The same day as Shiva's, I went with my parents to another local Malaysian place for dinner. Just an FYI, but I currently have this rule of only one lunch and one dinner out a week. This dinner won't count as I made the exception that eating out with family does not count. Really though, I made that exception because if family dinners were included, my history of restaurants visited would be pretty short. Whenever I eat out with them we go to the same blasted restaurants every time. Since I live to eat, there is no way I can be restricted to such a small selection of restaurants :-p. My friends are definately a little more adventurous making the diversity of the food displayed on this site possible ^_^.
The business here is booming. If you come here during a peak time, expect to wait half an hour or so. Perhaps make reservations before coming. The tables are placed really close together so there really isn't much room to move around, not quite as bad as Tablespoons but still... The kitchen is open so everyone can see how the food is being prepared. I was going to take a picture of one of the chefs preparing a Roti Prati and I almost got a decent shot but the stupid auto focus wasn't working in the dim light and was quickly stopped by one of the managers. Apparently, they don't like people helping them advertise :-p. Or perhaps there are other...reasons...considering they only objected me taking pictures of the kitchen area... Okay, I'm not getting into this so let's just leave it at that. No need to worry though. This place IS clean.
Everytime we go to Banana leaf, we usually order the same food, and tonight was no exception. We started out with the appetizer, the Roti Prati. I think this place makes one of the better Roti Prati. Roti Prati, for those of you who do not know, is essentially a thin piece of tortialla along with a bowl of curry. You're supposed to tear the tortilla with your hands, dip it in the curry, then eat it. I like my curry pretty spicy, but it's not so here. I think I've been desensitized by all the Indian food I've eaten. However, they do make up for it with their nice, thin, and chewy "tortilla".
Second, we got the Pineapple Fried Rice. Really, I've had this so much, it's just...meh now. It's not bad, they give ample amounts of pineapple and the fried rice is sweetened just right. However, I've had this dish way too much so it's getting dull.
Third, we ordered the Pahd Thai. I used to be a really big fan of the Pahd Thai here, but for some reason now, they've made it wetter than I like. I like my Pahd Thai a little more dry. However, at Banana Leaf, the Phad Thai was like noodles drenched in ketchup. Not up to my standards.
Lastly was dessert. My favorite portion of the meal at this place as we always order the same thing. We got the Bobo Cha Cha, which is essentially coconut milk/water with yams, sweet tomatoes, corn, sago, and perhaps some other things. I love this dessert, served chilled or warm. This night, we ordered it warm as it was cold out. The only thing that would make this dessert any better would be to add more yams and sweet potatoes to it. All in all though, it still wasn't that bad. It definately doesn't compare to the one I had in Singapore though where the temperature was a blazing 90 degrees and although the Bobo Cha Cha had the same ingredients there was much more substance and a mountain full of shaved ice which slowly melted as you ate into it. It was worth the flight over just to try it. Okay, maybe not. However, it's unfair to compare a dish served here with with a dish served in it's country of origin.
All in all, the food is pretty good, although not the best. I would definately recommend people to go to this place at least once just to try it. Personallly I like Nyonya a little better, but that's just my opinion.
Yelp
182 Ranch Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035
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