Banana Leaf - Blog

 After the two successfully flourish outlets at Lake Market area and Sector 5 Mr. Rajesh the owner of Banana Leaf launches his 3rd outlet at Bhawanipur. It was 6 minutes walking from Ashutosh College of Jatindas Park just next lane from Bhawanipur Police Station. Banana Leaf serves us pure South Indian foods which were cooked homemade style and served 100% fresh.

Ambience was classy. Restaurant was dark green themed with comfortable sitting arrangement. Hospitality was very impressive. Owner was very humbled and polite man he was very friendly and his staff was well behaved and helpful. Service was in time and presentation was classy. Price was totally worthy.

With lots of south indian dishes we tried couple of drinks with them which were reviewed below -

 * Lassi - Amazed to see that Cooks who trained to make south indian snacks are making a Lassi which giving the flavor if true punjab. Lassi was prepared perfectly. It was thick, balanced sweet and tastes delicious.

* Buttermilk - Different from Rajasthani Buttermilk but still tastes heavenly. It wasn't think instead it was watery but still giving the full natural flavour of buttermilk with spiciness of chillies, chatpatapan of chat masala and aroma of coriander leaves. Loved it. Highly recommended.

Let's see what we eat that day -

* Mini Idli - first dish they served us was mini Idli. Button sized soft mini idli's swimming in semi spicy sambhar served with tasty coconut chatni tastes heavenly delicious. I had it few years before when my mom cooked it and unbelievably taste was 99.99% same.

* Sada vada - Two decent sized cashew and raisin stuffed crispy vendu bada's served with sambhar and coconut chatni tastes true south indian. Very tasty and perfectly made.

After that they served us 5 different dosa's one by one -

* Cheese Dosa - The first dosa they served us was cheese Dosa. It was classic karnataka style prepared dosa coated with cheddar cheese. It was so cheesy and tastes heavenly delicious. No doubt why it was their hot selling dish. It was served with sambhar and coconut chatni but we prefer to try it without them.

* Mysore Dosa - Classy Mysore style cooked dosa which was crispy and golden brown from outside and soft & buttery from inside coated with Chilly Garlic chatni which was prepared with red chillies, Garlic and salt tastes so delicious. Spicy and very tasty. Served with sambhar and coconut chatni. Personal favorite. Recommended.

* Pepper Masala Dosa - Crispy, Crunchy and thin Long dosa served with very less spicy masala tastes amazing. Served with sambhar and coconut chatni.

* Masala Dosa - Pure chennai style dosa with perfect thickness and colour served with aloo masala tastes pure South Indian. Served with sambhar and coconut chatni.

* Rava Dosa - there's a story behind how dosa made from semolina become the part of south indian menu. One's a time there is total shortage of rice in Kerala then a farmer prepare a dosa from semolina and this dosa was liked by all and become the part of dosa menu of every house. Rava Dosa was crispy and crunchy prepared with semolina. This was stuffed with fried onions and coated with cheddar cheese. Very delicious in taste served with sambhar and coconut chatni.

* After that they serve us uttapam platter in which there are 5 different mini uttapam - Onion uttapam, Tomato uttapam, Cashew uttapam, Aloo masala uttapam and White Mustard Chatni uttapam. All were very tasty and my personal favorite was White Mustard Chatni uttapam it was spicy, crunchy and amazingly delicious.

* In food last thing we tried was Puliyogare Rice. in many south indian households, puliyogare is very common breakfast or lunch receipe. basically, puliyogare is mix of left over rice and spices with tamarind and jaggery. these would result in a combination of sweet and tangy rice. They serve kerala papad with it. You can have it as it is or prepare a onion and tomato raita with it.

we ended our Anna style dine in with a delicious dessert.

* Rava Kesari - Rava kesari or kesari bath is a south Indian sweet that is often made for festive occasions or special days. There are many variations of this like pala kesari, banana kesari, pineapple kesari, mango kesari, semiya kesari or fruit kesari. The term kesari means saffron. Rava kesari is made with semolina, sugar and a pinch of saffron or food color. It is often served with simple festival meals as a dessert. It is as well offered to Gods as naivedyam or prasadam during navratri and other festivals and even during regular friday puja. This rava kesari is made without any unhealthy food color, a fat pinch of saffron has been used. If you do not have saffron, you can use natural edible color.

It was a foodie Meetup Organised by Owner, Shahbaaz Zaman (foodZpah) and Vaibhav Jain (The Suavy Glutton) . My personal favorite South Indian meal dine in place. A must try outlet. Highly recommended to all.