Christmas Lunch 2011 at Banana Leaf Restaurant, Canberra

This year the family decided to opt out of the traditional Christmas Day cook-up, instead choosing to dine out at a restaurant for our Christmas lunch. We wanted to eliminate all stress of cooking up a storm and then the washing up later on. Everyone could enjoy themselves and each others company instead of worrying weeks in advance about hosting lunch at home.

Banana Leaf was our third option after the two popular hotels in Canberra were fully booked out for Christmas Lunch buffet. Despite that Christmas was just 3 weeks away, we were able to secure a booking for 11 adults, 1 kid and 2 babies. There is no full pre-payment required as the restaurant does not want to make it an obligation to turn up. Its either you like their food and pay on that day, or you just don't dine there at all.

The Christmas Lunch Menu as below: There are 4 options for the main meal. They were also able to offer a kid's menu, which consisted of Chicken Snitzel with chips and ice cream for dessert.

 Chilli & Lime Marinated King Prawn and Tasmanian Smoked Salmon wrapped lobster terrine

Roasted coconut and carrot soup

Passionfruit and black pepper sorbet

Main meal option 1 - Lamb cutlets

Main meal option 2 - Oven roasted Christmas turkey with Sri Lankan spices

Main meal option 3 - Grilled Barramundi

Gin and Raisin Panacotta

Estate Range Shiraz 2008 (we ordered 2 bottles)

Lily's comments: Good. Service was a bit slow as expected as it was Christmas day. The entrees were overall delicious. The main meals are of a mixed bags review. The grilled barramundi was very delicious and the fish cooked to perfection - not too tough nor too tender. There are 3 cutlets in the lamb option - 2 ppl out of 3 that ordered this main commented that one of the cutlets had quite a bit of fat in it, but not the other 2 cutlets which were very tender. The roasted turkey was a disappointment as the turkey was quite tough.  Overall, it was still enjoyable. We had been to this restaurant a couple of times before and the advice here is to stick to the traditional Sri Lankan cuisine such as Chicken Bryani, Fish Curry and etc as it can't go wrong. Although a few times, the pappadums served were not fresh.

Masa Japanese Restaurant

24/12/2011 - Dinner at Masa Japanese Restaurant

As usual, Masa offers a speciality menu of the day and their standard menu.

We ordered the Grilled Salmon cooked in miso sauce from the speciality menu.
From the standard menu, we ordered the Agedashi tofu steak, deep fried soft shell crab, deep fried white bait, prawn tempura and a plate of tuna & salmon sashimi. We also had miso soup.

Masa Restaurant

Deep fried soft shell crab with a light dipping sauce.

Agedashi tofu steak topped with strips of seaweed.

Grilled salmon cooked in miso sauce.

Deep fried white bait.

Tempura prawn.

Tuna and salmon sashimi.

Miso soup

Lily's comments: Excellent. As usual, the service and quality of food is outstanding. It was Christmas Eve, we booked at the last minute and was still able to get a table for two by the window. Mr Shinji has hired an extra helper in the kitchen. Masa opens from Wed to Sunday for dinner only.

Lat-Dior African Eatery - Enmore, Sydney

22/12/2011 - Dinner at Lat-Dior African Eatery

I have been craving for African cuisine since my last visit to La Kilimanjaro at Newtown quite awhile ago. As LK seems to have closed down, I wanted to search if there was any other African eatery around the viccinity of Newtown. My search showed Lat-Dior African Eatery which had a similar menu to LK.

Entree:
Beans with African herbs.


African Flat Bread - the texture is similar to crepe.


Main:
Yassa - boneless chicken marinated for hours in African spices.


Sossou-Sipakh: Prawns steamed with fresh tomato and mild African spices.


Beverage - Ginger drink.



Total cost for 2  = $45

Ratings
Food quality = 6/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 6.5/10
Value for money = 8/10
Service = 7/10

Lily's comment: Good. The dishes are reasonably priced where main meal ranges between $10 to $13. The entree is about $6. The portion should be sufficient for 2 people. The deco is simple and a couple of big posters of beautiful African woman are hung on the wall. It is not a spacious place, so one would probably have to wait to get in, as it won't be hard for the eatery to be quickly filled up. I particularly enjoyed the Ginger drink and it is a must try! The flat bread goes well with the main meals' sauce.