Another trip to Banana Leaf

Never one to pass up a meal in Chinatown, we headed out to Banana Leaf for my second visit there. I was excited, because I really enjoyed my first Banana Leaf meal. We had a big party, and it's actually quite a good place for large groups. They have several large round tables there and where we were in the back, a slightly sectioned off area in front of the kitchen, perfect for groups who want a bit of privacy. We started off with some appetizers including roti canai, satay tofu, and a smattering of other random appetizers that I didn't know the names of. Point is, they were all good. This place is really good. I might even like it better than Penang now. There was a bunch of deep fried looking stuff. Those are my favorites. They came with several different dipping sauces, each of them fabulously tasty.


I really wanted a noodle soup dish, but it was just too hot outside for this option. So I went with the mee siam. with is a vermicelli noodle dish with tofu, shrimp, sprouts in a spicy thai chili sauce. It was very flavorful and barely spicy. I enjoyed it, but the shrimp tasted a bit odd, perhaps not so fresh.

Here is the mango shrimp. It has shredded mango cooked with shrimp, in a sweet and sour sauce served in mango shell. It's a very beautifully presented dish. You can also get this in chicken or fish varieties. This is a good dish, but it's not very exotic. The mangos make it a bit exotic, but it's basically a sweet and sour dish.

Here are a few of the clay pot dishes that were ordered. The first one looks like a green seafood curry. The second one is curry mixed vegetable in clay pot, which has a spicy curry broth. I quite enjoy these clay pot type of dishes. They're full and hearty and flavorful. But I don't eat them here, because they all have coconut milk in them. And you know how I feel about coconut milk in my curries.

This is the basil chicken, which is sliced chicken with carrot, green and red peper and scallion with a house special basil sauce. This is basically a thai dish, so for those of you who are afraid of what to order here, you can always go with this thai classic.

The service here is excellent. They're attentive and even with such a large party, it doesn't really take too long for your food to come out. They also gave us a complimentary dessert. I have no idea what it is, but it was a warm slightly sweet broth with little tiny tapioca balls (I think). I enjoyed it. And even though I was full, we still went to Capogiro afterwards. Yes folks, the addition still reigns strong.

Banana Leaf

1009 Arch Street

215-592-8288