Sly Granny : Will Granny approve?

With a name like Sly Granny, the restaurant generated obvious curiosity when it opened. The eccentric theme and interiors make their mark even when quirky stuff is being done by every other joint these days. The brilliant small plates,  potent drinks & delicious desserts served alongside Grandma stories. Would Granny have approved? Read on to decide for yourself 🙂

The first time I got a launch party invite for Sly Granny, the name had me smiling. There was certain amount of naughtiness in the name that appealed to me. I mean who wouldn’t love a Sly Granny. So as the legend goes – the community house as they like to call it, was the house of a grandma who liked to live life kingsize SLYLY ;). She loved collecting quirky eccentric stuff from everywhere, was a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and pineapples. As a side trivia, I believe Arnie was a fan of pineapples himself, but we digress. The community house has been build at her house in her style. Yes yes, I know it is a story, but it is a story that is well told and executed. The place has such happy vibes and I was really impressed with the attention to details in the execution.

Coming to food, we focused more on Small plates and drinks that afternoon, like I mostly do when we are out drinking. I think it fits perfectly well with the idea of drinks and conversation.

Let me start with my favourite cocktail from that day – Chase & Status.  Laphroiag, coconut fat washed scotch, ginger, honey & pomegranate syrup mixed with lemon juice. It had all the things which cocktails should be –  smoky, well balanced and oh so potent. The planter’s punch – Homemade spiced dark rum, tea & fresh berries syrup, lime juice (which the man had with Old Monk instead of house Vodka) was really nice as well. I also loved my Berry & Basil Caiporoska, I asked the bartender to make it less sweet and he obliged and that made the cocktail shine in my opinion. Because most of the time the problem I have with fruit based cocktails is that they are usually too sweet.

We ordered many small plates, way too many for 2.5 people anyways (us and the child). I think each one of them was nice on their own. Some blew our mind more than others but overall all of them were nice. The ceviche of citrus marinated sea bass, calamari and shrimp with crispy fried garlic, cucumber water  served with caraway cracker was probably my favourite of the lot. You can discount it to the fact that I am a sucker for a good ceviche if you want but I think it was just perfect. The couscous and bacon salad, was as nice as all salads with bacon are. The pulled chicken tacos were child’s lunch that day and he wiped the whole plate down so I am guessing it ticked his benchmark. The tapas style shrimp was just one wants with a chilled beer, buttery and garlicky.

The Grilled Figs and Goat Cheese on crusty bread came highly recommended by many on instagram and totally lived up to the expectations. I think the baked brie was probably one of the things I didn’t like that day, there was more puff pastry than cheese, not enough mustard and generally strictly ok. I don’t think it is was a dish that I will order again. And oh a special mention for the inhouse focaccia and herbed butter.

Yes yes I know I said we focussed on small plates, but Chef Varun insisted that we taste the biscuit and gravy and the man was in a mood of some lamb that day. So we ended up ordering two large plates. I think the biscuit (more scones or English style biscuit) was one of the best I have had in Bangalore and we enjoyed the beef gravy knowing well that we might not be able to for long. The gnocchi and lamb however didn’t work for me, gnocchi for me is a delicate dish and Rajasthani lamb anything but delicate and the combination didn’t hit the right notes.

And for the dessert, we ordered the Jackfruit halwa dessert. Well because it was the man’s birthday and he loves jackfruit and a good Walnut pie, because who can say no to a good pie. I am not a jackfruit fan but I thought the Jackfruit dessert was an interesting take on it. No sugar added jackfruit halwa served with puff pastry and ice cream, the birthday boy loved it. I couldn’t find much of a fault with the walnut pie and would happily eat a full portion of it.

So at the end of the meal, if you ask me would granny approve? I think she sure would !

Sly Granny