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Ten fucking dollars.
Feb. 14th, 2008 09:44 pmThat'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.
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.
