Every restaurant and bar in Bangalore with anything of a TV set is screening the match but when you enter The Bar Stock Exchange, eyes dart from the football screen to a competing screen -- the one giving you the fluctuating prices of all the drinks.

The fluctuating rates of the drinks is quite the gimmick. One to commit to, to serve your two-fisted bibulation. Download the app to see how much your drink costs. Your favourite rum could be as low as 50 bucks a pop. On the day we were there, a Grey Goose was honking for Rs 200.

But while the drinks might fluctuate, Chef Gaurav Gidwani’s menu is steady. Although he brings the Bombay-ness of good food to Bangalore, his knowledge and understanding of the Bangalore crowd is quite astute.

The menu is a mix of drinking food and a greasy after-drinks menu. The psychology, Chef Gaurav told Explocity, is to plan what to eat. A plate of greasy Dal Khichdi or a Egg Fried Rice with Butter Chicken are some favourites to order. That way you don’t have to drive around in the middle of the night looking for a greasy Chinese food vendor (greasy food, not greasy vendor) on Bangalore streets.

He has also tried to keep the menu hyperlocal, by Bombay standards anyway. Even though the Misal Pav is not a dish many Bangaloreans might be familiar with, say, “Misal Pav Fondue” and we Bangaloreans are on board.

The sprouts, sourced locally, are cooked in the Misal masala. Once they have acquired the flavours, they are cooked in a cheesy sauce. Pav croutons can be dipped in the fondue pot to make the, quite unclassy, Misal Pav a class of its own and there was no Misal crisis in the room.
Chef Gaurav’s menu is fraught with other delights. Pork and beef in a Kerala style are quite new to him but he puts his simplistic, but authentic, take on it.

Located right on MG Road, (where Maseratis could not idle), The Bar Stock Exchange maybe a Bombay brand, but Bangalore has already taken to it with abandon.