It is actually our second time
dining in Banana Leaf Asian Cafe at SM Lanang Premier, and I should say, the
first time I had the taste of their sumptuous cuisine – I was hooked!
And so, the second time we had
the chance to have dinner there; I was inspired to write something about the
experience.
Banana Leaf has been receiving Philippine’s Best Restaurant Awards for many
years, no wonder why. They have branches at many establishments in the capital,
such as; Powerplant Mall, The Block, Greenhills Promenade, Greenbelt, TriNoma,
The Podium, as well as at Ayala Center in Cebu City. But they now have only one
company-owned branch in Davao City, one of their staff informed us, as their
previous franchises at Chimes and Abreeza Mall has been closed due to failure
of following standards.
I was impressed, knowing that
they give importance to their credibility without sacrificing good customer
experience.
Alright then, let’s go back to
dining. A female staff in a Malaysian costume welcomed us with a smile, and a kind
male waiter led us to our table. Banana Leaf had a comfy and cozy ambience
making you feel relaxed, with a slow and soulful music playing in the
background.
The menu consists of a variety of
Asian dishes – from Malaysian, Vietnamese, Indian and more. And real banana
leaves were placed on our table to serve as plates (hence, the restaurant name).
For starters, we ordered Roti Canai with Curry Sauce. This is a type
of Indian-influenced flatbread mostly found in Malaysia and Indonesia; it is
basically made of dough which contains oil or fat, water, flour and eggs that
can go with the choice of ‘dhal’ curry, mixed curry, sugar or condensed milk. For
this, I went with curry. It complements the palate as we are able to truly
taste the soft dough mixed with the spiciness of the curry. It’s really a good
appetizer for us.
Then we had Nasi Goreng Nanas; an Indonesian stir fried rice spiced up with chili,
garlic, sweet soy sauce and usually mixed with prawns, pineapple, eggs, and chicken.
Nasi Goreng is ranked as 2nd in CNN International’s “World’s 50 Most
Delicious Foods” in 2011. And I raise my spoon for that!
Next up, we ordered their Charcoal Grilled Sliced Pork Steak Thai
Style (needless to describe I guess, ha-ha), it goes with a kind of tangy
and chili type of sauce that combines well with the slightly sweet taste of the
grilled pork.
Last but not the least in the
dish list is the Deep Fried Squid
Flavoured in Homemade Spicy Garlic. I enjoyed chewing on the crunchy squid
strips with a spicy after-taste. Then in addition, my usual favorite Mango
Shake.
And that completed our wonderful
Asian dinner. So far, I can say that Banana Leaf is now one of my favorite
restaurants, as it did not fail me both on test (customer service) and taste
(dishes). And we are more than willing to try other stuff in their menu (heck,
we could try them all!).
Here’s what we had (Good for Two):
Roti Canai – Php 88.00
Curry Sauce – Php 30.00
Nasi Goreng Nanas – Php 168.00
Charcoal Grilled Sliced Pork
Steak Thai Style – Php 268.00
Deep Fried Squid Flavoured in
Homemade Spicy Garlic – Php 238.00
Fruit Shake – Php 75.00
Coke in Can – Php 59.00
____________________________________________________
TOTAL: Php 926 .00 
You may visit Banana Leaf Asian
Café at SM Lanang Premiere, fronting the well-known dancing fountains. They are
open from 10AM to 10PM Mondays thru Sundays.
For further information, here are their contact details:
Telephone Number: (82) 285-8333
Or Visit their website and other social media sites:
Website: http://bananaleaf.com.ph/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BananaLeafPH
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bananaleafph