Our experience at Sly Granny, a new restaurant in Indira Nagar, Bangalore. The food and drinks were paid for by us. The dessert was on the house. The review was written mostly by my husband with a few inputs from me.
In 11+ years of my blog Saffron Trail, this is the first ever post contributed by the husband. So please welcome him a big round of applause! Since he’s an everything-eater, he’ll be writing about all the dishes he’s eaten and the veggie dishes get a special note from me. You’ll see that mentioned as ‘N:” in the course of the post and his words are marked by “SC”. So are you ready for our first joint review? Say hello to Sly Granny Bangalore!
SC: I took a long weekend holiday after a few months and decided to go on a lunch date with the good wife. We opted out of the usual buffet lunches at the several hotels. A new restaurant called Sly Granny (“SG”) at Indira Nagar (Bangalore) came highly recommended and we set off. SG apparently opened its doors for custom sometime in February of this year.
First off, the reception and the service through our meal was very courteous. We had a very friendly gent by the name of Arnab Datta who was in charge of our table and gave us a few recommendations. I’d give a 8/10 for service. Lopped off 2 points because I don’t care for people hovering around me every 5-10 minutes asking how my food is/was/tastes/tasted and so on and so forth. Ask at the end of a meal or give me a comment card. Please!
The ambience at Sly Granny Bangalore, is very airy and bright with nice tables and seating. They have 4 differently styled seating spaces. There was good music in the background which, unfortunately, was drowned by the chatter of a group of ladies a few tables away from us. I particularly liked that they had managed to create seating for 35-40 covers in a medium sized room without anyone getting claustrophobic. The chairs were also quite comfortable for easy seating. Full 10 marks.
N: So there’s a story behind the name ‘Sly Granny’. I must say it made me curious when I heard this name. It sounded like the perfect conversation starter. This is a fictional granny character who turned into quite the party animal after her husband passed away. She had secret stashes of alcohol in drawers to risqué books, everything you can think of! Just the sort of granny I’d like to be, when I grow old 🙂 This granny character also had a crush on Arnold Schwarzenegger, which explains one wall of the dining room plastered with a cheery Arnold wallpaper – see the collage above.
DRINKS
SC: For drinks we ordered a vodka based Brixton Smash for her and a Captain Morgan infused Planter’s Punch for me. As flavours go, the Brixton Smash didn’t quite live up to its published Bill of Materials. Arnab ensured the refill was made properly. I switched to Old Monk for my punch. Both cocktails weren’t sweet and we prefer them that way. If you like a bit of sugar under the umbrella, please do tell your host.
N: The Brixton Smash listed all my favourite herby ingredients, but didn’t have that herbaceous punch that I love in my cocktail. The elderflower syrup flavour was nicely apparent though.
STARTERS
SC: For starters, we ordered as below. I’ve rated the dishes based on my taste and anecdotal experience.
Grilled Fig and Goat Cheese – 10/10 for taste and presentation
Barley Salad – 8/10 since it tasted slightly bland despite the orange reduction and pickled mustard seeds. It badly needed a punch of either heat or pungency.
Pulled pork tacos & Sea Bass Main course
Pulled pork tacos – 5/10. As an aside to the punters backing TSG, I’m sure you know pulled pork is supposed to lend itself to breaking easily. Sadly, the meat was chewy and stringy. Better fortune next time.
I was given a complimentary replacement – a side of pork chops, which didn’t fare too well either. The meat wasn’t cooked evenly. Not sure if the kitchen sourced the stragglers from the sty today; better luck next time.
MAINS
For mains, she had the spatzle and I had the grilled sea bass. Both dishes were made to perfection. A full 10 for the fish. It flaked off just right into my mouth.
N: The Spatzle dish was the meatiest veg dish I have ever tasted in my life. The spatzle here was made of raw banana, and whatever they had done with the good ol’ plantain, had given it a lot of texture. Paired with properly sautéed mushrooms, it had the hit of umami I so love. A garnish of dehydrated mushroom slices and a more than generous sprinkling of grated parmesan (I like when a restaurant doesn’t skimp on parmesan). The portion of this main dish was so hearty that it can well be shared between two people. This dish can easily make any vegetarian wonder if they accidentally got a meat based dish 😀 This dish is on their dinner menu and not in the lunch menu though. You can ask for it, if you plan to pop in for lunch.
DESSERT
SC: Dessert was a walnut pie with vanilla bean ice cream. Again, delicious. I am a great fan of pies and this was probably among the best I have had. [Dessert was on the house.]
Overall XP – Superb and any all synonyms.
Value for Money – Worth every rupee. The dishes are priced right, IMO. Do not take into account the taxes. They levy a 10% service charge which I believe is well justified. I observed a high degree of attentiveness and care given to 5 other sets of patrons at the time we were having our meal. Our bill came to Rs.3910 including taxes for 4 drinks, 3 small plates and 2 mains.
Quality of Food – Great. I will eat there again in the near future and determine whether the porcine delicacies are up to scratch.
N: Want to read another restaurant post I wrote recently? It was about the utterly charming Taj Mahal Tea House in Mumbai.
Love the way this post has shaped up. While the initial starters may have nit been upto the mark , the mains pulled up the show for them. Like the name Sly Granny. Welcome SC to the blogging world