Part of our Cebu tour for our 98 year old grandmother is treating her around Ayala premises so she can sample different cuisines during her vacation. As agreed upon this week, we took her to Banana Leaf, an Asian fusion restaurant. The servers were prompt and polite, genuinely interested in giving her the best service they could provide even though the place was packed during lunch time.

 For starters, we had Thai Style pomelo salad, a fruity and nutty blend of grated coconut, pomelo and greens, a serving of Roti Canai, an Indian influenced flat bread that goes well as is. Once we were done, we ordered granny dearest a set meal of Hainanese Chicken, complete with chicken soup stock, slow broiled pieces of soft meat, Pad Thai, two hearty slabs of baby back ribs and a serving of black curry lamb.

Most of the orders here were somewhat of a disappointment, given the fact that many had coconut as an extender. The Black Curry Lamb didn't even have a hint of curry but just had tons of blackened coconut gratings cleverly hidden as "curry", and the pomelo salad, something we were sure that didn't have coconut cream now tasted awful because of it. The served ribs were so-so, assuming you were into over cooked meat with too much sauce in it. On the good side, the pad thai, the roti and the hainanese chicken were good orders, thankfully.

Banana Leaf, Ayala Center Cebu