Howzat! Bars, restaurants gear up for World Cup frenzy

Get bowled over curated drinks, themed food and big screens as bars and restaurant in Delhi-NCR get set to take the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019 frenzy to the next level. The World Cup in England and Wales will begin with the warm-up sessions from May 24 and the championship begins from May 30. There won`t be just live screenings of matches, but also an innovative array of cocktails and offers for cricket aficionados. Restaurateur Zorawar Kalra says his luxurious bar Bo Tai in Mehrauli is lining up a special cocktail menu befitting the World Cup that will be available only till the tournament lasts.

"To provide for an indulging experience, we have special live screening of the matches," Kalra, founder and Managing Director of Massive Restaurants Pvt Ltd, told IANS. In India, the matches will mostly be screened starting 3 p.m. and they will go on beyond 11 p.m.. Kalra is glad the cricket mania will make people stay longer. "The timing is definitely an advantage as people are more likely to stay out for longer post work hours than if confronted with a gruelling work schedules," he said. DLF Cyberhub, one of the NCR`s most swish and sprawling centres for high-end bars and restaurants, has never failed to strike a chord with sports lovers.

India will be playing their first match on June 5 against South Africa and Cyberhub has something special planned. "Since cricket is all about joy, madness and passion for the game, there will be face art artistes along with the cheer leaders when India will be playing, so as to add to the excitement of the audience. Also, there will be live DJ, dhols and special lighting effect by Gobo and Strobe Lights," Atul Atri, Centre Head, DLF Cyberhub told IANS. 

Restaurateur Priyank Sukhija, who owns Cafe Open House, Warehouse Cafe, Teddy Boy and Lord Of The Drinks, says they have plans to run offline games that closely resemble the format of sports betting. "For instance, we can have a special offline betting session like how much do you think this over would be worth runs-wise, and the person closest to the actual value will be given a free beer there and then. "Such instant gratification is one of the major ways to turn occasional visitors into loyalists while maintaining a great to and fro exchange for people who are already a part of the outlet loyalist group," Sukhija told IANS.

The Junkyard Cafe, which has multiple outlets, will cheer for Team India with the help of specially-curated drinks and dishes named after the cricketers. "We are all set to cheer for our players and so we are doing specials at all our outlets. We have introduced mocktails and cocktails like Beware of Indian Players, Sixer Pack, Power Punch drink... There are also special dishes like Calmer Raina Zucchini, Healthy Pitch, Loaded Pitch, Virat Specials," The Junkyard Cafe owner Umang Tewari told IANS.

Gurgaon-based Friction - The Drinkery too has something interesting to offer. It has introduced a cricket pitch platter, which resembles a cricket field. Other places that will live up the World Cup fever include Inferno, a new microbrewery in Gurgaon, The Marketplace in Kirti Nagar and Café Delhi Heights. 

Now, how`s that?