Day to night: Why these cafes in Bengaluru are doubling up as cocktail bars after dark

Bengaluru cannot pick between its love for cafes and its love for bars. So, it is now doing the next best thing. We spot a trend of cafes that turn into bars in the evenings. "Cities don’t live in one mood,” says Sudhiksha Kaushik, co-founder of Circa 11, the first of these spaces. “At 9 AM, people want light, conversation and clarity. By evening, the same room can become slower, warmer and more intimate. We found it strange that the industry often designs one space for one occasion, when the same room is capable of telling different stories across the day.” With artisanal coffee menus in the day, and curated cocktails at night, these spaces offer the best of both worlds.

Dual toned

Indiranagar’s newest property, The Dual Room, is a prime example of this concept and is named for this duality. The morning menu has a full English breakfast, pancakes, matchas and functional smoothies, all backed by a robust coffee offering. In the evening, the space transitions to a nightlife space. The cocktail programme is themed after the seven deadly sins, with drinks designed around lust and gluttony. The PM menu has salmon ceviche, empanadas, stuffed tacos, Peruvian papa noodles, and Korean chicken ramen.

The decision makes sense financially too. Co-founder Himesh J Arora says, “12th Main Road is one of the busiest high streets in Bengaluru, and the reality is that the rent doesn’t change whether your space is busy or empty. A traditional bar usually comes alive only in the evening, so we wanted to create a format that keeps the space active through the day as well.” It is not a matter of simply changing the menu. The lighting, the music, the service style and the intention all change up after dark. “We didn’t want it to feel like a cafe that simply starts serving alcohol after sunset; we wanted two distinct experiences under one roof.”

Creative cross pollination

Circa 11 has a fun cocktail programme with drinks named after Bellandur Foam, Ctrl Alt Drunk and Last Night. The small plates range from chicken wings, stuffed zucchini blossoms and chicken thigh terrine. Sounds like a cocktail bar, right? But in the mornings, it opens as a small coffee shop. And it is not only run-of-the-mill cuppas that are served here. The menu has coffees such as buttercream latte, cold brew tepache, and mango matcha latte. Sudhiksha explains how it also great way to express yourself creatively.

She says, "There are obvious commercial advantages. But the real advantage is creative. When your coffee, bar and kitchen teams work as one instead of as isolated departments, ideas begin to cross-pollinate. A fermentation developed in the kitchen might become the backbone of a cocktail. A coffee extraction technique might inspire a dessert. It creates a culture where disciplines influence each other rather than compete for attention.”

Night at the museum

The Museum of Art and Photography MAP opened its rooftop restaurant earlier this year. In the day, Bistro Cameo, as it is known, serves oat and jaggery coffees, with small plates and pasta. However, at night, after the museum is closed, the place transforms into Bar Cameo. The beverage menu comes out, with signature cocktails such as White Noise, a rum and pineapple drink and Soy Y Sal, made with Mezcal. The place also becomes home to interesting music events in the evening, with DJ nights and live performances. Their Side A/ Side B vinyl record evenings are very popular.

On a similar vein is PIXI on Church Street that is inside Amoeba, the gaming arcade. At 13,500 square feet, PIXI is spacious and suited to large group hangouts after work or college. The morning menu has coffee creations such as affogato with salted caramel popcorn, matcha cold foam iced latte and Parle G cold coffee. And in the evening, you can choose from shareable cocktails such as Namma Grown-Up Glow, Indiranagar Plot Twist, Sappe Drama Free Night and Aye You Only, No?

Sudhiksha concludes, “Ultimately, I think the future of hospitality is less about rigid categories such as café, restaurant or bar, and more about creating places that respond to how people actually live. Our role is not just to serve coffee or cocktails, but it is to understand what people need from a space at different moments of the day, and to design that experience with intention.”