Greg Yu

Of all the places i haven't eaten in QC, @habanerokitchenbar was one of them. Long lines and a wait time of around 3 hours initially deterred me (again), but we decided to take the risk given that people were raving about the place.

I was ready to get frustrated that the food wasn't good enough for the wait.

But it was.

We ordered the not so special dishes as i wanted to taste those that really weren't their A+ game. The smokey tapa steak was definitely smokey and did not look like tapa. It was more of a delightful chunk of real corned beef. A bit dry, but incredibly soft with so much flavor. The other dish was just the sardines pasta, which was cooked al dente and had a generous serving of slightly spicy sardines.

We actually saw some of the other tables ordering their specials, and boy were they mouth-watering. Makes me wonder why i didn't go the normal route.

Will we come back? If we get another 3 hours of waiting time to spare, yes. Would i recommend the place to people who are willing to brave the line? Definitely.