Habanero - Tex Mex comes to Hyderabad!

There being various Mexican specialty restaurants in the city, one would wonder how will a new one match the current sceanrio and expectations. Tex-Mex, as the name suggests, combines Texan and Mexican style of cooking and techniques. I have had my fair share of exposure to Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisine during my trips to US, but I have had never an opportunity to enjoy the same here in India until I got an invite to visit the newly opened Habanero for a bloggers' table on its launching day at Hyderbad. Habanero does exactly that! It brings full fledged Tex-Mex delicacies right to your table without you having to leave the city! 

Habanero is the brainchild of husband-wife duo Griffith David and Elizabeth Bowden-David who have spent a considerable part of their lifetime in the American southwest and have been captivated by the flavors of Tex-Mex cuisine. They have teamed up with Dan Durkin, an American chef who has a rich experience of more than 15 years in US and Asia, to bring authentic Tex-Mex cuisine to India. Their first destination in India was Bengaluru. In Hyderabad, they have tied up with La Sano Vidda(Pardhu Kanala, Lalitha Dutta, and Harsha Penmetsa) for their latest outlet of Habanero.

As I entered, the decor indeed left a good impression on me for being pleasant and well lit. the walls had the traditional color combinations as you would find in Mexican/Spanish homes. Though I felt they could have done a bit better by adding traditional paintings to the decor and arrangements.

The thing to notice was the fully stocked bar and they had it open on the launch day itself.

The menu, featuring Dan Durkin, Chef and COO of Habanero

Griffith David, CEO and Dan Durkin, COO

We all were introduced to the brand Habanero by the CEO Griffith David himself, who talked about their history and on Tex-Mex cuisine. Dan Durkin gave us more insight into the flavors of Tex-Mex cuisine and how he has incorporated them into the menu.

It was hard to miss the sombrero and poncho clad waiters scurrying with orders on their trays. The first thing that was presented to us was the signature tamarind margarita which definitely was something I had always given a miss during my sojourns to Mexican restaurants in US. A glass rim dredged in red chillies, the tamarind added a distinctive flavor to the margarita.

Tamarind margarita

Margarita

Sombrero-Poncho clad wait staff

The food that we sampled was quite good. The most important thing was that I could relate the taste of most of the dishes to what I have had in Mexican restaurants in US, proving the point that the team has spared no effort in keeping the dishes as authentic as possible. Kudos to them for that!

The food was scrumptious and we ended up sampling quite a number of dishes.I may not be able to recollect the name of all dishes, but I distinctly remember a few that were outstanding. The one that I liked the most was the chicken wings with ranch sauce dipping. The wings had that familiar tangy and spicy marination and it was spot on with taste. An absolute delight - so much so that we ended up having 3-4 servings of it! The Queso dip was again a hit among us, with the right texture and spiciness. The Jalapeno poppers tasted good, but lack the punch of Jalapeno. We were told that procuring the right quality Jalapeno was an issue and they were working towards resolving it.

Tostada salad was quite refreshing too. An almost melt in the mouth crisp tortilla with quite a soft crunch. There was a chicken combo platter which had chicken wings, breaded chicken tenders, onion rings, loaded potato skins and mini chimichanga. I would say this to be a good combo platter if one is interested to taste a variety of dishes, or if one wants to sample out before ordering larger portioned dishes.

Did I mention chimichanga? well the chimichanga was as delightful as it could have been! I loved the stuffing and the crisp burrito and I didn't need any dip or sauce or salsa to go with it. It was plain delicious for me. They served a dessert version of chimichanga as well with a dollop of icecream and it did taste good as well.

Mentioning desserts, and I cannot miss out on an authentic Mexican speciality - Churros. Churros are fried sticks made from doughnut dough, dredged in cinnamon sugar and served with chocolate sauce. The Churros were definitely good, if I may exempt the fact that the sugar coating was a bit of excess such that the chocolate sauce flavour became subdued. Otherwise, the Churros are definitely worth a try!

They also have a chef's trolley concept wherein the chef would bring in the ingredients trolley right up to your table and prepare a salad and present it to your table. Chef Dan Durkin was supposed to prepare a guacamole salad for us, but since this not being the season for avocados(and decent ones too), he prepared pico de gallo instead, which is a Mexican chopped salad. I would say this is very similar to the salad that we make at home but this had a slightly different mix of ingredients. For example, the chef used chopped/shredded garlic in it.

I would now let the pictures do the talking and take you through a Tex-Mex journey!

Habanero fiesta salad and Jalapeno poppers

Queso dip

various kinds of salsa. The leftmost is papaya salsa and had a sweet & tangy flavor

Jalapeno poppers

Chicken Combo platter - chicken wings, breaded chicken tenders, onion rings, mini-chimichanga, loaded potato skins

Messy bean dip - a combination of various beans

Zucchini fritters

Chicken wings

the food enthusiasts

Chef and COO Dan Durkin presenting us the pico de gallo salad

Chilli cheese fries

pico de gallo(mexican chopped salad)

Sangria with pico de gallo

Prawn Diablo

Quesadilla

Tostada salad

Eggplant & Black Bean Stack

Chimichanga

Churros

Chimichanga dessert with icecream

I would say, if you are looking out for an authentic Tex-Mex joint without having to burn a hole in your pocket, then Habanero is the place to be!

Thank you team Habanero for accommodating us and taking us through a culinary journey so rich in flavours!

~By Invitation~