This is short note, not an essay!

First visit a few months ago was pretty bad. No writing, no nothing! But a few weeks back somebody said, "Try them out, now". That stuck in my brain, because this is one cuisine that is so wrong in Chennai! Yes, I did rant about it a couple of blog posts back.

So, the visit was a pleasant surprise. While it leans towards being Tex Mex from the flavour profile and having only the popular stuff and not having the many popular things from Mexico, I think it maybe too much to expect Mexican Mexican from any place in Chennai and there are bound to be overlaps. Especially since there is real overlap between Tex Mex and Mexican.

I had only 3 dishes. A chicken burrito and a chicken Taco. Tacos are available in both soft shell and hard shell. While Mexican version is mostly soft shell, I like the Tex Mex version and went for it, so I don't know if their soft shell is corn or flour tortilla, the hard one was corn. The fillings are all from a bunch, so whatever you order they will be similar. Almost like a Subway, so now that their fillings are similar to the Mexican flavours, both the burrito and the Taco were pretty nice.

What was surprising though was the Churros. While it is a Spanish dish, which is available in Mexico, I am not sure if it has a Mexican history. Who cares? Because when done well, it is a simply beautiful dish. Normally a breakfast dish. And as simple as it can get. I mean, it is just fried dough! But when done well, it is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The churros here, at least that day, were fried to perfection. The chocolate sauce was bordering on ordinary and barely complimented the churros, but the churros were nice!

The burrito was Rs. 179 and the churros and taco were Rs. 79 each. Plus taxes.

So, one more place besides Spoonbill to douse the cravings for these flavours. Want to see how their nachos is!

Una Mas is on Kodambakkam High Road a little further down Palmgrove Hotel, but on the opposite side. 

Can a Tex-Mex survive the Chennai heat?

Hard to tell. Habanero, with quite decent food didn't survive. It really didn't do much wrong. OK, service was close to pathetic, but reviews in forums were thrashed. And anyone who dared to write something good about it was also thrashed. Honestly, service and attitude let them down, but the food wasn't bad. And the complaints were all about the food. So Tex-Mex and Chennai? 

Welcome Chili's. I hope you survive this one! 

I think it will! 

So, the ambiance is a lot more happening and the music is nice and reflects the cuisine to a large extent. Chili's is in general more Tex than Mex and the Mex flavours are more of a foreplay. It is outwardly American and proud of it, so don't expect Mexican flavours to bombard your taste buds. 

Clearly, the person who made our Guacamole on the table didn't do a great job. Clearly the chef in the kitchen knows how to make a Guac. So our on-the-table guac wasn't any good. We returned it and the one that came from the kitchen was more like it. Nachos. Bang on. Guac. On. Bring the rest on! 

Glad they have the mix and match for starters, so you can take a pick of 3 or 5 starters from the page of a combo price. We picked Boneless Chicken Wings, Chicken Strips and Onion Rings. Chicken wings were tangy. Really tangy and I loved the flavours but missed celery sticks along with it. Would have been great. The chicken strips were large compared to most quick service places like KFC, but the onion rings are something that you may like or hate. I din't like it so much, my friend who came along loved it every bit. It is thick and flat and the batter is thick and there is more flour and batter than onion. I prefer the golden crispy ones! Drinks were large. All mocktails, obviously, but large portions. My pomegranate margarita was yum while my friend refused to share his. I won't know why, but will have to go back! 

My friend who had the baby back ribs could not stop raving about it for a couple of days. I will leave it at that as I have no idea what it is. Since he wanted to have that, I had to order my own main course and between the burger and the fajita, I chose the latter. For Rs. 195 extra, the black beans and the rice add a lot more flavour to the fajita considering that these are not corn tortillas but flour tortilla. So with the add on beans, the guac, the rice and the grilled meat, the fajita was complete. 

I forgot the name of the cake we had, but it was heavenly. Creamy, crunchy and soft across the layers, this was a fitting finish to the meal. 

I want to go back and try the steaks and their burger!!! Express Avenue finally has an a real restaurant with great music!!! Meal for two will cost about Rs. 1500 but considering the portion size, a meal for 4 should cost your about Rs. 2500. 

Again. Welcome Chili's. 

