Mumbai rocks on

26/11 might have slowed down Mumbai’s nightlife for a month or two. But thanks to the party-hearty attitude of the city denizens, it’s now back to bogeying away the weekend blues.

Rishi Acharya, owner of Play Superclub at Phoenix Mills, totally agrees. "It’s rocking! On weekends, we simply are packed with close to 500 clubbers. There was a slump initially, but you have to book a day in advance now to get in," he says.

"What is really heartening,” he continues, “is that Oba (the new nightclub that’s set to open close to the Taj Mahal at Colaba) hasn’t even been formally launched yet, but so many people have been stopping by the place having just heard of it through society circles."

At Tetsuma, the Oriental eatery not too far away from Gateway of India, business is booming. "It’s a real turn around. In fact it’s like December for us — complete peak season," beams Sameer Chhabria of Tetsuma and Prive.

"Earlier, we thought it was just a spill over of guests from Wasabi at Taj, but the trend has continued and we are packed to capacity on weekends whereas earlier we just had 70-75% occupancy. In fact I’m trying to come up with Barman’s Specials just to keep the place buzzing," says Sameer.

Hard Rock and Shiro owner, Jay Singh, is also a happy man. On a weekend, the 800-strong house is packed to capacity. "Footfalls are back quite strongly,” he reveals. “We just felt the impact of the terrorist incident for a week — so that was a relief."
   
So folks, the verdict is out: The city that knows how to work hard, parties harder. Let’s raise a toast to that!