Restaurant Review: Singapore's Banana Leaf

"Number 53, you're order is ready," Michael Gazal says every evening he comes to work at Singapore's Banana Leaf. "Rendang chicken and curry puffs." 

These are just two of the Singaporean dishes that this stand in the Farmer's Market on 3rd and Fairfax has to offer. While Chinese cuisine and spices have influenced most new Singapore dishes, Gazal said that their Singapore food is one of a kind. 

"There was a discussion whether we do the standard food, which is the Singapore-Chinese style, or our own food," Gazal said. "We ended up doing our own. More similar to the Indonesian food, which caters better to the crowd locally."

Mee Goreng Chicken

The food served at Singapore's Banana Leaf is from Little India, the area where his parents and grandparents were raised. They are Singaporean Indian Jews so they don't serve pork. According to Gazal, the original style of Singaporean food is an Indian, Malaysian cooking with a rich flavor rather than the sweeter flavor of the Chinese influenced dishes. Even though Chinese cuisine constantly changes and fuses with other kinds of food, the recipes at this Farmer's Market stand go back many generations. 

"We would never run to our friend's house," Gazal remembered. "Mom was cooking, grandmother was cooking. Go eat first and then go out. Every cousin is the same way. We love our food! It's very unusual."

His father, Ike Gazal, said they chose their favorite meals they made at home to serve to customers. However, they chose traditional dishes that would translate best to customers like fried noodles, fried rice, satay sticks and curry. Over the nine and a half years they have been in business, their menu hasn't changed much. 

"It was all Michael," Ike said. "It was all his idea."

About nine years ago, Gazal had just returned from Singapore and sold his business when this space became available. 

View Singapore's Banana Leaf in a larger map

"It just looked right," Gazal said. "It looked like the kind of place where you would open up a Singaporean restaurant in, which is called a hocker center in Singapore. Small shops, this was the perfect spot."

Ike said Michael initially wanted to only sell rohi paratha, grilled Indian bread with curry dipping sauce. But since they were starting the business, they decided to have a full menu. Now that he just got back from Asia, Gazal plans to add a few Chinese-inspired dishes to the menu in the upcoming months. 

"It's fun to provide a service where people are very happy with your product," Gazal said. "You know, usually when you provide a product you don't see their reaction. With food, you see it right away. Sometimes negative but for the most part, it's been a very positive experience because people come back."

And customers continue coming back like Judy Zhou, a student at USC. Her friend told her about the stand and she has been coming back since. She said that the consistent good curry and good service makes this stand one of her favorites at the Farmer's Market.

"Well the food is really good for one," Zhou said. "And it's not like super expensive. Every time I've gone I've had a really good experience." 

Roderick Herbst tried Singapore's Banana Leaf for the first time. Since he has recently become a vegetarian, the menu offered him a lot of options. 

"A little bit spicy, that's why I'm glistening right now," Herbst said. "It's a good taste, good flavors in it."

"How often do you go to a family business any more? Especially in a big city," Gazal said. "The parents are there, everyone knows your name, you know their name. It's not a very common thing."