Banana Leaf - Davie St

The last time I went to Banana Leaf (the Denman location) was over a year ago, and I remember liking it a lot.  This morning, I remembered why I don't visit there very often, haha!  It wasn't even that spicy, but I guess I'm just not used to it and this morning, I'm paying for my sins from last night.

Almost exactly like our last visit, there were five of us and we got the tasting menu for $28 a heard.

We started off with the papaya and pineapple salad which was an assortment of greens, papaya, tomato, and pineapple.  I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I'm starting to find the vinaigrette dressings used in a lot of restaurants nowadays are all starting to taste the same.  When I was a kid, I only liked Thousand Islands, haha!  Anyway, the salad wasn't bad, but the dressing they used didn't stick to the salad very well, and I ended up with a pool of vinegar when I was done.

The next dish consisted of roti and deep fried squid.  I remember at the Demnan location, we got chicken satay and spring rolls, but here, we got 5 skewers (one per person) of satay separately and no spring rolls.  The roti came with a dish of curry dipping sauce, and the squid came with a sweet and spicy sauce that actually went very well with the squid.  It would have been nice to get more of this stuff, but we were pretty full in the end, so it all worked out.

The mussels turned out to be really small, and were pretty hard to open.  Not sure if this was a good thing because you're not supposed to eat shellfish that stay closed.  All of them were opened, but many were nearly closed, and took some effort to completely open.  The sauce tasted really good, but the freshness of the mussels has me concerned because at least two of us had a bit of stomach trouble this morning.  I didn't ask my friend if her's was due to the spiciness of the food, or other reasons.

After we finished the appies, our server (at least I think she was our server...there was another guy bringing out the dishes as well, but that's all he did - not particularly friendly either) actually cleared our plates, wiped the table down and replaced all our cutlery, napkins and plates.  Our water glasses were never empty, and this was all done with a pleasant smile.  The mains consisted of Rendang Beef, seafood and green beans, stir fried green beans, and black cod.

The Rendang Beef was a bit spicier than the other dishes, and I have to admit, is not one of my favourite dishes.  The beef was too lean for my liking, just like at the Denman location.  I'll have to remember next time not to order this one if we go off the sampler menu.

The gulai scallops and prawns was a bit of a disappointment as well. The prawns were nice and big, but the scallops were obviously sliced from one large scallop to about a Loonie thickness.  Also, some of the green beans were completely raw, which was kind of strange because some of the beans from the same dish were completely cooked.

The stir fried green beans were good on their own, some of them were still slightly raw, which made me wonder if this is just the way Malaysians to it.  The stir friend green beans were light years better than the ones that came with the curry seafood assortment.  

The black cod was pretty good.  The fish is so awesome on it's own, you'd have to be a complete muppet to screw this one up.  But thankfully, Banana Leaf did a good job of enhancing the flavour of an already very tasty fish.  The cod was probably pan fried at one point, resulting in a slightly crispy skin, and served with a caramalized garlic and onion sauce that was sort of sweet (I didin't detect much ginger as with the Denman location).  I ate everything, including the skin from my fish (and other people's as well, haha!).  I don't understand people that don't eat the skin, it's the best part!  Same thing goes for chicken skin as well...it baffles my mind when someone has fried chicken and throws away the skin......heretics.

By the time desert rolled around, I was quite full.  Not sure if it was because I ate more than other people, or there was just a lot of food (probably the first, haha!).  The deep fried banana was served with a sauce that reminded me of the sauce found on mitarashi dango, a sort of sweet soy suace glaze.  Can't go wrong with deep fried bananas, ice cream and syrup, but I ate too much througout the meal, so I didn't really get to enjoy desert comfortably.

The highlights of my meal were the roti, the sauce from the mussels, the quid and the cod.  I think for $28, it might be slightly out of my comfort zone for what I was getting, even though I was stuffed.  I think it was probably just because I ate more than my fare share.  The service was great from one person (forgot her name - Tinami, Tamini?) but less than stellar from the other.  Would I go back?  Probably not unless it was the choice of the group. 

Banana Leaf on Denman

Banana Leaf on Denman is a great little eatery that seemed to get packed pretty quick at around dinner time. It could have been the good weather but more likely, it was because this place had really great food, and exceptionally good customer service.

I managed to get parking right out front.  There's pay parking in effect pretty much everywhere downtown, but for some strange reason, there's no meter in effect in front of this place.

We got the 8 course tasting menu for 2 ($28 per person), even though there were 4 of us.  The first to come was the papaya and pineapple salad, which I didn't get a picture of.  It was pretty light, but a good starter that got our appetites going.  Next came a dish with a variety of items including deep fried squid, roti, chicken satay, and spring rolls and three dipping sauces.

The Rendang beef was pretty good, but I prefer my beef brisket a bit less lean.  As far as curry beef is concerned, but all-time favourite for curry beef is still Mui Garden.

We added a Nasi Goreng which was absolutely incredible.  Someone told me it was just ketchup fried rice, but it's way more than just that.  Anyway, no words do it justice, you'll just have to try it. 

The Curry Chicken was a bit lean for me as well.  Not a big fan of chicken breast in any type of curry, simply because it's more often than not, all dried out in the middle.  Chicken thigh would probably have been a better cut, but health-conscious west coasters would frown on that.  This dish came with okra, which I'm no fan of, but overall, the taste of the curry in this dish was sensational. 

Alaskan Black Cod in caramalized ginger and garlic sauce.  If you're a fan of black cod, this dish will make you happy.  Usually, I prefer my black cod with miso, or a simple soy sauce, cooking wine, and sugar mix, but the complex sauce that this dish came with worked out really good.  The sauce on it's own was a bit overwhelming, but it went very well with the fish. 

Green Beens stir fried with shrimp.  A relatively simple dish, a little spicy, but good. 

Abundance of seafood in gulai sauce.  It came with scallops, clams, mussells and okra.  The shellfish were very tender, the okra was nasty (my persoanal opinion....other's liked it) and the curry sauce was defintely influenced by the seafood in it.  I ended up spooning up whatever sauce had remained.

Deep fried banana with ice cream.  Our server - Winnie, really went the extra mile with us.  She somehow overheard that it was someone's birthday and gave him a complimentary drink.  She changed our plates at least twice throughout our meal, and wiped down the table before desert was served.  The food at Banana Leaf - Denman was incredibly good, and our server completed the rest of the experience.  She made sure the food came in a steady succession, and took the time and care to add a few touches here and there for the birthday boy.  I would most definitely go back to this location, and would recommend it to anyone.