Banana Leaf

1 to 8, Shubham Co op housing Society, Next to United Bank of India, Juhu Versova Link Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai - 53. Tel: 26239999/26709999/26289090

Cuisine: In their own words ‘Fine Veg Dining & Coffee House’

Valet Parking: Yes

The ambience;
The restaurant is spread over a spacious area and done up to resemble a stately home of South India with wooden rafters on the ceiling and gleaming pillars, giving it a very old world charm. Really well-done R K Laxman sketches adorn the length of the walls. There is a gorgeous mural of the Madurai temple on one wall with banana leaves and brass oil lamps flanking either side of it. I specially loved the fresh and vibrant green wall (exactly the color of a banana leaf). The tables are placed too close to each other with only a wire mesh separating some. Also, the restaurant was way too noisy! And adding to the cacophony of sound was the classical music blaring in the background.

Staff.
The waiters were a confused lot; the ones serving our table did not understand Hindi nor English nor gestures. And we had to wait awhile till we could get attention. The maitre de was helpful though. He suggested that we were ordering way too much for 3 people and helped us with the order. (That’s a different topic altogether that the dishes suggested by him were awful)

What we ate and drank;
Sweet Lassi (Rs 60) too thick.
Aam Panna( Rs 75) the overwhelming taste of jaljira masala hit us first (even after it was stirred well) it was way too thick for an Aam Panna I suspected ample green food color being used.
Paneer Gassi with Appams (Rs 175) didn’t taste remotely like gassi. I could only taste coarsely ground khus khus, which I am sure is NOT an ingredient used in a gassi. It almost tasted like paneer makhani.
Malabari Curry with Appams (Rs 175) thankfully the curry was delicious. But way too vibrantly red. Artificial food color used once again, I thought.
Appams (Rs 50) were leathery. Not fluffy and light, like appams should ideally be.
Hyderabadi Biryani (Rs 150 ) it was green! Probably didn’t want the color left over from the Aam Panna to go waste! And tasted anything BUT like a biryani, Hyderabadi or otherwise! Just green rice and vegetables tossed together.
The meal rounded off with a South India paan which was delicious.

The reason I mention the use of food color repeatedly is that I am allergic to it, red food color in particular, and I had a flaming allergic attack right after this meal, confirming my suspicions of food color being used liberally.

The meal, the ambience, and the service nothing worked for us. Reservation is a must. And even after you’ve reserved, expect to wait a while for your table. Without a reservation, expect to wait for an hour. And the options, for while you wait, are either standing on the footpath outside the restaurant or under the makeshift canopy in the verandah of the restaurant.