The Park’s Aqua in Bengaluru dons a new look with a tequila-forward menu

Aqua at The Park, Bangaluru has relaunched with a new cocktail and food menu. The highlight, however, is the tequila-forward menu that features low ABV cocktails, and drinks with foraged ingredients.curated by mixologist V Karthick Kumar

It is 7 pm on a Friday evening. As vehicles zip past the busy MG Road traffic, a few feet away, an alfresco poolside bar dons a new look. Floating candles, grazing boards, and Pinterest-ready cocktails. This is to welcome the launch of two new menus at Aqua, and its tap room. 

“This is the result of eight months of work,” says Kiron Kumar, Director-Operations, at The Park Bengaluru. The tap room, he explains, has 10 beers on tap featuring top craft brands. For instance, Geist has offerings such as Wise Guy (a Bavarian-style weissbier), Uncle Dunkel (a dark wheat beer), and Toit’s beers include Hefeweizen, Nitro Stout, among others. 

The highlight, however, is the tequila-forward menu that features “low ABV cocktails, and drinks with foraged ingredients. We also have an all-new Mexican food menu to go with it,” says Kiron. V Karthick Kumar, the beverage consultant behind popular resto bars such as Sundays and Record Room, has put together the menu, and he says the focus on tequila was because the spirit is “so underrated and it does not get the right recognition and positioning except for drinking as shots in high-energy bars and clubs”. “Through our tequila-forward menu, we would like to introduce our guests to a wide selection of tequilas (26 brands right now), educate our guests about the spirit, and promote it as sipping spirit either with ice or neat or as a cocktail.”

As for the foraged section, it features drinks crafted with ingredients from Karnataka. “This enables us to support local produce. Our ‘Native’ menu is meant to be seasonal based on the availability of ingredients,” adds Karthick. Try the Blush and Bitter, that comprises Udipi jasmine infused gin, campari, and bianco, or Robust and Refresh made with vodka, and 100% arabica espresso from the estates of Sakleshpur. The signature section has cocktails Tannin and Parfüm (vodka, elderflower, vanilla extract, full bodied red wine, etc) Red Bella with silver tequila, and red bell pepper juice, jalapeno brine, to name a few. 

If you are in the mood for something light and refreshing, the mezcal-based pandan margarita — with reposado, orange oleo saccharum, citrus, pandan juice cube — is a great option. As is the Re-peach High Ball featuring reposado, and peach schnapps.

The new menu is available at The Park, MG Road