Banana Leaf

I missed the conversation topics for this day as I was remiss in blogging on time. I know, most of the conversation were centered on PIM II problems in the office as it began UAT with US Foods.

The group that went to lunch included Mimi, Maidette, Chay, Rene, Gentley and me. We chose Rockwell Center as it's been a while since we last had our lunch there. And I know for a fact, that Mimi will go shopping for her costume dress for their upcoming Maryknoll reunion sometime early September, hence, the choice of Rockwell.

While we were strolling towards Banana Leaf, I saw this red and yellow bread in The Kitchen. The Kitchen is a gourmet shop that sells deli, cheeses, spreads and breads. The red and yellow bread is a reminder of our youth. Bakers don't make these nowadays. While I gawked at my new find, everyone went to crowd around me and imagined the good ole days with this bread. I was hesitant to buy one, although, I really like to have one, as it's priced overly expensive. A bag of the duo bread, in red and yellow, would cost Php70.00. Little did we know that Maidette had purchased a bag as she loved the bread so much she just can't help herself not to buy one now.

Maidette had opened the bag and shared the bread with everyone. We agreed, the bread tasted great and very much like what it used to be. It's like the comfort food of youth and almost heaven. We do remember how we used to run to a neighborhood shop or baker to purchase one, and it was so cheap way back then. We emptied half of the bread in the bag as we settle in Banana Leaf.

Banana Leaf is an Asian Cafe. It serves curry dishes, both Singaporean & Malaysian dishes, all influenced by its Indian heritage. Naturally, most of its offerings are on the spicy side. The roti channai is always the favorite together with an order of any of its chicken, beef or seafood curry. Today we ordered the steamed hainanese chicken, the beef curry, the adobong kangkong (water spinach), the yangchow fried rice and the roti channai. I had the sweet lemon grass tea to complement my meal.

The hainanese chicken is served with dips of ginger, hoisen sauce and soy sauce. As an unadulterated cuisine, meaning, the chicken is steamed by itself with no more than ginger and shallots, it was easy to the pallete and enhanced when the chicken was freshly dressed. It tasted superbly and everyone seemed to agree. The beef curry, however, came with a lot of extenders. The curry sauce was good, but the beef was wanting. It came with a lot of sweet potato chunks just to volumize the serving. But, the curry sauce had another purpose, as the dip for the roti bread. No restaurant can seemed to bastardize the adobong kangkong as no matter how one cooked it, the kangkong will turn out well. It is so versatile as a vegetable and loaded with vitamins and nutrients too.

We had a good lunch, although, Gentley was half expecting to get the last round of order for roti channai. The kitchen was not able to deliver it on time, it was decided, it's not prudent to wait for it any longer. It costed me Php220.00 for that lunch.

While Mimi shopped for her dress, the rest of us went to Rustan's Supermarket. I went to purchase some fruits and carrots. I felt like my cholesterol's building up and pushing my blood pressure to abnormally high side, I need to go on a healthy diet. I got myself some Fuji Apples, Yellow Pears, Mandarin Ponkan Oranges and almost a kilo of bright orange carrots. I need to prepare some carrot-apple juice in the house soon.

Alvin drove us to lunch, as always.