Banana Leaf Asian Cafe at Promenade, Greenhills

On one of our Sunday family lunch outs, we decided to go to Greenhills Shopping Center.  We decided to eat at Teriyaki Boy in the Promenade Mall.  However, we were already seated for about 15 minutes and none of the staff were serving us.  They were just walking around and past us even though there were just a few patrons inside.  

We decided to transfer to another restaurant and we went to Banana Leaf Asian Cafe which was just a few steps away.  We were seated immediately and waited on by a very helpful staff.  The menu consisted of mostly Southeast Asian cuisine, some were familiar and others not so familiar.  We decided to get the ones we were not familiar with since the staff who was serving us helped with our orders.

The one that makes Banana Leaf different from the other restaurants is that you would actually eat on a banana leaf and not on a plate.  I told my sister in law that on one occasion that my friends and I met for  dinner in their Makati branch, I shredded part of my plate and it had to be changed.

We ordered the Vietnamese fried rice.  I was expecting it would be salty or sweet but it tasted just right and was actually really good.

We also had the Malayan Beef Rendang which is one of my favorites here in Banana Leaf.  It's beef  stewed in a sauce that's both sweet and spicy at the same time.  It is then covered with desiccated coconut.  I liked because the beef was so tender.

For some fish dish, we ordered the Tilapia fillet in Assam Sambal sauce.  We were warned by our server that the sauce is a bit spicy so we asked for a more moderate sauce.  It tasted like they used some sweet chili because it's not totally hot and spicy.  The fish was deep fried and crispy.

We also had Malayan Chicken Curry with Potatoes which tasted like, well, chicken curry.  There's really nothing special about this dish although it was also good.  It's just that we were expecting that it would have something different from the usual chicken curry you can get from a non-specialty cafe.

 My brother was so intrigued with the Stir Fried Chinese Turnip Cake with Beansprout and Chives so we decided to order it.  It was a great choice because it tasted good too.  The turnip cake had a very nice mouth fill, which is entirely different from tofu.

We all had a pleasant eating experience at the Banana Leaf Asian Cafe at the Promenade.  Good food, good service and also, the price is just right.  There still other great dishes that we could try if ever we come for lunch again.