Banana Tree

Very very busy. Tasty though. The service wasn’t the best — very very extremely slow, but I quite understand it as there were only 3 waiters for the whole restaurant… def not enough. Would def go again.

Yummy, quick, flavourful and good value. I’m going back!
The Good:
*Signature dishes were well prepared. Flavourful, well-​portioned, and reminiscent of true Indochina cuisine. The Lahksa had an amazing coconut milk base, and was complimented by many spices, the noodles, and freshly prepared prawns. It hit the spot on a cold London evening.
*We were seated right away (w/​o a reservation), which is saying something, given the pretentious nature of a few of the SoHo eating establishments nearby.
The Bad:
*Two-​for-​One Happy Hour special drinks. Right? Right? (Sigh) First taste was 100% alcohol, and cheap stuff at that. After some of the ice melted, the drinks tasted like water, lacking flavour. But for the fresh passion fruit on top, these drinks were deplorable.
The Ugly:
Server was on his first day (and not as a trainee) and didn’t have full knowledge of the menu, so special requests caused delay and confusion.
Overall, their signature dishes are amazing! We’d go back for the food. Good prices as well makes this a winner for an exotic early dinner before a show–

*breathes out*
*does a few squats*
Ok so as you can see I’m having trouble writing this.
I really wanted to be praising this place like a happy monkey on meth but that isn’t the case.
Firstly, I was seated and had to yell like a market seller to get anyone to come over and see what I needed.
This is no exaggeration.
I needed strepsils immediately after. My throat was sore.
The food came very quickly. I almost suspect a microwave was involved.
Although everything looked amazing, it sadly didn’t taste as great.
Nom nom nom, I powered through the meal.
Then things got so dark. RAW CHICKEN! Dun dun dunnnnnn!
I threw myself on the table clutching my neck. Spilling my drink, I kicked and thrust around.
Ok maybe I didn’t but I did think about it.
The manager apologised, put in a new order but as you can imagine that ruined the meal even further as one of us was left hungry and had to wait while the other devoured their meal.
Sad times.

Soooooooooo guess who was swinging on a banana tree the other night? NOT ME! … I was at the restaurant mate.
So it reminded me a little of wagamama/​busaba so I thought I’d finally see what the fuss was all about. I found the menu very limited in my opinion. Anyhoo, I ordered the grilled chicken with fragrant rice. It had a much more exotic name than that but I’ll be damned if I can recall it! I also ordered their sticky tamarind chicken wings. oh yes it was a chicken fiesta baby!
So the wings were very tasty in my books! Could’ve had a little more of a crisp to them but flavour wise it was on point! Now as for my main course… Drum roll… Disappointing
It looked a lot better than the taste. It was so lightly seasoned I wasn’t sure the chicken was even dead! The rice was yellow just for the fun of it because there was nothing fragrant about it really… Ahhhhh would I go back? Nahhh but it hit the spot at the time so I should be grateful right haha

Este lugar ubicado en el Soho londinense se dedica principalmente a platos de origen oriental/​asiático. La decoración sin embargo no lo refleja, se ve como un restaurant trendy, en un espacio amplio con mesas individuales y también comunales.
Al ver el menú es que uno se da cuenta que no va a comer casi nada de estilo inglés, los menues (se dirá así?) se dividen en dos al mediodía. El menú carta y el ejecutivo. Y acá viene mi critica fundamental, el menú ejecutivo tiene una sola opción vegetariana y encima es más cara que la cara de vaca o el pollo, lo cual es bullshit, porque sabemos que el tofu jamás va a salir más que un bife! Me molesta sobremanera que se abusen de los que no comemos carne. Y obviamente que el plato más salidor, que sale £6, no es el que tiene la posibilidad de sumarle tofu, y si se lo sumas el plato se dispara a £9!!!
Dicho esto, que es la razón principal por la cual solo le doy 3 estrellas, puedo pasar a contar que la comida es de muy buena calidad y sabrosa. La atención es genial, el chico que me tocó de mozo fue super atento y divertido, haciendo chistes y sonriendo todo el tiempo.
Volvería, pero solo si elige otro, yo prefiero ir a lugares donde no me cobren de más por elegir distinto.

