Rohit Gawali / New York, NY

Nagpur Dreamin’

The first thing bartender Rohit Gawali thinks about when designing a new cocktail is the food that goes with it. He also thinks of Nagpur, his birthplace in western India that inspires most of his drinks. Rohit works at Panorama Room, a bar on New York’s Roosevelt Island with stunning 360-degree views of the city and cocktails to match. In the arty lounge on the 18th floor, Rohit designed Winter in Nagpur with saffron-infused vodka, homemade turmeric syrup and ginger beer to warm the taste buds on winter nights.

Rohit consults for Nagpuri Saoji in New Jersey, currently the only restaurant in America serving authentic Saoji cuisine from Nagpur. The spice mixes in the fiery recipes are closely guarded secrets with a cult following. For Valentine’s Day, Rohit created Love in Paradise, a sweet and citrusy counterpart to Nagpuri’s rich, spicy fare with Strawberry, Sweet Hibiscus, Carmelized Pineapple and Lychee purées. Bright stones at the base of the glass evoke the colors of paradise.

That Spicy Feeling

Indian cuisine that combines fruit and spice is in step with the savory cocktail trend. Rohit’s Koyya Paanam (Spiced Guava Colada) was the runner-up in the Bar & Restaurant Cocktail Most Likely to Go Viral contest. He developed it for the South Indian restaurant Semma in New York, which Zagat and Bon Appetit named one of the city’s best restaurants in 2021. Indian spice mix balances its tropical notes of coconut and Pink Guava Puree. Like many of Rohit’s drinks, it’s sentimental.

“When I was a kid, my brothers and I would stay with my grandma for a couple of months every summer. She had a pink guava tree, which was rare in India. We used to pick the pink guava from the tree and our granny would cut the fruit into pieces and add her special spice mix (made of red chili powder, salt, and chaat masala). Those summer memories are unforgettable,” he says.

Tandoori Martini, another Semma drink, incorporates Yuzu Luxe Sour blend with tandoor-cooked beetroot purée. Ginger liqueur and bright citrusy yuzu offset the earthy flavor of beets. Savory tandoori spice mix adds zing. Yuzu Luxe also stars in Rough & Tough developed for Semma with sandalwood-infused bourbon, aquafaba, and homemade sandalwood syrup.

Purées can be a primary flavor in Rohit’s drinks. He also uses them to good effect in versatile flavor-boosting secondary ingredients like homemade ginger beer and turmeric-ginger syrup. Turmeric, he said, goes particularly well with fruit flavors. He’s proud to have a drink called Rohitionism with turmeric syrup, lemon, rose, and coconut water on the menu at the Panorama Room. The drink’s alluring citrus-floral notes are perfect for Valentine’s Day. A winter mule there combines turmeric, clove, cardamom, and ginger.

“Nowadays people do like spices in their drinks and I use a lot of turmeric syrup. It goes really well with pineapple,” he says. “When I make a drink I ask how can I make it bigger and bigger in that flavor and I don’t create it just once. I make it over and over.”

Symbolic Meaning

Rohit worked in bars in India and became a bar back when he moved to California in 2017. He accumulated enough knowledge to begin making his own drinks and experimenting with the flavors and aromas of India at Shosha, an upscale Indian restaurant in Sunnyvale with a focus on symbolic specialty cocktails. He developed a flair for fresh, clean-tasting drinks and creative garnishes. A favorite was Rangoli, a passion fruit punch inspired by the traditional Indian festival of Diwali with Coconut and Passion Fruit purées, rum, lemongrass syrup, and clarified milk.

“After moving to the United States and working in Indian restaurants here, I noticed there were a lot more flavors in the Indian culture that I could incorporate into mixology,” he says. “I try to create flavors for everybody, not only Indians. Some aren’t used to Indian flavors but if they like it, they really like it.”

Akash-Kandil is made with Aperol, The Perfect Purée Mango, and cardamom syrup. “Cardamom is in everything now,” Rohit says. “Also betel leaf, or paan. We eat that after a meal. All the Indian restaurants are playing with paan.”

The Perfect Purée’s bright colors and just-ripe flavors remind Rohit of Nagpur’s tropical fruits. “I feel it’s real, original purée. The colors are right and it’s always the same quality. Once I started using it, I never got over it.”