Sujan Shetty

The early years

He started at Cafe Mojo in Mangalore in 2014. A year later he was on the opening team at Retox, which is where he found out what a busy night actually demands of a bar. Bengaluru came next, as Head Mixologist at Goldfinch Hotels. The bar there sat inside a much larger hotel operation, so he had to learn how that machinery runs.

Mumbai

He spent 2017 to 2020 in Mumbai at O Pedro, with time alongside The Bombay Canteen. Those kitchens worked close to the bar, and it changed how he built drinks. The cooks and bartenders around him had been at it for years, and what they taught him was mostly unglamorous: prep properly, hit the same drink twice, and make something that belongs to the meal instead of competing with it.

Back to Goa

Back in Goa, he tended bar at Bomras in Anjuna. The kitchen there cooks Burmese and Southeast Asian food, which is unforgiving about acid and heat, and it sharpened how he reads balance and what a drink has to do sitting next to a plate.

Slow Tide

He joined Slow Tide in 2022, before it opened. The job covered the bar design, the menu, hiring, training and the daily running of it. The drinks came out of Anjuna itself, out of how people drink on that coast and the characters the place keeps telling stories about. Acid Eric, Amsterdam Dave, Starco Junction, The Who and Jhony Cairo are named after them, and served as modern cocktails.

Bar Stoned Pig

He also runs the bar at Bar Stoned Pig, a small room inside Slow Tide. The list there is deliberately familiar. The work goes into dilution, temperature and texture rather than into novelty: Cold Fashioned, Bloody Batanga, Tomato Tirphal, Banana Pandan.

Warehaus

Warehaus is his own company. The work there is beverage research, prep systems, equipment, menus and consulting, and it includes Pour Fellas. He is also the beverage partner for Kadamba and Orlo in Hyderabad. Kadamba leans on botanicals and regional produce. Orlo is the quieter room, built on restraint. Warehaus is where an idea gets tested before it reaches a live bar, and where it gets written down clearly enough that a team can repeat it without him standing there.

Approach

He thinks about the room as much as the glass: what is playing, how bright it is, how fast the service moves, whether anyone wants to stay for another. Flavours stay clear and the operation stays workable. After more than a decade of it, the rule he keeps returning to is to keep it simple.