IT is the general opinion among drinkers (serious and casual) that Geoffrey's at the Marine Plaza on Bombay's Marine Drive is the best bar in town. I will not dispute that. I drop in occasionally and find it sober and convivial, more like an English pub at Notting Hill Gate than a disco at Bandra. It is dark rosewood and stagecoach leather, brass rails to rest tired feet on and old sporting prints on the walls. And though it is barely two-and-a-half-years-old, it is filled with pub memorablia probably collected from every pub in England, a happy jumble of a Charrington Toby, W. G. Grace in action, old muskets, a poster of His Master's Voice, a cricket bat signed by the Australian team, brewery labels, and a display of VSOP Cognac, the next big liquor invasion coming to Bombay.

Through the revolving doors of the boutique hotel, one step down, and I am in Geoffrey's, The Pub. I normally sit at the bar, on tall bar-stools with back-rests, or stand around the bar, three drinkers deep. It is an island bar, very English, very pubby, the bar is the focal point of the operations, the heart of the pub. Several efficient bartenders are at work, doing several things at the same time, which is a characteristic of good bartenders all over the world.

Simultaneously, they pull beer pumps, mix drinks, shake a cocktail, serve peanuts from underneath the bar, distribute table mats, keep an eye on the tap to check the pint is not full and running over (it's a full pint, 480 mlgs., not 300 mlgs, that you get in most places), collect money, take new orders, repeat old orders, remember who has ice, who has soda, send slips into the kitchen for bar food (pub grub), say "Hello, Mr. Kakkar," to Pralhad Kakkar and pour out his Jack Daniels, check the collar on the beer, take out fresh glasses from the top, swab the bar, clean the ash-trays, and, above all, try not to look busy.

Everybody has a favourite bartender. Mine was Domingo Conceiciao Fernandes, presiding over the Taj's Harbour Bar for many years. He looked like Louis Armstrong, body and face, and used to make a wicked personal cocktail, whose name he thought and thought and finally settled on Byculla Bomb. There was also Victor at the Apollo Bar upstairs. He was a teetotaller who had never tasted liquor in his life but used to mix a large range of cocktails. That's past. That's past, now it is Diego D'Souza at Geoffrey's. He is 24 and a product of the bar, the hotel trained him. He has two understudies. Separately, I am carrying some of his cocktail recipes.

It is difficult to say why some bars succeed, others do not. It is not like a restaurant, where, if the food is good, the tables are booked, if not, no. But liquor comes from the same manufacturers, whether it is India bottled scotch or Indian made foreign liquor. So what's the reason for the success? I can tell you about Geoffrey's. There is no loud music, no MTV, dancing is discouraged, there are four TVs in four corners, plus a wall TV, but the sound is off, the place is reasonably bright (not romantically dark), there is a mixed clientele that is soberly drunk, the liquor list is exhaustive, the food menu limited, and strictly pub grub, not the kind you sit down and mess around with knife and fork.

The afternoons are easy, they are trying to sell to a business crowd - Do Lunch, Do Business, the advertisement says. Lunch is soup, a range of 25 salads, eight options in sandwiches, desserts. The main crowd comes in 6.30 p.m., corporates and consulates, mostly the banking segments, some advertisement executives, a drink on the way home from the Nariman Point corporate office. By 8.30 it is on its way home. By 9.30 the socialites come in, a couple of drinks on their way to make things happen. Geoffrey's is the meeting place, you either meet after work, or on your way to a good evening. Drinking habits also are clearly defined. The expartes stick to beer, Foster's and San Miguel, or the drafts, Kingfisher and London Pilsner. It is served by pint, or pitcher (three pints). The younger executives, the fresh MBAs, go for the white spirits, Bacardi, Smirnoff. And a lot more people are switching over to Margheritas and Tequilas, particularly the ad executives, who are a little more adventurous with their drinks. No, you don't drink Bloody Mary and Pinacolada any more, you get dated if you do. Indians drink whiskey, India bottled scotch, Black Dog, Teacher's.

Yes, there is a definite difference between India bottled and direct import scotch, no matter what the dealers may claim. Indians also drink their whiskey with soda, probably because they nurse their drinks through the evening and soda makes a tall drink. Quite a few people have started drinking the whiskey on the rocks, with water it is negligible, more with half soda and half water. Only a handful of people drink their beer at room temperature, Mr. Bal Thackeray for one. And the most under-drunk liquor is Cognac, probably because it is an after-dinner drink and Indians do not drink after they have eaten. Geoffrey�s also has a line of wines, French and Chilean, plus India�s own, Indage House, Grover. And no

Indian touches liqueur, except as a blender for cocktails. Pub Grub: Chef Sunil Chakravorty, 26 years as area executive with the Oberoi, till Anil Madhok bagged him for the Sarovar Park Group, keeps it light. Tenderloin with Cafe de Paris butter, medallions of lamb with mint sauce, steak sandwiches on white or whole wheat bread. The soups include a robust Hungarian goulash, with cubes of beef and potatoes, seasoned with paprika, oregano, tomato, red wine. There is an asperagus and spinach quiche, like a gateau, the rich dough made with flour, eggs and butter, and a stuffing of rich spinachs, mushrooms, asparagus, the whole thing baked in the oven, and served with fried onion rings and tomato slices.

Finally, what can be more appropriate for an English pub than fish and chips. The fish is pomfret, naturally, 220 gms., after the skin and bones have been removed, marinated in lemon juice, mustard, egg yolk, pepper, bread crumbs, the crumbs coming from fresh bread. The tartar sauce has gherkins and chopped shallots and there�s lots of french fries. Put more salt on them.