At this low-ABV bar in Bengaluru, sip on soju under the moon 

When you go to Nila, the 12-course fine-dine restaurant in Bengaluru, it feels like you’ve reached as close to the moon as you could without befriending Bezos. The neutral-textured walls, curved archways, and soft, diffused lighting stand as proud proof of the space’s name, which translates to ‘moon’ in Tamil. But really, it is when you take the stairs up to MoonJar, the newly launched 28-seater bar above Nila, that the energy of the moon comes alive.

The bar sits under a glass ceiling with a canopy of natural green above. As the lush tree cover sways in the wind, you catch a peek of the moon crawling along the ever-clouded Bengaluru sky. Suddenly the name, MoonJar, makes complete sense. It’s as if the lounge’s Japandi swivel chairs and curved sofas were made for people to sit and sip the moonlight pouring in from above. The feature bar, a floating turquoise station with rows of fermented jars and candle-covered wine bottles, fits right in with the dreamy, extraterrestrial mood.

Crafted by Prachi Joshi’s interior studio Designworx, every element at MoonJar feeds into this vision. “One of my favourite pieces is the oversized floor lamp. The light source sits behind the tilted disc, so you never really see the light itself—just this soft, glowing circle that feels like a sculptural moon floating in the room,” Joshi explains, adding that the lamp was made with local Bengaluru vendor RIPPL. The tables themselves hold chrome glow lamps reminiscent of space rocks.

A few minutes in and I can already picture 11:11 manifestation circles and witchy coven gatherings under the glass cover at MoonJar. The atmosphere is so woo woo (and date-like!) that even the bar’s low-ABV menu will not deter the city’s heavy pourers. Yes, that’s right: in an era of spirit-forward drinking holes where people want to taste the alcohol and feel the world spin with every sip, MoonJar chooses to break tradition. Sibasish Palai, the head of the bar, has imagined a low-proof lineup of vermouth, soju, and wine cocktails.

“People have become more conscious about fitness and, in turn, how they drink,” says Palai. “They seek more flavours without dealing with a headache the next morning. We are creating just that for new-age session drinking.”

But wellness is not the only reason for this slow turn. Years of spirit-forward drinking has birthed a cocktail-literate audience, especially in Bengaluru, a city that is home to many of India’s award-winning bars, including Soka and Bar Spirit Forward. Now more than ever, people appreciate balance, bitterness, aromatics, and technique. They don’t just want alcohol to escape reality; they study and sip it as a nuanced culinary experience where ABV becomes secondary.

Palai plays on this desire for concept and finesse. Fresh off a flight from London, where he worked at Public House Group, helping establish it as a Michelin Bib-Gourmand venue, the bar head conceptualised the drinks at MoonJar to match its mood. The menu follows the eight phases of the moon. Starting with Elixir No 1, a pale saffron, almond, and turmeric soju concoction that paints a full moon in the sky, the offerings gradually move to darker mixes like Syzygy, a sharp vermouth, Assam tea, and citrus bitters drink.

An extra ninth cocktail, Helios, represents the contrast of the sun. Unlike the broody flavours of its predecessors, this tall drink blends ghost peppers, mango, and honey with soju. For savoury sippers like me, this is where you go after graduating from a picante. Every sip dances on the tongue, just hot enough to keep you picking up the glass for more. Beyond all the moon talk, Palai has also embedded nostalgia in the drinks. The Pink Moon with soju and rose cordial pays ode to the bar head’s love for rose milk as a child. Here, dried rose petals are dusted on floral froth, making the drink sweeter as the flower crosses the foam.

But my favourite is Elixir No 3 featuring milk whey, cumin, curry leaf, and coriander with soju. Basically, clarified chhaas to poke fun at Nila and MoonJar’s staff who have a glass of buttermilk after lunch every afternoon. The experience of getting ever so slightly buzzed on chhaas feels strangely similar to getting high on Ayurvedic CBD gummies. It’s so wrong that it’s right.

The food, conceptualised by chef Rahul Sharma, who helms Nila, is just as smashable. Downstairs, he leads an ingredient-first journey that focuses on a different region every three months, moving from Nagaland to Kerala and now Ladakh. Upstairs, the same ability to twist familiar ingredients into malleable flavours creates a rich small-plates menu. The succulent prawn wontons enveloped in peanut butter and cream cheese are crowd winners. The dish is finished with shattered wonton skin adding the right kind of crackle. I wiped clean the avocados that were reimagined into a creamy pâté with burnt spring onion and served with house bread.

Drawing on the chef’s life as a bachelor in college when he would make do with what’s in the fridge, there is also a happily inauthentic chicken curry where the meat is peppered with crispy potato salsa. The food at MoonJar is so unserious—in the best way—that you forget Sharma cooks up a feast one floor down. “Nila is a very deliberate experience: a tasting menu, a story, a progression,” the chef says. “MoonJar gives us the freedom to do the opposite: come in for a drink, sit at the bar for hours or simply see where the evening takes you.” Basically, the duo stands as a delicious reminder that inside all of us there are two beasts: one that experiences culture with a sophisticated 12-course meal and the other that guzzles soju while chanting under the moon.

Address: near Ranka Court, opposite Nilgiris Halasuru, Cambridge Layout, Bengaluru

Timings: 6 pm to 12 am, Friday to Sunday

Reservations: +91 90355 38598

Cost for two: ₹3,000 + taxes