Mumbai's Best Vinyl Bars Have Made Finding Your People Slightly Easier

Good old times are back. People are once again falling in love with the crackle of vinyl records, the familiar startup tune of a Nikon Coolpix, and the deliberate, ritualistic relationship one has with a vinyl collection. Vinyl bars of Mumbai, in all their fanciness, are making vinyls the new cool again.

The city’s vinyl bars and listening rooms give people somewhere to find their kind of people, with music for the soul playing in the background. If you need a guide to finding the best vinyl bars you can hop, here is the perfect list with all the recommendations you need:

Saurabh Shetty’s Baroke came out of a love for the dive bars and record stores he encountered while travelling through the US. The result is Mumbai’s first vinyl-only listening bar, with a collection of more than 220 records and a sound system built with intentional listening in mind. Klipsch La Scala II speakers handle the room, while a headphone section offers a more solitary way to hear the music.

The records are played in full, not like a playlist of convenient singles, which makes Baroke a good choice for anyone who finds skipping tracks halfway through strictly offensive.

RumBabaa opened in April 2026 as an all-day coffee and vinyl-led space, putting two things Mumbai takes very seriously- coffee and music. Its vinyl setup is at the centre of the café, with the space moving from daytime coffee service into evening wine-led experiences.

The founding team includes Sandeep G. Ailsinghani, Ayesha Dodeja, Mohitt Maalik and Ankkitha Maithy, with Ankit Anand and Aditi Malikk shaping the experience and brand direction. The appeal is less about behaving like a formal listening room and more about letting music become part of the rhythm of a day.

Ink N Brew makes a convincing argument for getting all things dopamine under one roof. There is speciality coffee, vinyl, tattoos and a growing programme of music events. The café regularly hosts vinyl listening sessions, where people bring records, listen through an album together and talk about the music.

There are open mics and live performances too, giving independent musicians a place to play to people who have already arrived for the music. Past sessions have ranged from David Bowie to Aphex Twin, while the space has also hosted artists like Darzi, last year. There are film screenings from time to time as well.

If an old, overplayed earworm suddenly sounds newer and more nuanced, and makes you stop talking to pay attention to the song, you know you are in a room designed for listening.

That is essentially the premise of The Listening Room at The Dimsum Room. Built by Munro Acoustics, its custom sound system draws from the company’s work on the active four-way mix room system at Abbey Road Studios. Vinyl plays through large speakers with exposed drivers.

Idoru is for people who like their vinyl with cocktails, Japanese bar food and a little less reverence. The 28-seat bar, created by Nooresha and Anil Kably with Neale Murray and Owen Roncon, sits above Izumi and grew out of the partners’ shared love of music. Its record collection combines personal vinyl archives with around 200 LPs purchased specifically for the bar.

Two PLX1000 turntables and a custom-built sound system keep the records moving, while visiting DJs, musicians and collectors bring in their own curations.

Gaijin’s Off The Record series takes the vinyl revival into nightlife. The Khar restaurant has turned its music programming into a dedicated series built around vinyl,  analogue sound and DJs who know their way around curation. The setup centres on Gaijin Radio and a rare Donley sound system, with selectors moving through house, minimal, techno, funk, soul, disco and other electronic sounds depending on the night.

Recent editions have brought in selectors including JNJS, Jesse You, BlurrySlur, Farhan Rehman and Stalvart John. It helps that Gaijin already has the visual language for it- the restaurant’s Tokyo-inspired alleyway, graffiti, film posters and neon-lit outdoor bar.