Monday, May 16, 2011

Singapore's Banana Leaf

So, one of the things we do as traveling gypsy dancers is to reciprocate the host by buying them dinner. It's customery, not a mandatory, but either way, I love breaking bread w/ my hosts. This is where some good story telling happens and more insight in your hosts than someone letting you crash at their place.

After the hot dog, we needed something tamer to our stomach, so by recommendation, we went to The Grove, which apparently American Idol was filming, so there were tons of people there. By we were just cutting thru to get to the Farmers Market. That's the original part of the farmers market I remember when I visited there when I was little.
Anyway, my hosts recommended Singapore's Banana Leaf, and to be honest, I haven't had any real Malay/Indonesian/Singaporean food for so long that I'll take it wherever I can get them. This place is interesting because they combined those 3 cultures as well as Indian in the mix. While that's not dominate, it does play w/ the rest of the menu nicely.

The picture above is the Indian Roti Paratha, which is the grilled thin bread and dip in the vegetarian curry sauce. I will say the bread was not greasy as some Indian bread can be. And the curry sauce was by no means spicy, just a little for taste.
This is Mee Gerong, which is stir fry noodle with chicken. I will say that the chicken was try and almost wished that I had done tofu instead. But the egg noodle had just enough grease to make it taste good.

One thing I didn't get a photo of, but you must try, is the Indoneisan Chendol, that is really a dessert more than drink. It's coconut milk based, it has crushed ice, chendol beans (which is sweet), and palm sugar syrup, and between all that, they have 3 colors, and you're supposed to mix them all up and drink. It just brings back childhood memory, that's what I used to get when I was little in the Indonesian restaurant. Of course, what would make it just perfect, would be the Indonesian dessert... hey, a girl can dream, right?!

Singapore's Banana Leaf
The Original Farmers Market
6333 3rd Street
Fairfax & 3rd Street, stall #122
Los Angeles, CA
323-933-4627
http://www.singaporesbananaleaf.com

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