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2011-05-14
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It didn't pare up to the expectations I had of this dining group, since I think Habibi is quite a good restaurant. The decor was nice, the orange hue reflected off from the candle light was warm and fuzzy, but unfortunately the open doors meant that the air-con escaped quicker than it was being pumped out, and the passing traffic drowned out our conversation. Why people like to eat on street level restaurants on Wyndham is beyond me sometimes. The waiter was kind enough to close the door a littl
The menu was fairly limited, with 3 salads (raita, banana chat, arabian i.e. mixed salad), a few appetizers like samosa and pakore, a selection from the tandoori oven (mostly chicken, 2 lamb dishes and a vegetable skewer), and a few recognizable mains like chicken masala, rogan josh. There was biryani rice with a choice of chicken or lamb, and naan came either as plain, kashimir (with dried nuts), garlic and butter.
The poppadoms were a little soft and lacked the crunchiness, probably coz the weather was so humid, but the tamarind chutney and the mint chutney were both very nice, one sweet and thick, the other had a good spicy kick. The food came in a random order, so the raita ended up with the naan bread towards the end. The raita was particularly thick and the slithers of cucumber were there if you looked hard, but I couldn't taste much of the chili and spice, and the coriander came only as garnish on the top of the rather-small-bowl. The lamb was alright except the sauce was oily rather than a thick curry sauce. The naan was thin and limping, and there was no garlic taste to be had save for a layer of oil on top.
The mixed vegetable skewers lacked flavour and we had to pile on the chutney and raita to wash it down.
The samosa was pretty crusty on the outside and tasted a day old.
Drinks are not cheap, but thank goodness it was happy hour and 50% off. I guess I'm not used to eating in LKF with matching prices anymore, since there are so many better places around for much better food. But it's a Groupon coupon, so it didn't hurt to try (but it still came up to $200 a head).Post
