My Mom was in town this weekend and Saturday was the only day that we were going to see her. Jeremy and I decided that we would take her to Banana Leaf, which is a Malaysian food restaurant in Milptas and very close to our place. We've only been twice but enjoyed it both times we've been there. Jeremy even took me there when he was trying to "woo" me :)
As an appetizer, we got the roti prata, which is an Indian bread that they serve in a cone shape with a side of curry sauce to dip in. I don't go to Malaysian places too often, but since I went to Layang Layang last week, I have to compare... I actually liked the roti and dipping sauce better at Layang Layang. The roti at Banana Leaf was a little too crispy for me because I like more dough-y, chewy parts than the thin crispy parts, and this one had too much crispy for me. We
also got Penang Poh Piah, which is a steamed spring roll in essence. It comes in an almost crepe-like or thin mushu rice paper type wrapper filled with all sorts of vegetables- carrots, egg, bamboo shoots, cucumber, cabbage, and a few more that escape me at the moment. It is served with I believe hoisin sauce and a little bit of a spicy sauce to give it a kick. I liked it but it was quite hard to eat because it wasn't cut into one bite pieces. It did take me back to my Singapore hawker center days though (of course at 3x the price)!
For our main dishes, we ordered Hokkien Char Mee (a new dish they offered), Banana Leaf Rice (comes with Redang Chicken), and a vegetable dish with sugar snap peas, shiitake mushrooms, onions, tofu, and a few other vegetables in an almost gravy-type sauce. We ordered an extra side of brown rice to go with all the strong flavors, and the brown rice was really good! The Hokkien Char Mee is a stir fry noodle dish which is almost black in color due to the special soy sauce mixtured they stir fry with. My Mom commented that the flavor wasn't as strong as it looks, but it was still pretty strong for me. Jeremy really liked it though!
The Banana Leaf Rice was I believe coconut flavored rice with a side of a few chicken pieces in a curry type sauce. It was also served on the side with a few boiled egg slices, cucumber slices, roasted peanuts, and a pickled vegetables mixture. Although I did not get the expected rice mixture wrapped in a banana leaf, the sauce as well as the rice were quite tasty. (I still liked the plain brown rice better!) My Mom called this "Malaysian curry rice' because it was served with eggs and pickled vegetables just like Japanese curry is done sometimes.
The vegetable dish was not what my Mom was expecting either because she expected a dry stir fried vegetable dish, and not a brothy/gravy vegetable dish. However, the flavor of the sauce was good, not overpowering, and the vegetables were cooked well. It wasn't too soft as some vegetables get when cooked and heated for too long. It definitely needed to be eaten with rice though, at least for me, so I'm glad we got the extra bowl!
Overall, we like this place still, even though I want to keep trying different things to find what I like the best :) Also we went on Saturday right before noon. That was the perfect time because it got PACKED right after us and the service got quite slow... other than that, we all enjoyed our food!
As an appetizer, we got the roti prata, which is an Indian bread that they serve in a cone shape with a side of curry sauce to dip in. I don't go to Malaysian places too often, but since I went to Layang Layang last week, I have to compare... I actually liked the roti and dipping sauce better at Layang Layang. The roti at Banana Leaf was a little too crispy for me because I like more dough-y, chewy parts than the thin crispy parts, and this one had too much crispy for me. We
also got Penang Poh Piah, which is a steamed spring roll in essence. It comes in an almost crepe-like or thin mushu rice paper type wrapper filled with all sorts of vegetables- carrots, egg, bamboo shoots, cucumber, cabbage, and a few more that escape me at the moment. It is served with I believe hoisin sauce and a little bit of a spicy sauce to give it a kick. I liked it but it was quite hard to eat because it wasn't cut into one bite pieces. It did take me back to my Singapore hawker center days though (of course at 3x the price)!
For our main dishes, we ordered Hokkien Char Mee (a new dish they offered), Banana Leaf Rice (comes with Redang Chicken), and a vegetable dish with sugar snap peas, shiitake mushrooms, onions, tofu, and a few other vegetables in an almost gravy-type sauce. We ordered an extra side of brown rice to go with all the strong flavors, and the brown rice was really good! The Hokkien Char Mee is a stir fry noodle dish which is almost black in color due to the special soy sauce mixtured they stir fry with. My Mom commented that the flavor wasn't as strong as it looks, but it was still pretty strong for me. Jeremy really liked it though!
The Banana Leaf Rice was I believe coconut flavored rice with a side of a few chicken pieces in a curry type sauce. It was also served on the side with a few boiled egg slices, cucumber slices, roasted peanuts, and a pickled vegetables mixture. Although I did not get the expected rice mixture wrapped in a banana leaf, the sauce as well as the rice were quite tasty. (I still liked the plain brown rice better!) My Mom called this "Malaysian curry rice' because it was served with eggs and pickled vegetables just like Japanese curry is done sometimes.
The vegetable dish was not what my Mom was expecting either because she expected a dry stir fried vegetable dish, and not a brothy/gravy vegetable dish. However, the flavor of the sauce was good, not overpowering, and the vegetables were cooked well. It wasn't too soft as some vegetables get when cooked and heated for too long. It definitely needed to be eaten with rice though, at least for me, so I'm glad we got the extra bowl!Overall, we like this place still, even though I want to keep trying different things to find what I like the best :) Also we went on Saturday right before noon. That was the perfect time because it got PACKED right after us and the service got quite slow... other than that, we all enjoyed our food!
