Tacos and enchiladas are ubiquitous in the States, but here in Indonesia, the Mexican cuisine has yet to infiltrate the local culture’s tastebuds. Fortunately, nested at one of the hottest food plazas in town, Hacienda stood out from the rest of the stalls all the while my belly was yearning for some jalapeño peppers.
It was a semi-formal date night to celebrate one of our monthiversaries. While the waiters warned us before we stepped beyond the threshold, cautioning, “portions here are huge,” Stanley and I easily gobbled these delicious platefuls to the last bean. How can we not finish when each of these scrumptious dishes was still two-thirds of the standard american serving?
Burrito
Topping off Hacienda’s traditional Mexican selections, the burrito was beyond being true to its original taste, partly because my parents created my belly to be quite obsessed with melted cheese (and I’ve never eaten a burrito with so much cheese as in this one). I love that the flour tortilla wasn’t as thick as the usual grab-and-go wraps you get on convenient stores, but I wish Hacienda does its menu justice by providing one more burrito to fill in the plural noun written on its carte du jour. Just as it says, this burrito is a hotchpotch of generous signature stuffings, including mashed beans, fresh pico de gallo and salsa, dollops of sour cream and guacamole, as well as those jalapeño peppers I was craving for.
Fajitas de Pollo
Another first on the list, Hacienda’s fajitas is well worth the chock-full bites, although it can get pretty messy. If you’re a fan of DIYs, this is your palate.
Open one of the two large tortillas on your palm. Dig handfuls of each different filling, as much of each to your liking, and transfer your handfuls to your open tortilla. Bundle up the tortilla as tidy or slovenly as you’d like, and finally, gobble each bite of the crafty wrap as if it’s your last. I personally favored the mushy cheese-glazed red beans (obviously … so soft it’s titillating my tongue), guacamole, sour cream, the Mexican rice, and those large slices of onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Stanley forked those lean sautéed chicken breast cuts to clean off the palate.
Banana Rum Salsa
As for our postres, we opted for the banana salsa lacquered with dark rum. Also, hidden underneath the tough cookie and whipped cream sits a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I love the luscious combination the rum-based sauce with the natural sweetness of starch, along with artificial sugars in the ice cream.
But I don’t enjoy the cookie. Even though it helped adding a hard texture to this feathery dessert, it was one rocklike cookie too hard to slice with just a tiny dessert spoon.
Nevertheless, it was one memorable date night to kill two birds with one stone: One loving couple endures, and two hungry bellies appeased. Cheers for jalapeños!
HACIENDA Mexican Bar & Grill
Plaza Senayan Arcadia, Unit X 105
Jl. New Delhi No. 9, Pintu I Senayan
Jakarta Selatan 12170
(021) 5790 1469
Visit Facebook page at Hacienda Mexican Bar & Grill Jakarta
www.haciendajakarta.com
Hours:
Happy Hours 03:00pm – 07:00pm
S-Th 11:30am – 12:00am
F-Sa 11:30am – 02:00am
♥
Muchaluva,
Stace.
