Choco Monkey Martini
Choco Monkey Martini

With sitcom-inspired drinks and tapas, Shake Stir Muddle is the city's new cocktail haven

Located in Jubilee Hills, the newly-opened outlet is the first all-day diner to serve only tapas in Hyderabad.

Your first impression of Shake Stir Muddle could be of a multi-cuisine or a fine-dining restaurant, especially when you hear that it’s an eatery started by the Fusion 9 group.

But when you visit the outlet, you realise it’s more like a place for cocktails (starting `295) and tapas (an appetiser that translates to a small portion) than dim sum and clay pot chicken. The décor is industrial  chic – think high ceilings, exposed brick, high tables and dangling light fixtures. The all-day diner also happens to be the only place in town serving just tapas.


 
We heart food
The graffiti of a ‘heart full of food’ (a chef painting a heart with words like food and wow thrown in) and a few paintings near the bar counter add a dash of colour to an otherwise neutral colour scheme of the outlet. The seating is a mix of high stools and cushion chairs. This is the kind of place you settle in with your friends, roll up your sleeves and dig into a bowl of chicken, with no worries of being messy. We get ready to do just that, as we take a seat beside the huge glass wall that gives us a view of the boulders that are lit up in the night.


While the food menu is minimal with fusion dishes, the bar menu is truly impressive, something that the outlet boasts of. The signature cocktails are divided into sections named after popular TV series including How I Met Your Mother, Two And A Half Men and Stranger Things. We soon try our first drink, Peaky Blinders.

Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders


A whiff of elderflower, thyme, pomegranate and some dry thyme smoke (that’s added in the end for aroma) makes this gin-based cocktail a refreshing start to the evening. We suggest you pair it with Andhra Spiced Potato Skins. The spicy snack will remind you of the potato fry eaten with pappu at Telugu homes, courtesy the addition of red chilli, mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Andhra Spiced Potato Skins
Andhra Spiced Potato Skins


Pappadam with Chilli Chicken
Next up, Choco Monkey Martini is a too-pretty-to-drink kind of a cocktail that is sure to have you taking numerous pictures of it. Served in a martini glass with the corners dipped in chocolate sauce, the drink comes with a topping of marshmallow and cherries. When we’re finally done with the social media show-off, we sip on it. The rather thick concoction has a strong taste of vodka, unlike the first drink where the flavour of gin was muted. The sweet taste of chocolate blends perfectly with the spirit, but we would suggest you pass this on if you’re looking for something subtle.

Chilli Chicken Crispy <em>Pappadum</em>
Chilli Chicken Crispy Pappadum


The Chilli Chicken Crispy Pappadum arrives next. Sweet and chilli sauce, onions, bell peppers, juicy chicken and pappadam, of course, together make this one a flavoursome appetiser. Non-vegetarians can also try the Butter Chicken Vol-au-vent (a small hollow of puff pastry with a generous serving of the classic butter chicken) and Seafood and Chicken Paella. Mac and Cheese Tacos will win you over, if you’re an ardent lover of cheese like us. Even if you’re not, you wouldn’t want to give this dish a miss since the amount of cheese isn’t overpowering and is rather delicious. Although the place serves just tapas, two dishes for a person is quite filling.

Mac and Cheese Tacos
Mac and Cheese Tacos


We end our meal with Churros with caramel and chocolate. The soft and deep-fried churros is downright addictive. Shake Stir Muddle has only two desserts on offer. After the more-than-satisfying meal, we choose to save the second dessert, Mango Chilli and Rosemary Fool, and their much-talked about seafood dish Mussels and Fennel for our next visit.

Churros
Churros

 
Price for two: Rs.1,000.
On Road no 45, Jubilee Hills.

Pics: Sathya Keerthi

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