I really like the lunch special, which comes with salad with a lovely, piquant dressing (I get it without the crushed nuts, thank you very much). The chicken with basil had a delicious, spicy sauce, although I was a bit distraught by the surplus of black fungus. Still, can’t beat the price, especially in Soho.

Recently visited the Banana Tree for a team lunch with 12 other people. They took a reservation which was very useful for a lunch group of that size.
The menu has plenty of options to choose from for meat eaters and vegetarians, including an express lunch menu for £5.95.
I had the veg spring rolls, tofu green curry with a portion of sticky rice, and a juice. Presentation was very creative, its always fun eating out of a tiny frying pan, or having small individual rolls of sticky rice. The total bill, including a tip, came to £26. Although each dish was fragrant and tasty, I found the portions small and unsatisfying, and even though these dishes are on the express menu, we were all still charged the full price menu option. I shudder to think how small the portions on the express menu must be.
The service was very friendly and attentive, if not a bit slow (we were there for 2 hours). If I am looking for a thai restaurant of this caliber for a group of people whose size requires reservations then I will certainly consider a re visit. But if I am looking for tasty thai, good portions, and value for money I doubt the Banana Tree will be at the top of my list.

Stopped by this branch of the Banana Tree following a comedy show at the nearby Soho Theatre. This location can get extremely busy if you try to get seated around 19:30 — 20:30, but we arrived just after 21:00 and we were immediately given a table. This is a well located branch of the restaurant and we had visited before because it offers great value with a Tastecard, where diners were offered a 50% discount on their bill without making any reservation. However, after we were seated, we were informed that this branch is no longer accepting the Tastecard. The waitress clumsily advised us than we would still get a 2 for 1 deal on our main meal– this turned out to not be the case– or we misunderstood– as we were provided with a voucher with our bill for this offer on our next visit. Much to the credit of the management, I complained about the confusion and they let us use the voucher on our meal.
Aside from the disappointment of losing a great discount with the Tastecard, the Banana Tree is reminiscent of Wagamama in both its setting and style– lots of communal seating and fast pan-​indo/​asian dishes that come out as they’re ready. I personally prefer the food at the Banana Tree to Wagamama and feel you get a lot of value from their main meal upgrade option with rice, prawn crackers, corn fritters and a salad to accompany your main dish. The food always looks fresh and pretty healthy with a generous variety of vegetables– a lack of veg is something that has disappointed me in the past with Wagamama! The flavours are good, consistent and the staff are usually very prompt and friendly. This is a nice alternative to the other similar establishments for a quick and satisfying bite.
The only issue we seem to battle with upon each visit is the proximity of tables to neighbours– we always have the misfortune of being placed next to a rowdy and obnoxious group and you literally can’t hear yourself think over their conversation. This isn’t atypical in these types of restaurants, especially in central London spots– I have just remarked it repeatedly at this location.
Shame about the Tastecard discount being pulled, but it does appear that they are trying alternative in-​house discounts and offers to customers, so watch this space.

Nice atmosphere and tasty dishes. The waitress is fast, knowledgable, and friendly. Great convo. Dimming the light after 8pm and switching the music on gives it a different feel– quite trendy.

I really do love the food here, it’s very tasty. Always combo-​up. ALWAYS!
They used to have great options for vegans but now it’s very limited (where’s the mock duck?). I don’t go very often so I don’t mind getting the same thing every visit, as it’s always a treat. But I do miss the food variety that was on offer the first few times I went. I think there’s two vegan dishes, but you can only combo-​up on one so I always get the aubergine dish. Coz I’m a pig.

It always makes me feel sad to leave a poor review especially when the staff are sweet, but it really was a comedy of errors when we came here. Firstly they’d lost our booking despite two confirmations. Service was slow, bathrooms untidy and the menu uninspiring for veggies. The crispy dough starter was sadly bland and deep fried (even though I’d asked and been assured it wasn’t.) The sweetcorn fritters were good though. Not much else to add :(

I had one of their lunch specials, chicken green curry, which came beautifully presented with jasmine rice and Thai salad.
It was tasty, although the curry a little weak and not much chicken. On the other hand veggies were abundant and the overall flavour was very pleasant.
I accompanied my meal with fragrant jasmine tea, all for less than 10£, so good value for money and speedy service make this a very good spot for office lunch break.

