Habanero

Most of the foodies look forward to a new cuisine getting launched in Hyderabad, what with a dearth of internationally exciting and happening scene here. In such circumstances, an announcement of a Tex-Mex cuisine was much looked forward to.
I was pretty excited to be invited to the launch of Habanero, an upscale Tex-Mex restaurant opening in Hi-Tech city.
At 8 pm, on the very day of launch, the restaurant had drawn a decent crowd. As the evening progressed, it was teeming with diners, a sure sign of people hungry to taste at Habanero. The ambiance was rustic Mexican and had the waiters dressed traditionally  in the wide-brimmed Mexican Sombrero and a Serape, a large cape-like garment around their neck.
A percussionist complemented the experience perfectly.
The menu consisted of both veg and non- veg options and had all the Mexican regulars like Burritos, Enchiladas, Tacos, Nachos...
We foodies started the meal with Nachos and a dip made of beans, tomatoes and peppers. The nachos were very crisp and I felt we could have them forever. The accompanying dip seemed reflective of Indian flavors and went well with the Nachos.

Nachos with beans dip

Another dip to accompany the nachos was the Queso dip. This seemed to be made of cheese, mayonnaise and spiced with finely chopped green chillies. The chillies did add some hotness to the dish but in its absence, the dish could use more spices.

Queso dip

Another starter that we found to be quite different and tasty were the Zucchini fritters. These were made of cheese and grated Zucchini bound with bread, and shallow fried. The fritters were topped with chopped onions, tomatoes and ranch, served on a bed of tangy sauce.

Zucchini fritters

We foodies had the privilege of not only being introduction to the Tex-Mex cuisine by Chef Dan Durkin, but also happened to watch a live demo of making a simple salsa with chopped onions, tomatoes and green chillies. Medium spicy was what the foodies had asked for and the spiciness level matched exactly.

Chef Dan Durkin

The stand-out dish was the Tostada salad which had the beans, tomatoes, pineapple, cheese, lettuce spread on a very crisp, thin and crunchy corm tortilla base served with honey mustard vinaigrette.
Another noteworthy dish was the Chilli Cheese Fries. A nice spread of the potato fries topped with melted cheese, onions, tomatoes and appropriate seasoning.

Chilli Cheese fries

In the mains, we got to taste Soft Shell Tacos. Among the three options for filling, I chose the traditional re-fried beans and grilled vegetables. The filling inside two crisp corn taco shells was very much in proportion to its shells. This was accompanied with sour cream (great), salsa ( good) and chopped jalapenos. Guacamole was supposed to be served but they didn't have a stock of it. The tacos were quite good but the accompanying rice turned out to be blandish and could hold some more flavors.

Soft shell tacos 

Desserts brought Churros, doughnut sticks rolled in cinnamon sugar, served with dark chocolate sauce for dipping. The Churros were delightfully crisp and the sauce too was thick and tasty but then the Churros  were rolled in too much sugar. Asking the restaurant to go light on sugar would  help strike the right balance between salt and sweet.

Churros con Chocolate

The second dessert we got to taste was the Snickers Chimichanga served in strawberry sauce and accompanied with ice cream. We had the Snickers Chimichanga cut into two so we could share. The Chimichanga was perfectly baked and had a delightful filling of gooey melted Snickers candy but was again too sweet for me to handle. The melting ice-cream too didn't help enhance the flavors.

Snickers Chimichanga

Most of the dishes we got to taste were quite good. You need to specify your spice requirements to the chef to get the flavors right.
The few misses we had can be contributed to the undue rush on the day of launch. The service was pretty delayed too.
Overall, worth going back to.