Ten fucking dollars.

[yrmencyn]

That's how much the buffet cost at Banana Leaf, a vegetarian South Indian restaurant on Bethel between Olentangy River Rd. and Kenny Rd.  And it weren't no half-assed buffet, neither.  When we sat down, the nice man in the argyle sweater came over and offered us our choice of mango, rose, or salt lassis, "all you want!"  Then the woman behind the little cookstand brought over some puris.  And some more puris.  And then more appetizery chaat items, seven in all.  Again, you want more?  You can have more.  (By the way: the green chutney was so much sharper than any I've had before.  I know this sounds minor, but I likes me a good green chutney, and this was definitely noteworthy.)  Now, pay attention: this is only appetizers, still.  I was starting to feel full, and I hadn't yet picked up my gigantic metal thali to go play at the buffet. 

Banana Leaf has two buffets a day, lunch and dinner, with a different set of dishes at each one.  Everything is pretty much uniformly delicious, and if you're mostly familiar with northern Indian food -- if you're not sure, you probably are -- this will be an exciting change of pace.  And the nice man in the argyle sweater will keep offering you dosas.  Did I mention the dosas are made fresh and delivered to you at table?  And are scrumptious?  Well, they are.

Banana Leaf isn't the only vegetarian south Indian restaurant in town -- there's Dosa Corner on Kenny at Old Henderson, and Udipi Cafe up on Dublin-Granville -- but of those three this is the one I've enjoyed the most.  The flavors were out-of-this-world fresh and bright, the proprietor very friendly, the decor pleasant and light -- and did I mention it was only ten fucking dollars?

Banana Leaf Restaurant
816 Bethel Rd.
(in the Olentangy Square strip mall, behind the giant neon building otherwise known as Johnny B.'s)
www.bananaleafofcolumbus.com (We have no idea what the prices on their online menu are for, by the way.  Maybe take-out?)

Also, a totally non-reviewy sidenote.  The customers there were hilarious.  Remember, this is Valentine's Day.  So we had three white couples (a gay couple, a lesbian couple, a straight couple) and three Indian families.  What can we say, apparently queer folk like to celebrate their love with vegetarian Indian food.

Comments

[rnbowpixy.livejournal.com]

Ravi's parents are from a South Indian region (Andhra Pradesh, if I remember right) and they make AMAZING FOOD. His mom is seriously such a good cook. I drool just thinking of her food. Which she has promised me recipes for!

As an aside, we should go eat at Banana Leaf WHEN ERIN AND I COME VISIT!!!

[whisperwheel.livejournal.com]

Awesome :-) Glad you guys had fun! (I thought Kevin boycotts Valentines day..?)

[atropos333.livejournal.com]

Oooh... that sounds delicious. I will have to try and twist Kavi's arm a bit to go sometime. Typically she is slightly resistant to going out for Indian food on "it's like eating at home" grounds. Fair enough, especially when you factor in that her parents are phenomenal cooks. I fully intend to raid their recipe boxes. That being said, sounds like a refreshing change of pace for a whitebread like me.

Good find.

[lucki-dog.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. did not particularly enjoy Udipi my last time there, but all you can drink lassis included *yum* ... salt though?

Perhaps I just don't care for south Indian. I do much enjoy the rich flavors of Punjab though.

[yrmencyn.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I find the difference between Udipi and Banana Leaf to be REALLY big. Maybe it's just what I happened to order at Udipi, but they seem to focus more on the savory items, where BL has a nice balance of savor with other sweet, sour, and spicy elements.

And yeah, salt. Americans don't tend to be big fans.

[theapplepicker.livejournal.com]

As many lassis as you want???? And puri upon puri?

Man, I'm ready to eat there.