Anyway, after looking for volleyball shoes for my sister (any suggestions?) as well as new shoes for Yuri (he went another size up! again!), we got hungry and looked for a new place to eat.
Dear baby, you're so magastos.
Despite being in SM Lanang almost every week, we have barely tried all the restaurants. You see, we don't want to venture out from the aircon hehe (except for the Sky Garden). Aside from Vikings and Hukad, we have never really tried eating at restaurants at the Fountain Court.
But this particular Sunday was different. We needed to try out a different restaurant because the old folks were on a special diet. So we hopped from one restaurant to another. Unfortunately, none served dishes that they could eat!
We almost gave up and planned to go to Seagreen Cafe way across town when we came to Banana Leaf Asian Cafe. They have Hainanese Chicken! Yay!
I wasn't able to take decent photos of the interiors because a lot of people were already there (and it was not even 11am).
The interiors, sister included
Reading a popup book while waiting
I admired the details while we waited for the food.
Okay, first, all we ordered were chicken dishes because that's what the parental's diet allowed (damay-damay na). While I like chicken, it's not my favorite meat (pork is, hahaha).
Second, we only ordered three viands because my papa, who is our biggest eater, should not be tempted to eat more.
But I was still full from our lunch! Here's what we ordered:
Thai Pomelo Salad (P138)
My mama and I both love pomelo salad so this was a hit. I just hoped it was a tiny bit spicier. It wasn't spicy at all and the taste of the coconut milk can be "nakakaumay" without spice.
Chicken Satay (P138)
Oh we all loved this. The savory taste of the chicken goes perfectly with the peanut sauce. My only complaint was that it was "kulang" haha. We wanted to order more but we were already full.
Malaysian Style Deep-fried Chicken (P168)
My sister liked this mainly because she likes her chicken fried. Deep-fried, that is. Hehe. To me, while it tasted good, it tasted a bit ordinary. But the chicken was really tender and not tough at all so plus points for that! It also came with a yummy sweet chili sauce.
Half Hainanese Chicken (P298)
Okay, first, the chicken was small, but it turns out it was enough for 3 adults (2 of which were on a strict meal plan), 1 tween and 1 toddler. The taste is, well, it tasted like chicken. Nothing really extraordinary, but it was my favorite because it was, for the lack of a better description, fresh-tasting. I really haven't eaten Hainanese Chicken before (any suggestions on what other restaurants in the city serve this? #notafoodie) so I don't have a point of comparison. The dipping sauces that came with it, especially the sweet soy sauce, made the dish oh so delish!
And four fresh bukos! (P68 each)
We only usually drink water when we eat out to cut on our sugar intake, so we didn't order any drinks. But when we saw an elderly man from the next table order fresh buko juice, let's just say we were jealous! So we ordered four hehe. The humble buko is so delicious and refreshing, no?
Do you know who among us drank the most buko juice? In proportion to his body? No other than...
...Yuri!
First, he was drinking from my own coconut. I think he already drank a fourth of it when I asked Mama to sit beside him so that I could eat. But when Mama sat beside him, he drank Mama's buko juice! And he was drinking mine from time to time, too! I think he drank buko juice twice his weight hahaha. And yes, he finished Mama's, which was such a feat because my sister couldn't even finish hers. It was a lot!
Since Yuri loved buko juice so much, I transfered my sister's remaining juice to his Safe Sporter stainless steel tumbler. I'm not even ashamed hahaha.
Later on, his pee would overflow from his diapers and wet his pants. :-P
So overall, our dining experience at Banana Leaf was pleasant. All the servers were kind and friendly and helpful (maybe it pays to eat lunch early?). Yuri even said "bye" to them, which says a lot, don't you think? The seats were comfy, which is very important to us. Our food tasted good and even though we didn't order a lot, we were still full! (Maybe because we're on a diet at home? Haha!)
The best thing is that eating there is so affordable. For a meal shared between 3 adults, 1 tween, and 1 toddler, the total bill was only a little more than P1,100. Not bad! No wonder many eat there.
And we even got a 15% discount for paying with a BDO card - not considered utang since we immediately paid for it with cash afterward! Just to make that clear. Hihi. As I always say in my Finance Friday posts, credit cards are only tools for transaction, not genies. The amount is not a lot, I know, but when you accumulate the debt in your credit, ikaw lang talo.
So have you ever eaten at Banana Leaf?
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.
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