Tucked into a quiet golden-hued lane in Panjim, Ourem has always felt like the kind of place you stumble upon and instantly feel richer for the experience. Fitting, then, that its latest menu leans into the idea of wealth, but not the flashy kind. The thoughtful kind. The kind you sip slowly and let linger.
The new cocktail list, created by the Gagan Sharma and Dhananjai Subramaniam (the team at Indulge India) is inspired by nine products which once were a popular form of currency. Items that quite literally shaped the world’s economy, and appetite. Think: salt, pepper, gold, wine, even cacao. The number nine is no accident either. In numerology, nine represents completion and abundance, and “Ourem” itself takes its name from an ancient Portuguese word for gold and prosperity. A neat touch for a venue that blends old-world charm with contemporary expression.The drinks are conceptual, but never at the cost of flavour. Gagan has a knack for storytelling in the glass, each serve capturing the essence of its namesake ingredient with balance and flair. The menu is educational without being preachy, rich without being fussy.
“We got the idea by playing around with the monuments around Panjim and took inspiration from the Fontainhas area and the road in which the bar is located, which actually means gold. So using something that had been done before, which is currency, we thought we would give back to the area where we are situated.” - Puru, Ourem Founder.
As for my favourite? It was love at first sip with the Gold Standard, a rich, stirred-down blend of cognac, rye, vermouth, amaro, and bitters. Think liquid opulence with just the right amount of kick. Apparently, I have expensive taste.
The process of building this menu took months of research, testing, and refinement. It’s a noticeable evolution from their first offering, which leaned more towards local flavours. The team has clearly grown more confident in their own voice, and the guests are responding. Locals are returning to try “just one more” from the list, while curious visitors leave with more than a photo. They leave with a story and a walk back through history.
I spoke with Gagan and Dhananjai to get the inside scoop on what it took to develop the menu.
Q. How did you select the nine ingredients, and how did you decide how to translate them into drinks?
GS: We started with a blank canvas, historically, every region has had its own interpretation of currency, giving us an array of ideas to explore.
From there, we curated a selection of nine primary ingredients that strike a balance between the familiar, the intriguing, and the complex.
Once we locked in the ingredients, we paired them either with spirits close to the region they’re inspired by, or with complementary flavours that help us tell a cohesive story. It was a matter of connecting the dots of a flavour web and storylines.
Q. What was the biggest challenge in developing this menu compared to your past work?
DS: Honestly, the biggest challenge this time was narrowing things down. We had a flood of ideas and ended up doing trials for around 20 drinks each with a compelling story. Choosing from these felt like leaving something valuable behind.
Unlike other projects where the challenge is often building a theme or storyline whilst debating flavours and trending favourites, this time we had the narrative confirmed.
The difficulty lay in curating our top picks. Drinks that were not only delicious but also carried the weight of the stories we wanted to tell.
Also, with the drink called Leather, we had to create a taste that isn't quite familiar to people. You think of leather and what comes to mind are the textures and aromas, not a taste. We also took aid of attars to resonate with the smells of certain items, and we actually made a few scents ourselves
Q. How do you hope bartenders and guests connect with the menu beyond the flavours?
GS: It is trade and barter that have connected civilisations for centuries, currency has always been at the heart of that exchange.
From the moment you step into Ourem (meaning Gold) you are stepping into a place of value, where even the road on which it lies has seen evolution through trade and exchange of Gold.
Our goal hence is to help guests realise that what we now consider everyday staples were once luxuries, prized as highly as gold.
We hope bartenders and guests alike will connect not just with the drinks, but with the stories behind them, drawing a line between the past and the present.
Ourem’s new menu isn’t just a list of cocktails, it’s a reminder that taste is a form of value, and stories are a currency in their own right. By drawing from the historical weight of ingredients that once moved empires, the team has created a drinking experience that feels both intimate and expansive.
It’s a bold move that signals Ourem’s continued evolution. From charming neighbourhood bar to cultural touchstone. For bartenders, it offers inspiration on how to weave depth into drinks. For guests, it offers an invitation: to sip slowly, ask questions, and leave just a little richer than when they walked in.
