This cocktail bar in Bengaluru transforms into a breakfast club every weekend

Famous for its innovative cocktails and Thai and Cantonese fare, MURO—a social club on Bengaluru’s prominent Museum Road—has just launched The Breakfast Club that operates every weekend, integrating Asian flavours and Western breakfast concepts. 

Think Chicken Satay Danish, Roasted Pulled Massaman Lamb Sandwich, French Toast with Pandan Custard, and a curation of freshly brewed coffee cocktails—MURO’s breakfast world offers the best of East-meets-West in an alfresco setting. 

However, when it started out last year, “breakfast was never in the radar,” Niharika Raval, Co-founder of MURO, tells YS Life. 

Soon after MURO opened for cocktails, regulars started visiting its restaurant and bar to enjoy the alfresco setting—seated in the midst of greenery, soaking in the sun, and enjoying a cup of coffee. 

“We started working closely with (coffee) planters, offering different varieties of coffee all day,” Raval says. “Then a lot of people suggested that it was a beautiful space for an outdoor breakfast.” 

Based on the feedback, the team at MURO decided to test out the suggestion and collaborated with Goa’s renowned breakfast eatery Larder + Folk to host a breakfast popup. 

Given that its menu was inspired by Cantonese and Thai flavours, MURO wanted to stick to its roots. But then again, would Indians, unlike their Southeast Asian counterparts, be open to having rice or noodles first thing in the morning? “The concept is a bit alien to us… So we used Western influences that Indians were accustomed to,” says Raval. 

Unsure about the response, MURO hosted a three-day breakfast pop-up in August this year, only to be blown away with the turnout. “In Bengaluru, people look forward to new experiences of all kinds—food, beverages and even music, for that matter… We ended up hosting around 550 guests over those three days,” shares Raval. 

Shifting gears 

Transitioning a bar to a breakfast club is a unique shift, which requires operational and logistical changes. 

“We weren’t prepared for something like this,” Raval admits. 

After the pop-up, the team at MURO—helmed by in-house Thai chef Somporn Chaisuntorn leading the kitchen, and mixologist Sahil Essani (winner of Diageo’s World Class India 2022, a national cocktail-creation contest) leading the bar—started working on the breakfast programme. 

“It also involved building a new team,” says Raval—to transform a social club into a welcoming morning destination, and whip up an exciting and first-of-a-kind breakfast experience in Bengaluru. 

Over the last two and a half months, MURO hired people and trained them for the front-end. It also brought in specialists for the baking segment and the kitchen, and conducted trials of nearly 100 dishes, before shortlisting 12 to 15 items for the launch menu. 

An Asian-English fare 

With an existing in-house Thai chef, creating an Asian-inspired breakfast was not hard. “We immediately started working internally and doing multiple trials,” Raval says. 

Unsure about the takers for authentic Asian breakfast recipes that were meat-heavy and traditional, Raval decided to bring in some “tweaks” with English influences.

Instead of Thailand’s famous massaman lamb curry, MURO has introduced pulled lamb sandwiches with a broth on the side; and instead of the meat ball noodle soup, MURO offers Khao Soi Chicken—fried chicken, noodles, and yellow curry with herbs and pickles.

Raval was not sure about Khao Man Gai—chicken with rice, cooked in chicken oil and broth and served with a dipping sauce—but she was surprised by Bengaluru’s food lovers as the delicacy became the second-most ordered dish from the menu during its preview weekend. The most-ordered dish was the crab omelette, although YS Life found the sauces a bit-overpowering, taking away from the tender, flaky sweetness of the fresh crab. 

The safest bet on the menu, for those sceptical about experimentation, is the Egg Salad Sandwich. The creamy egg salad is sandwiched between shokupan—Japanese milk bread, and topped generously with mustard microgreens that add a gentle peppery kick, making it the perfect weekend-starter. This is both comforting and sophisticated. 

The star of the show, however, was the Poached Peking Chicken and Prawn Dumpling. The delicate, cloud-like sheets filled with tender peking chicken, fresh and juicy prawns, water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms, are poached in light soya, vinegar and mirin sauce, complementing the dumpling’s richness.

There’s more to the menu—classic Turnip Cake, Pork and Prawn Suimai, Char Sui Chicken Bao, Pumpkin Prawn Danish, and Enoki Omelette, among others—ensuring that there’s something new to eat every weekend. 

Unfortunately, Asian favourites such as Congee, Nasi Uduk, Noodle Soup, and Bak Kut Teh, don’t make it to the menu. But Raval keeps our hopes afloat when she says, “The menu is still kind of work-in-progress… We might keep 70% of it, and tweak the rest, based on the feedback we get. We also want to introduce a few specials every weekend.” 

Boozy start to the day

No breakfast is complete without a warm hug in a cup. To ensure that its diners always start the weekend with a great cup of coffee, MURO has partnered with planters from Ratnagiri, Balanoor, and Devar Khan Estates, offering a selection of coffees. The coffee at MURO is roasted by Shravan DS, Founder of Beanrove. 

There’s also speciality lattes to choose from—Salted Honey, Salted Caramel, Wild Honey Iced and Oat Licious. For a hint of Asia in a cup, one can opt for the Coffee Paloma blended with in-house grapefruit cordial, and a refreshing Thai Coconut Coffee Fusion. 

But since it’s a weekend-only breakfast club, MURO went a step further by curating a coffee-infused cocktail menu—to start the weekend party a little early. 

There’s an option for every drinker—Coffee Pandan for the rum drinker, Dalgona Old Fashioned for the whisky lover, White Russian for those who like their coffee with a kick, and two different variations of the Espresso Martini—one with a dark roast coffee, and a medium dark Vienna roast option (which we highly recommend!). 

“A few months ago, Sahil (mixologist Sahil Essani) told me he wanted to make the best espresso martini in town. After multiple trials, he couldn’t decide which one was better, so he put both on the menu,” says Raval. 

The preview weekend for the MURO Breakfast Club has been a tad overwhelming for the team. While it started out with the idea of converting its alfresco area into a sunny breakfast spot, the social club has ended up hosting close to 600 diners, catering to them inside the bar and at the restaurant too. 

“A lot of people transitioned from breakfast to brunch seamlessly, and then went into cocktails, eventually spending two to three hours,” Raval says. 

Going forward, Raval plans to stick to the plan—take limited reservations and open only the alfresco area for breakfast—to ensure better hospitality and less pressure on her staff. 

Timings: Every Saturday and Sunday, from 9 AM to 12 PM

Cost for two: Rs 1,500 (without alcohol)