8ish: A New South Mumbai Address for Unhurried Evenings

Mumbai isn’t a city that waits, and I say that as someone who’s spent more evenings staring at Google Maps than at a menu. We move from meeting to meeting, dinner to drinks, constantly negotiating traffic, time slots, and “one last stop.” Even our nights out feel scheduled.

Which is why 8ish, South Mumbai’s newest bar and kitchen in Nariman Point, felt different almost immediately.

I walked in thinking I’d stay for a drink. Maybe two. The kind of plan that usually unravels quickly. But 8ish doesn’t rush you, and that’s its quiet strength. It doesn’t ask what time you arrived or hint at when you should leave. It’s built for those hours that blur into each other. The evenings that begin with “just one drink” and slowly stretch into dinner, conversation, maybe another round, until suddenly it’s later than you thought, and you don’t really mind.

For Rachel Goenka, Founder and CEO of TCSC Hospitality, and the force behind The Sassy Spoon, House of Mandarin, and Sassy Teaspoon, 8ish feels like a more personal chapter. And you can sense that the moment you settle in.

“The name just clicked,” she tells me. “It captures those in-between moments we all live for. 8ish isn’t a destination, it’s a ritual. In a city like Mumbai, it becomes your constant. You don’t have to plan it. You just show up, and staying longer is always the better idea.”

A Space That Settles You 
Designed by Shweta Kaushik of SKID, the interiors at 8ish do something rare: they put you at ease without trying too hard. It’s polished, but never stiff. Warm, but not overly styled. The kind of space where you’d be just as comfortable nursing a solo drink as you would sharing plates with friends who hadn’t planned to be out all night.

Textured grey walls, aged wood, and soft leather create a grounded, tactile backdrop. The bar, a striking slab of deep maroon marble framed in tarnished copper, naturally draws the room together. The lighting stays low and amber, casting a soft glow that makes conversations linger and phones disappear. There’s a lenticular artwork that shifts between Salvador Dalí and John Lennon, playful, slightly surreal, like the room is quietly reminding you not to take things too seriously.

The longer I sat there, the more details revealed themselves; personal touches layered in thoughtfully, things you only notice once you’ve slowed down. There’s also a breezy al fresco area that keeps the mood light, perfect for evenings that don’t need an agenda.

Cocktails That Start With A Story
At 8ish, the cocktails don’t feel engineered for Instagram; they feel considered. The bar programme doesn’t chase trends. It starts with ingredients, and the stories behind them.

Helmed by Jishnu A.J., whose decade-long career spans Ekaa, KOKO, Four Seasons Mumbai, and Marriott Kochi, along with global platforms like the Bombay Sapphire Creator’s Hub and Grey Goose House of Change, the approach here is thoughtful, precise, and refreshingly unshowy.

The menu is organised around three moods: comforting, experimental, and ritualistic. Ingredients travel far and wide; mugwort and Tongba from the North East, guava and turmeric leaves from coastal farms, and jackfruit and imported plums preserved using old-world techniques. Behind the scenes, methods like steam distillation, lacto-fermentation, hydrosol extraction, and pickling are used to create in-house wines, infusions, and ferments that add real depth to each glass.

Nearly Misbehaved, a gin with chingfing, mint, and apple juice, feels playful yet balanced. Drunk Text, with sour cherry gin, sun-dried tomato, and mogo mogo tea, tastes exactly like its name suggests- emotional, impulsive, a little reckless. Liquid Sand is quieter, almost meditative.

Food That Understands How We Eat
The food follows the same philosophy as the drinks; familiar, flavour-forward, and made to be shared. Drawing from European, Indian, and Mediterranean influences, Rachel describes it as elevated everyday comfort food, and that’s exactly how it tastes.

This is food designed for how people actually eat at a bar. Plates that arrive easily, get passed around, and pair naturally with another drink. The Pão de Queijo, a Brazilian-style pull-apart cheese bread served with smoked scamorza and tomato chilli jam, disappears far quicker than expected. Sambuca Togarashi Scallops strike a careful balance between spice, sweetness, and smoke. For something heartier, the Pulled Lamb Toastie with salsa verde and the Kombu-Spiced Pumpkin & Creamy Spinach Pizza, baked on a naturally fermented base, sit comfortably between comforting and crave-worthy.

The Takeaway
8ish isn’t trying to be the loudest new opening in the city. It doesn’t rush you, impress you aggressively, or dictate how your evening should go. Instead, it offers something increasingly rare in Mumbai- the freedom to slow down.

I came in for a drink. I stayed because it felt easy to. After all, it was only 8ish.