Santosh Faiia lived in New York for eight years and worked in many cocktail bars and other hospitality establishments around that great city. Obviously he has spent a lot of time in the hotel industry. He was deeply involved in the bar scene in the Big Apple but always wanted to come back to Nepal to start something here. So when Covid hit, it was the right time to leave New York and head home. Santosh contacted his partner Devanksh Sjb Rana, who graduated from Le Roches International School of Hotel Management in Switzerland and hit upon the idea of opening a cocktail bar- run by American-Nepali owners, for those who love an intimate environment to enjoy their favorite drinks.

How was the bar conceptualized?
Most of the places I go to see and what I enjoy doing most are bar things. So, I thought it would be better to open something like that in Nepal. I loved making cocktails and wanted to bring that culture to Nepal as well. I’m fond of bar culture across the world for which Blackbird was the idea we came up with.

What are the services you provide?
This place is different. Here, I want a lot of interaction between the staff and the customers. You can come alone and get someone to talk to or come in a group. We’re open to anyone and opt to provide a pleasant atmosphere and hope we teach everyone what cocktail culture is all about.
What are your signature drinks?
We have eight signature drinks on the menu which are titled after different birds. We serve classics as well. All the paintings over the walls flex every menu. The signature cocktails we have all the time are Blackbird, Alpine Swift, and Hummingbird which are not on the menu. Otherwise, we change our menu seasonally and for now we have Saffron Finch, Parakeet, Flamingo, Penguin, and Canary as signature drinks.

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What are the packages you offer?
We don’t really offer any packages, but we have different programs going on. One of the things we do here is bring bartenders from different countries and attract different people, so they’ll make their own menu. We do bar hop as well. We take our drinks to some of the bars abroad as well. We like to go abroad and share our cocktail culture and bring people here so that they can share theirs.
How do you promote cocktails to customers?
Our menus are designed in such a way that it highlights various drinks. Customers can choose any drink from eight of the signatures or the classics. You can come to the bar and our bartender will let you know about the drinks and the different flavors you can enjoy.

What are your priorities?
Since we’ve been here, there are a lot of cocktail bars coming up. Priorities we focus on are:
Bar hopping
To get people a  good experience; something unique
 Have a good time  with the customers and make them enjoy it as well.

What’s special about Blackbird?
Blackbird is Nepal’s first bar that has been in Asia’s 50 Best Bars list. That’s something we are proud of.

What makes Blackbird unique?
A lot of people don’t expect a bar to be like this in Thamel. It is the new edition, and the drinks we provide here, you won’t find in other bars around Kathmandu.

How do you maintain order as well as encourage customers to enjoy?
We are open to customers who like to party till late. Thamel is a crowded place and there are a lot of bars around. We encourage customers to experience bar hopping as well.

What drink would you recommend the confused customer?
We always start up with the Blackbird for those who have never been here before and are confused by the menu. On Friday nights it is not possible to sit and have long conversations about drinks, so we mostly recommend Blackbird. If you come on a quieter night, you can talk to the bartender and get suggestions.

Talk about the ambience you provide.
We want to keep things dark, probably dim lights. This place is dark and intimate where people love to come. Most of the bars I went to in New York were all dark themed, so I want to bring the same feeling here.

How do you source ingredients?
We try to do things as locally as possible. We try to source local products and ingredients. Here we are in contact with many people who provide us with local products.

What were the challenges you experienced?
Well, it was difficult for us as there was nothing like this before. To create a setting, find things, buy things that are important, everything required an extra effort. Getting ideas across to people about the cocktail bar, starting something new in the market is kind of difficult.

What are your future plans?
We are going to open another one in Jamshikhel in February. Though with the same name, it will be different than the Blackbird in Thamel. It will be open till 11 pm while here it is 1 am. Further, we want to continue travelling and bringing people here. We want to upgrade our rank in Asia’s Best Bars list.

How different will the Jamshikhel bar be from this one?
Jamshikhel’s brand will be more like a day bar with six different kitchens. We will be providing meals there, whereas here we have only snacks for the customers. It will be kind of a greenhouse with a lot of glasses whereas here, it’s kind of closed off.