What better name for a Tex Mex Restaurant!?! A chilli, an exceptionally hot chilli, produced largely in Mexico today and used extensively in Mexican cuisine. While Tex Mex is the Texas version of Mexican cuisine, there is quite some similarity and large differences between the two. OK, what's there in a name? The rose would still smell the same under any other name, isn't it? Now, who is the poet who said that? Never mind. OK, Habanero might be a better name for Mexican and a not so apt for Tex Mex. Moving on.

We were in a hurry, but I was adamant. I haven't had good Mexican flavours in a while and so we decided that we will get one dish each and leave. So we tasted only two dishes in the restaurant and while that is no way to judge any place, we quite liked it. So which two dishes? There was a buffet priced at Rs. 499, with a live Taco counter et all, but we stuck to a-la-carte. Remember? Time only for 2 dishes. So we narrowed it down to Nachos and Fajita.

The nachos arrived first. Smothered with guacamole and veggies and sour cream and salsa and grilled chicken, it was quite nice. Not as nice as having it abroad, but hey, everything from water to the chilly to the ingredients are different, so I'll cut some slack. The nachos was my friend's order and he liked it so much that he gave two mouthfuls with a grudge! And then my fajita arrived grandly on a sizzler, a plate loaded with toppings and a box with three tortillas (yeah, corn roti), very similar to how it is served in Hard Rock Cafe. It was my turn to grudge and I made one roll for him while I rolled up two for myself. Fajita's is almost like paav bhaji when it comes to the quantity of the bhaji to the pav. You always have to ask for extra pav. Why can't they just give you two more? Ditto with fajita. There was enough filling to roll up 4 or even 5 fajitas, but they gave only 3 tortillas. I ate the remaining with a fork and spoon. Oh yeah, it was quite nice too and since I rolled it up the way I like it, there was nothing to complain. The quantity of both the dishes were very satisfactory.

Since any place that served alcohol attracts that extra tax, we had to pay a service tax, a VAT on the bill, so essentially, about 25% more for tax. I don't remember if they charged us a service charge, but the bill was about Rs. 750 for the three dishes. Service was very polite and friendly and the menu tells us the story of the restaurant. An Indian boy and an American girl met, fell in love, married, decided to come back to India, gave up their corporate careers, roped in a chef and established this restaurant.

I was at the Koramangala Branch, but they have two more in Bangalore. Sadly, I heard from one of their consultants that Habanero's entry into Chennai is delayed for now. Maybe forever. Sigh!!!

Mexican is one of my favourite cuisines! I have had some fantastic Mexican food and somehow it trumps all other cuisines for me, even though Mediterranean, Indian and Italian are all on the list. But Tex Mex is a toned down version of Mexican and since I love the flavours of Mexican so much, Tex Mex is doable. While the differences may not be as vast as Authentic Chinese vs Indo Chinese, Tex Mex is a little different from Mexican, but the flavours are similar!

And then some days there is a severe craving for Mexican food. And Chennai has none. When you read another blog about Tex Mex, this craving gets worse and then one day it almost bursts. And then you get a scapegoat to join you for dinner and that is the story of the two of us entering Don Pepe after almost two years. Two bad experiences with almost no Mexican flavours was enough to dump the place, but then, like written above, the craving just got real bad!

But the food turned out real good! Since we were only two of us, we ordered for Lamb Nachos and a Chicken Fajita (Pronounced Faa-hee-taa). As typical of Tex Mex, there were more chips and more refried beans than the Mexican version, but the taste was superb. Flavours were, though not spot on, reasonably close, close enough to douse the cravings! The fajita here is served on a sizzler and the tortillas (tor-tee-aahs) are served separate, so you make your own fajita. Take the tortilla, fill it with how much ever chicken, beans, fries you want, pour the salsa and sour cream, fold it and you have it!!!!! The salsa was reasonably close, but the sour cream was very thin!

So, yeah, flavours were reasonably close and we skipped dessert because we were heading to the new Haagen Dazs, but, otherwise, the service was quick and attentive. For these two dishes we paid Rs 675 in total! We spend more than 1K at Haagen Dasz for dessert for three people, but that is another story altogether.....and it was a treat!!!!!

This is difficult to rate because there is hardly any benchmark. The closest, cuisine wise, Texas Fiesta is quite far away. So independently, let us just say that this is a good place to eat. Ok 3.75/5

Don Pepe is located on RK Salai, opp Chola Sheraton!

