We couldn’t simply revert to the happy hours and deals format to draw attention to the bar as that would have been an easy fix. Instead, we wanted to create a conversation and experiences around the bar.

This led to the idea of the Canteen Cocktail book, not a mere menu that lists out the drinks, but a book with a strong Bombay narrative and a direct connection to the nuanced drinks on offer. And so, the first edition of Canteen Cocktails was born…

Mention Liberty Cinema at The Bombay Canteen and the staff is likely to show up at your table with a bubbly gin cocktail blushing like raspberry. The drink, a heady mix of gin, sparkling wine and raspberry juice was inspired by the Art Deco icon in Marine Lines and is a glamorous toast to the cinema hall’s glitzy past.

Liberty occupies the first page of the first edition of the Canteen Cocktails book that celebrates Mumbai’s rich Art Deco heritage. Nine other buildings made the shortlist for the book, the pages of which are iconicised as posters in a section of The Bombay Canteen. The book, which is part menu, part recipe book, part research document and part design project has also made it to the shelves of Nicobar, a lifestyle and gifting store chain.

After extensive research, which also included picking the brains of loyal guards and watchmen, some as old as the building they keep secure, we decided that the stories of these Art Deco wonders should be written in rhyme.

We took another creative risk with the menu and designed it as a pop-up book, so that the design matched the verbal creativity. Following this, the Canteen’s fantastic team of bartenders, added the third, final layer of creativity by crafting cocktails to suit the mood, the emotions and the charming stories that these buildings inspired.

Three years later, the cocktails have changed several times over, but the first edition of the book still remains a talking point for Canteen regulars and book collectors, who purchased copies of the recipe-heavy menu for their libraries and bars.

We didn’t stop there however, follow this link to know all about the second edition of Canteen Cocktails.

With the first edition of Canteen Cocktails being a roaring success, we simply had to keep the momentum going. There were so many nuances of Bombay we could base our book on, but after extensive thought, ‘The slang that envelopes the streets of Mumbai’ came out victorious.

Our second Canteen Cocktail book offered tipplers a crash course on Mumbai’s unique slang, ‘the words caught between the bogeys of the local, overheard at the macchi market, words that run the street and become the soundtrack of Mumbai’. Familiar to some and alien to others, the words filled the Canteen as you had to utter them to order the cocktails that they inspired.

In Mumbai’s street parlance, a Bantai is a friend, but not just any friend. It refers to the special bond typically between two men prone to interlocking their pinky fingers while walking on the street. Inspired by this strange fetish, the Bantai was an odd albeit endearing coupling of dark rum, raspberry liqueur, pineapple, plum bitters, starfruit, lime and egg white.

Among some Jhakaas others, a crowd favourite in terms of the word, the sentiment (and the cocktail) was Boss, a phrase used for the street smart, the cops, the taxi drivers, anyone who roams Mumbai with enough authority and swagger. To match the spirit of ‘boss’, the Canteen crafted a cocktail that balanced whisky, smoky single malt, creme de cacao, fresh beetroot juice, orange, pineapple, and bitters.

After the first pop-up menu, which was lapped up as a Mumbai collectible by locals and tourists, we took a completely new creative risk with the second edition of the book. It was February and book number two was laid out as a calendar, not your regular, one-dimensional desktop companion, but a loud, larger than life interactive installation of sorts dressed in neon colours, loud fonts and prints typically found in Mumbai’s taxis, rickshaws and fabric shops. The calendar was kept decidedly busy to reflect the chaos and cacophony of our manic city.

Inspired by the layered cocktails in this book, we went a step further and layered our menu/calendar with hints, songs and tips. It became, as we had hoped, a quick reckoner on Mumbai’s hidden landmarks, names of beach cleaning activists, tour operators, animal-focused NGOs and other motley takeaways.

Two down, and the Canteen Cocktail local keeps chugging along. Follow this link to read about the third edition.

