I'm a sucker for tex-mex food and yes we should call it tex-mex because what we are served in restaurants that call themselves 'Mexican' is actually not authentic Mexican food at all. "Tex-Mex" is used to describe a localized version of Mexican cuisine. It is common for all of these foods to be referred to as "Mexican food" in Texas, other parts of the United States, and some other countries. In other ways, it is Southern cooking using the commodities from Mexican culture.
La Hoya a relatively new restaurant opened in Gandaria City is definitely a tex-mex eatery. The menu offers the usual choices that you get in most tex-mex joint plus a few interesting fusion concepts including a tex-mex take on pasta. However, generally I stick to what I like. Nachos to start with because they are just the perfect starter food that you can nibble at and have fun scooping all the devilishly delicious bits up into your mouth. Then for main course it's chicken tacos(crispy) for me and beef tacos(soft) for my husband. The nachos were good. They came with a chilli con carne on top and the meat was full of flavour and a nice addition to regular nachos. On the side of the nachos were some salsa and extra cheese sauce. You can never have too much cheese sauce on those nachos! Then came my chicken tacos. These were quite interesting. Firstly there was shredded pineapple on the top which I ended up scooping off because it wasn't really sweet or soft but a little sour and it didn't enhance any of the taco flavour at all. There were plenty of veggies and a good portion of shredded chicken inside. The flavouring of the chicken was not quite to my liking. It was not spicy or rich but was more bland. I was a little disappointed. I like my tex-mex bursting with flavour and this just didn't compare to what I am used to. There were some small side dishes of salsa, sour cream and guacamole but no other accompaniments like Mexican rice or refried beans.
The restaurant interior is quite posh and if you didn't see the sign you might be mistaken into thinking it was more of a fine dining place. Again, I'm a bit of a sucker for the whole package and when I hit my tex-mex restaurant I want to feel like I've stumbled onto the set of a movie. Corny, I know but hey, to each their own right? I like all the trinkets and decor to tie in with the tex-mex concept of the restaurant. It creates a whole dining experience for me. Otherwise I end up feeling a little deprived. So, I'm on the fence as to whether I'll be back here again. Maybe if they hang up a few sombreros?
Restaurant interior
Nachos tejanos
Beef soft tacos
No comments:
Post a Comment