Although it initially appears pricey (many of the prices listed are for dishes are just curries without rice) but what you get is high quality food (tender well-​spiced meat) and big portions when you combo up: dishes come with rice, sweet corn cakes, crackers and a side salad for an extra £3.50. We also had the phở which was also top notch
Another plus point is that the menu is very easy for people with allergens, especially people with gluten intolerances as you are spoilt for choice, which you don’t often find at restaurants.
One negative point is that despite the extremely long happy hour (open til 7pm), the cocktails are a little disappointing
tl;dr Great food, good portions, well catered for people with allergies but meh on the cocktail front

It feels fantastic to finally find a gluten-​free friendly Asian fusion restaurant, and Banana Tree certainly doesn’t disappoint with its wide range of choices. The menu was clear, had a lot of options, and had fairly reasonable prices for a Soho joint.
I had the chicken phở, my first since going gluten-​free, and the chicken was beautifully juicy and tender, which is always a good sign, and the combo option with the curry that my other half had, was also fantastic, and it was all out rather quickly and was presented beautifully (I was too busy to get a picture).
My only real issue was the service: within a minute of sitting down, we were asked if we wanted drinks, having barely even looked at the menu, and then again by a different waiter about 30 seconds later, at which point I almost felt like leaving because of how pushy they were. A third waiter appeared about two minutes later to ask us if we were okay with the menu, once we’d made a decision, and then got confused about our cocktail order. I think it was a fourth waiter that took our order. Later, when we wanted the bill, it took 15 minutes to be able to ask anybody to send us the cheque, so it went from pushy fast to painfully slow. The cocktails were a little disappointing (we had two types, one being a Long Island), but it being an Asian fusion restaurant and not a cocktail bar, it was brilliant enough they even had cocktails, especially as the happy hour seems to run all day!
Despite this, I would definitely return, just due to the fact that the allergen info was so clear, and the food so tasty, so don’t let that put you off!

Very nice place in Soho.
They have plenty of Asian food dishes to choose from and also «combo» option useful if you are really really hungry.
The rice they offer amongst the sides it’s really good and the food in general it’s decent.
This place does not accept reservations so you might be in for a wait if you show up in weekend during peak times.
One thing that might affect negatively your experience at Banana Tree is the sometimes excessive level of noise: my god this place is noisy. Also being a small please doesn’t help either, sometimes it’s hard to hear even your dinner mates at your table for how noisy this place is.
But I guess that the nice food and the quick service make up for it. Just if you are looking for a relaxing and intimate atmosphere this is not what you are looking for.

Food here is alright, got the laksa here. Feel like they need a greater variety and range of flavours. Food looks very dark or is black in colour, and sometimes lack flavour, such as their chicken dumplings.
I cant help but shake the feeling that this place gives me of amateurism. The ambience and interiors isnt nice. And the service very spotty. Food took a long time to arrive and one starter arrived a lot later than the other. Servers in general look confused

I love this restaurant because the noodles are always excellent. I had rice noodles with bean sprouts, oyster sause and prawns which was very tasty. My friend had stir fried Singapore rice with egg which was a bit overcooked so it formed a clump. However, it was still very tasty.
For desert I had sweet black rice and my friend had banana fritters. The banana wasn’t very hot and it was served with chocolate sauce which didn’t really compliment the fritters.
The service was excellent from all of the team. Banana tree offers good consistant cooking so I recommend this restaurant.

We have been to this branch more these days, because the service is much better than the Islington one. We always order noodle dishes and they are almost always reliable; but they lack the smokiness of the Wok. I am still not sure about the rest on the menu; if you want a quick satisfying meal, order some noodles.
Their Balinese ‘Pulut Hitam’ Pudding (Glutinous Rice Pudding) was as good as ever and I strongly recommend to order Banana ‘Frotiteroles’ (Banana Fritters) without the chocolate sauce.
The service has greatly improved here; the waitresses were very friendly and efficient during our previous 2 visits in March and April.

