Pass Code Only has been evolving their craft and love for cocktails for more than a decade. The name stands true to an adventure, ready to be discovered in the lanes of Delhi, India that allows entry strictly via a pass code, giving access to a wonder world.

Ranked at 228 amongst the top 500 bars in the world, PCO, aims to channelize the true alluring nature of the speakeasy culture with a fresh celebratory menu titled “ The Forbidden “ that introduces 12 cocktails crafted with unconventional ingredients banned in different parts around the world such as apple, coconut, bubble gum, raw milk and the highly debated MSG!

To represent the menu to its true nature, we dived into the history of storytelling. Around the world, the idea of history and folklore has mostly been through scripts and paintings. In India especially, paintings have been the most powerful medium to tell kids about mythology and adults about wisdom. During our research with the team, it led us to discover the importance of Indian Miniature Paintings from 999 AD to the 16th Century! We found that war, laughter, community gatherings and physical intimacy are some of the most common themes explored. They pull you close and bring you into a world that is simply notorious and hypnotic.

We knew that a Forbidden Royal Mela ( Forbidden Village Fair ) in our version of an Indian Miniature Style would be the best way to celebrate the craft at PCO in India. A village fair carries a sense of mystery and excitement at each spotting and our aim was to bring that out loud. Each guest in the painting is on a quest to discover a new ingredient. On the left, there’s craziness in love through a poppy seed field, and on one side Eve ( Adam & Eve ) is discovering apples. There’s an Indian version of Popeye in a traditional attire, consuming chyawanprash and there’s a boomar bubble gum hot air balloon! A village fair is made up of chaotic stories, yet you leave the fair with a souvenir and a happy face. We feel Bars are the same.

Each story is marked with a number for the guests to discover more about the cocktails. The best story we came across was that coconut is not allowed on planes! That’s now a mental note for us. The menu comes with a magnifying glass to go through the stories while you sip the forbidden ones.