If you ever feel like hanging out at an airport bar but not leaving the city, the Beach Club at Global Towers is the spot. There’s Tamil karaoke AND cricket on the TV, competent bartenders, expensive drinks and mediocre food. More than anything, go for the slightly seedy vibe.
The Location
Global Towers is a somewhat famous location in Wellawatte. Its short-rental apartments are a common site for bachelor parties, rendezvous(es?), and other going ons. One gentleman fell from a balcony and died in 2006 after an especially dubious party there. Boxer Evander Holyfield also stayed here.
Which is all to say, Global Towers is not a conventional hotel, nor is the Beach Club Bar (BCB) your conventional bar. It exists in a weird, transient space. Basically it feels like an Indian airport bar.
Though the beach is across the train tracks, the BCB has no view. What you can see is a projector and TV. While we were there they were projecting and playing amazing Tamil karaoke songs and the TV was playing cricket. Which was pretty awesome. The place is dark and has a slightly dodgy feel to it, but everyone there is quite nice.
The Food/Drink
Singapore Slings and B52The food we tried (paneer and chicken) is Indian and not very good. We’d say avoid. The drinks were actually pretty decent, though they lacked some of the better spirits to mix them up. Our bartender, Farhad, was pretty amazing, which I’ll get to in the service section.
The cocktails are roughly Rs. 750 each. The bill here can add up.
The Service
The service we got was exceptional. Farhad, the bartender, was super nice, recommended drinks and mixed them with flair, even though there wasn’t a big crowd. He was quite cool, and the other stuff were very nice as well.
Conclusion
For us it’s sort of an ironic pleasure, but the service at the Global Towers bar is actually quite good and the cocktails are good (food not so much). The Indian karaoke is amazing and it’s an interesting way to get that airport vibe in the city.