We waited till the third edition of Canteen Cocktails to explore a dream theme – the city’s affair with the Talkies. For this project, we got Bombayphile, Bombay expert and Bombay tour operator Simin Patel to breathe life back into these once-glorious buildings through her words.

Once Simin’s literature poured in, the menu started shaping up as a guidebook to six of the city’s most iconic single-screen cinemas that sparked Bombay’s affair with the movies. We immediately parked ourselves outside each of the six, sketching the beauties and imagining all the drama that unravelled in front of and behind their weathered screens.

The plot thickened, as it does in all good Hindi movies, with the cocktails. As Simin identified the iconic movies that made these cinema halls famous, The Bombay Canteen bartenders got to work crafting drinks to match the drama.

Miss Frontier Mail, a potent concoction of gin, Triple Sec, egg white, orange and lime, was named after the Fearless Nadia film that had a long run at Imperial Cinema, and made to match the feisty spirit of its fearless heroine.

The bartenders interpreted Shakti Kapoor’s double role in the 1962 film China Town as two drinks on their menu listed under one name. Order a China Town and you will be presented with a choice, a drama-packed Johnnie Walker cocktail with a smokey single malt, pandan tincture, hibiscus syrup and bitters; and a beer by Great State, brewed just for this dynamic cocktail.

Part menu, part guide, the book shaped up into a gift for locals and tourists, complete with recipes and a map to go cinema-hopping. The book was even laid out in such a way that if you wanted to take a tour of the talkies, you simply had to move from one to the other in the order in which they have been presented in the book, without the aid of an actual guide.

After 6 months of intense ideation, research, planning, recipe testing and more, we agreed that each cocktail book should be launched with a grand party based on the theme of the books. Bolstered by the highly anticipated Canteen Cocktail Party, the books have remained in circulation and conversation long after the drinks were refreshed. Glance around the Canteen tables and you will now see a balanced mix of Canteen cocktails and signature dishes, which is all the motivation we need to return to the drawing board to plan for the next edition of Canteen Cocktails.

An important aspect of the brand is to be rooted in India. Traditionally, most food packaging in India has been reusable and sustainable. To aid sustainability, each delivery bag was created with reusable cotton fabric, the cutlery holders were handmade using newspapers and the boxes were made with biodegradable materials .

This is a story of how we designed a solution for delivery that saved the planet more than 1,00,000 plastic boxes and bags; by going back to our Indian roots. When The Bombay Canteen, an extremely popular restaurant and bar in Mumbai, approached us to design a unique packaging solution — we attempted to try and save the planet.

The Bombay Canteen prides itself on inventing dishes that are recreated from local recipes and customs. The brand experience is rooted in reinterpreting the traditions and culture of the people of Bombay with an added contemporary twist.
After surveying traditional meal settings, we discovered that historically, most Indians used to carry food wrapped in a piece of cloth. A parcel of sorts, called a potli, that a family would unfold, gather around and eat together during meal times.

We had to allow for multiple boxes, so customers could mix the sauces at the time of consumption. This also meant the boxes could not leak or move around too much — we needed to tie them in securely for our bumpy Mumbai roads.

With sturdy handles on opposite sides supporting a cardboard base to make it ergonomically sound, and ties on opposite corners to make sure the food containers remain securely in place.

We noted that the habit of relaxing after eating has been fading as people have adapted to a more cosmopolitan routine. Mealtimes are meant to be a time of comfort and relaxation. But, most deliveries were taking place at offices, where no one really takes time out to savour the food they order. How could we change this?

In response, we created ‘The Aaram Life,’ which translates to encouraging patrons to enjoy, share and break for their meal. We intended the potli to open up flat and also function as a tablecloth, and encouraged consumers to use it like a picnic blanket. Finally, there was a provision for a cutlery set, and designed stickers which illustrate how to eat well.

As an agency, Please See// aims to design packaging that can extend beyond its original use and can be appropriated for other purposes.

When designing delivery packaging for The Bombay Canteen, we kept in mind the past, present and future to bring out the key essence of the brand within this touchpoint.