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Well made Mexican dish is a delight to any palate, the key being 'Well made'. The Texas version of Mexican popularly called the Tex Mex is pretty good too and its sad that in Chennai, there are not too many places offering good Mexican food! Texas Fiesta joined the small group attempting to serve Mexican and my first few visits there left me thinking 'Good food, but is this Tex Mex/Mexican?' So when I was invited to review the place and meet its owners last week, I jumped at the offer!

The owner has spent a few years in the US and has a passion for food - so much passion that he actually went through training in Mexican cuisine! His knowledge of the Mexcian food is amazing and I was glad I went as I learnt a lot about Mexican cuisine. In my previous visits to Texas Fiesta, there were a few glaring mistakes on Mexican food, such as chopped onions being served as Salsa and curd being served as Sour cream and fajitas served without tortilla. All of those have been corrected, but is it now an outstanding place to eat? Well.........

While we waited for the owner to come, we helped ourselves to some starters and had Fiery Chicken wings and fried cheese balls. The wings were FIERY alright with a super dose of chilly - I am not a fan of the wings or the FIRE, but I could manage this dish, while the cheese balls were decent stuff. When the owner landed there, we all went with his suggestions for the main course and so our table had a chicken fajitas, a burrito with mushroom sauce, a beef steak and a chicken quesadilla. I will start with the best dish which was the beef steak - super well done with great flavor! The others were all decent, with the burrito and fajitas being served with Mexican rice and some sides, and the quesadilla being served on its own. The main courses all tasted good, but certainly missed the classic Mexican flavor that you should have when you eat TexMex or Mexican - completely missing except for maybe the Mexican rice. The owner agreed that some of the dishes were kind of fusions - for example, the mushroom sauce does not really exist in the Mexican cuisine! 

The dessert that we had, CHURROS, also called the Spanish donut was SUPER!!!! Fried to perfection, served with a super sauce and tasted unbelievable!!!! The margaritas (non alcoholic that is)  that they serve here are superb, my favorite being the Kiwi, while the lime and strawberry are not far behind.

Food here is good, but is certainly not Mexican or TexMex enough for me. I think there are enough Mexican and TexMex dishes that our population will enjoy without diluting it with fusion and my quest for decent Mexican in Chennai continues!!! But the Churros and the Margaritas here have no competition as yet!!! The margaritas are priced around Rs 75, the main courses between Rs 200 and Rs 325, and the desserts around Rs 100.

Mr Prem, the owner acknowledges that his aim was not to serve Mexican, but to be the best Tex Mex in town. In that sense, I think he will be getting there soon if he continues to make sure that his expertise in this cuisine is translated every time the chef cooks the meal!!!! 

Food 7/10

Ambiance 7/10

Service 7/10

Price 7/10

Texas Fiesta is located on Shafee Mohammed Road, the road bang opposite Fruit Shop on Greme's Road, Egmore.

As you get to the new Coffee Day in Egmore (opp Apollo Children's hospital, further down the road from Movenpick Ice creams), you cannot help notice a bull horn sign leading to the first floor above the Coffee Day! A bull's horn rarely depicts anything other than Mexican or Texmex and this one is no different.

The first floor leads to a small place with simple interiors and pictures of ranches and cowboys in an attempt to give you some 'Mexican touch', but the striped tables (although very pretty) give away the fact that the place is not as serious about Mexican food!

Food is good, though it is at best 'Inspired by Mexican or Texmex'. It was too hot to be called Tex Mex and certainly quite far away from authentic Mexican. As the food arrives, you cannot help but think that the owners have considered Chennaites to have absolutely no knowledge of food. Consider this - you ask for salsa and you are given a small bowl of chopped onions. The 'Ranch' dip that they give you is actually Thousand Island salad dressing, sour cream was Nestle Dahi whipped up and definitely not sour!!!!!!!!!!!!

Food tastes good, mind you! We had a cheese quesadilla, a chicken burito, a chicken fajitas and a couple of non alcoholic margaritas. I am not too sure if they serve fajitas anywhere without a tortilla, but here they do. I will certainly go back here as the food is very good, tasty and with decent portions, but I just wish their salsa is salsa and the sour cream, sour!

Portions were good, prices were good and service was very good! Names were wrong, food is only Mexican inspired!

Food 6/10
Ambiance 6/10
Price 6/10
Service 6/10

Mexican Fiesta is located above the Egmore Coffee Day, further down Movenpick Ice creams (on the road opp to Fruit Shop on Greme's Road!