I popped in here for a bit of post Dr Who dinner on Saturday evening with a friend, and we were seated very quickly which my poor tired feet appreciated greatly. I quite liked the spartan décor but after that I was not best impressed with the experience.
We arrived barely after 10pm, and my friend ordered a cocktail only to be told that they were not making any! this after a cocktail specific menu had been put on our table, which I found more than a little odd. We ordered wine and our meals, which were served very swiftly, but mine was at best Luke warm. It was tasty, but particularly greasy and the temperature was a huge issue to me. I can only imagine food is precooked and reheated, or heated — sort of…
What really left a bad taste in my mouth was a particular staff member who when lifting the bill and cash asked if we were expecting change, which is A) cheeky B) disconcerting. And the real kicker is that there was £18 due back to us and there is service charge included!!! I’m generous but a 75% tip is just a wee bit much for even me. It just really soured the experience and I left far from happy.

Banana Tree is one of those asian/​pan european restaurants. When it’s done well, you appreciate the twist on classics and staples you’ve tried in those countries. Where it’s done badly, it’s just insulting, bordering on embarassing. At one of these type chains in Germany when I complained that a dish I’d had a milllion times was a little salty, I was told this is how it’s supposed to taste!
Gladly Banana Tree falls into the former category. That said, it’s not perfect and there are a few areas it could improve.
The interior is great. Spacious, airy, warm and you can see the food being prepped in the kitchen. Great. Service is brisk and polite, if a little stilted.
Whenever I go to restaurants like banana tree or giraffe, I like to order things I’m familiar with to compare the quality of the dish. I picked the Thai Tamarind and Garlic Wings along with the double cooked crispy pork mix. These were great. New flavours and concepts for me. The double cooked crispy pork in particular crispy, but still moist inside. There were a few duds however that had obviously been over-​fried which we had to leave unfortunately (I think this is the dish that gave me a sore throat afterward!) The achar pickle a little milder than you’d get in an asian household, but tasted great.
For the mains, Chicken curry laksa and Kway Teow Mee. The curry laksa was great, lots of ingredients and the chef did make it extra spicy as we’d requested. The Kway Teow Mee however was lacking. The trick with that dish is to have a very high heat in order to char the noodles. This they got half way right. But the noodles should have been flat rice noodles instead of the standard rice noodles they used. Texture is everything.
Additionally the Vietnamese coffee we ordered was WAY too sweet. Too much condensed milk and not enough coffee.
We were way stuffed after those 2 courses which is a good thing. You won’t go hungry on the portions here. However there is just a little work needed on the food to really elevate this place to 5 stars. Everything else from atmosphere, staff and interior is there.
One last thing. There is a wifi point called banana tree at the branch, but it’s locked and I was told this was for staff use only. That’s annoying. If it’s for staff only, call it something else. Wifi access is close becoming something every good business should have as standard. If only to upload my photos to Unilocal or Instagram asap!

After eating English style fish and chips mostly during my vacation in London. My sister and I were craving some good Asian cuisine.
Bad itinerary planning on my part, (went to London, then went to Paris then went back to London lol I just wanted to make my sister more adventurously tired) our train arrived to London from Paris in the evening for the last 2 days of our trip. By the time we put our luggage away and did some shopping near the oxford and regent street it was dinner time.
We walked/​or took the train towards the west side of London. I was so tired that night not sure how we ended up in soho, London. Very lively place with bars and contemporary restaurants. And I wasn’t sure why they had so many sex related stores etc. Later, I researched about it and discovered soho was one naughty place up to 1980s.
The point is we found an amazing Asian restaurant called Banana Tree. They have 6 locations in U.K. Only have been to this location and it was very no fuss hip sort of restaurant with regular seating as well as communal seating.
We ordered two mocktails (yummy/​yummy) from their extensive mocktails/​juice list. The appetizer noodle soup we ordered was amazing with a delicious curry flavor to it. We ordered two noodle dishes as well and they were unique and tasteful.
The service was quick and efficient and I liked the casual date night atmosphere.
If your in London go to one of their locations for sure (this one is for you Ash and your upcoming trip to Europe)