nibbles, we ordered LOTR (Rs 275) and Canoodling (Rs 550). LOTR was a plate of coconut crusted onion rings served with coconut chutney, which didn’t please our palate; mainly because the coconut shavings retained a lot of oil while the onions got lost in the melee.

Puzzle Guzzle

Canoodling, however, got us interested with its ramen noodle patty and a lamb version that we loved, thanks to its well-made crust and juicy meat. The only element that left us with a question mark was that the menu mentioned it being a deconstructed burger so we were expecting bread in some form on the side.

The cocktails made us more than happy and not just because of the alcohol. We are fans of ginger, hence loved Puzzle Guzzle with its fresh mint-lemon-ginger flavour that’s tasty enough to be slurped down in a few sips. Clouded Judgement gets our positive judgement too if you enjoy sweet cocktails, here thanks to absinthe and sugar. PDT scores great marks for its interesting plating, décor accents and great cocktails. We’ll just have to raid Ali Baba’s cave to visit this secret joint again.

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