Food Blog | The Banana Leaf Kitchen Eco Botanic
Continuing along with my food adventures around Eco Botanic, today’s blog is on The Banana Leaf Kitchen! This is actually a restaurant that is part of the DCG Group (same group as Spice Kitchen & Marco Polo Bukit Indah).
Context: Came here for a dinner with my girlfriend. Full disclosure, am a NUMed (Newcastle University) student, so if you do mention it you get 25% of your total bill - I believe it doesn’t apply to all students though, but try your luck!
Is it Halal?
This is one of those restaurants that are either halal-certified, in the process of getting it, or is obviously halal, so they didn’t bother applying for it. Or at least so I believe, but do eat at your own discretion regarding this.
Where it Is
It is located in Eco Botanic, in the square of shops surrounding Eco Nest (the big apartment building in the middle. It isn’t on the inner square, but rather the outer square - along the same row as Eco Fitness and Toast House. It is right at the corner, but pretty easy to find.
Parking is aplenty and free, so it is pretty easy with regard to this (but not covered).
Address: 2, Jalan Eko Botani 3/2, 79100 Gelang Patah, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
Tel: 07-596 4747
Operating Hours
Daily: 11am - 11pm
What it Costs
One thing important to note if you are a big fan of this restaurant (or Marco Polo/Spice Kitchen for that fact) is that you can actually get the DCG Membership (3 years for RM290). You get a 25% discount at Banana Leaf Kitchen, 50% at the other branches and you get a lot of offers (like the RM35 dinner buffet promotion that I see on their FB page).
I’m not paid to say this, nor am I even a member, but it is worth considering if you do intend to eat here a lot.
My meal came up to a total of RM63.51 (~RM80 without the 25% student discount that I used). So we’re talking about around RM40 per person, and even I think that this is pretty steep (even with the 25% discount.
Me and my girlfriend shared a chicken curry (RM30), a crispy ladies finger (RM20) and an egg sambal (RM25) - with 2 white rice (RM3 each). There is also a 6% SST and a 10% service charge (which I guess comes in the form of the pappadam and water refills). All the prices I mentioned are before the discount was applied.
How it Tastes
Meh. I guess it’s best described like that. Quite frankly, this is a pretty steep price which is quite in line with the prices of something like 7 Spice (which I am a fan of).
The two of us actually ordered the chicken curry and the ladies finger before realising that the portions were on the smaller side, leading to the decision to add the egg sambal.
Starting with the curry chicken, I think this is the dish that was the most underwhelming. It is really creamy (almost overly so) and lacks the fragrance of a good curry that I like. Tastes definitely much more on the bland side, so this was a no from me.
The ladies fingers and egg sambal were fine in general, but even at those prices - RM20 and RM15 respectively, I find it a little hard to justify. Not going to deny though, the ladies fingers are pretty nice.
Star Rating
4.5/10. Falls under the not worth category for me. The curry was meh and everything else seems too pricey (especially if you consider the price without the discount).