Raise a Mug of Craft Beer to Doolally, Mumbai’s latest BrewPub 

Let’s all put our hands together and welcome Mumbai’s latest brewpub, Doolally. After taking Pune by a storm with its freshly brewed artisanal beers it has finally opened its doors to the eager Mumbai beer lovers. 

The doors of Doolally open out into large space filled with bleached wooden lounge seats and communal tables. On the walls, a few humorous posters hang advertising the beers with slogans such as “Belgian Whit beer: discovered by pious monks 700 years ago. Sending good people to purgatory ever since.” These witty signs were in the same tone as Doolally’s catch phrase that is displayed proudly throughout the restaurant; “Doolally: Giving great head since 2009.”

Aside from risqué signs, and a bookshelf stocked with a few choice books, the décor at Doolally is minimalistic and clean. They want all their customers’ attention on the beer. So we hoisted ourselves up onto one of the stools and ordered two mugs of beer. 

Apple Cider & Belgian Witbier

We’d been hearing good things about Doolally’s apple cider for a while so that was our first pick. One sip and we understood why; it was sweet with a strong apple flavour, but still managed to retain a lovely beer fizz. Meanwhile, the Witbier was smooth and light; the perfect drink to sip on as we watched the rain fall outside.

In keeping with the “focus only on the beer” theme, Doolally’s menu is relatively sparse. As we were heading on to another dinner later that night we choose to order some of the starters to have with our beer. Take a look: 

Beer Battered Bombay Duck (BBB)

Fat, whole Bombay ducks were wrapped in a delicious, thick batter and fried to perfection. Dipped into a mildly spiced sauce that accompanied the fish, the dish left us licking our lips. 

House fries

These fries weren’t on the house, but they certainly imparted a warm, home like comfort. Like the Bombay duck, they were fat and mildly spiced. Accompanying them was a curious medley of five sauces; we loved the mango salsa, herbed cheese dip and aioli. 

As we scarfed the last of the fries, we realised it was becoming progressively louder. It was a Thursday night and half of Bandra appeared to have decided to set up shop at Doolally. While it’s possible that part of the crowd was simply there to explore a new place, it seemed that a majority of the beer drinkers had visited Doolally before, fallen in love with the beers and put it on their agenda to visit it many more times in the future. In short, it’s only been there a month and Doolally has already attracted a loyal base of regular customers. That should tell you something.