Banana Tree

Wow the service was terrible.
So the first time they asked what we wanted, i hadn’t actually looked at the menu because i was chatting with my friend. Fair enough that’s annoying for them. But then they didn’t come back to take the order for ages. We ordered tap water to go with our drinks twice and never received it. They brought us a papaya salad that we never ordered and still tried to charge us for it despite us sending it back. They also forgot my friend’s noodle dish. Just terrible.
For food i had the blackened monks noodles which is basically noodles with fried veg, tofu and egg. It was actually pretty tasty so I’d probably give the food 3 stars for being ok but nothing special.

Un super restaurant, qui combine une cuisine gouteuse et des prix abordables, voila qui est parfait!
J’ai enfin retrouve des paf thai dignes de ce nom (l’un de mes plats favoris) et les autres plats sont d’apres mes amies tres bons egalement. Le choix est asez varie, il en a pour tous les gouts, pour ceux qui aiment, ou non les epices, et pour les vegetariens.
Les desserts sont a tomber, et honnetement, il en fallait pour me faire envie, car je né suis pas une fan de dessert. Je vous recommande le black rice pudding et les green pancakes!
Le staff est vraiment sympa et a l’ecoute des demandes individuelles (en tout cas un dimanche midi). La salle est de taille moyenne mais suffisante pour qu’il né soit pas indispensable de reserver.
La decoration est assez simple mais efficace.
Un restaurant qui, car il se situe a 10 minutes de chez moi, va devenir mon premier fournisseur en cas de besoin urgent de padthai, c’est decide!

The food and atmosphere have been average every time we gone… The menu looks promising but unfortunately don’t wow. The staff is friendly and fairly attentive but again now wows…

I’m really a fan of the Banana Tree. I especially like the Laksa soup. As a result this place is a destination for me. They serve a variety of Asian dishes, and I’m not astute enough to know if we’re talking Indonesian or Malaysian or what. I just know its not classic Thai, and certainly not Chinese or Japanese. The restaurant is small and crowded, and the seating could be much more comfortable than it is, so I have to give it four stars, but if you’re coming for the food — I’d say its excellent.

Great place to grab a quick take away of have a sit-​down mean in West Hampstead. The Laksa Soup never disappoints, however some of the new menu changes are a disappointment. The rice dish with egg, cashew and chipped bok choy was AWESOME and has now just the rice and egg. It is a real shame to remove some of the classics from the menu for less tasty substitutes. I would really love for Banana Tree to add salads to the takeaway menu options… Otherwise, best Thai in town!

Nice place, like the indo-​Chinese menu. I went for the laksa and was really ncoe, good amount of prawns and tofu, just a bit too much noodles though. But overall worth exploring this place, they have bogof on cocktails too.

Fast service and friendly staffs. The portion is good for its price.
The Laksa’s soup Was really nice but the rice noodles were a bit hard and got only 2 and half tubes of tofus.
However, I would highly recommend you to go because of the very friendly service and atmosphere!

We’ve been there for a late dinner — the people were very kind, the service was really great and the food was tasty. We were so excited to discover a place that sells Tiger & Singah beers! It was a really nice dinner

What a hidden gem in my neighborhood! Delightful mix of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia food, suitable for every palette. I’ve visited twice now, once for dinner where I had the Malaysian chicken with nasi gorenang rice, it was nice to have options between flavored rice and plain. .they even had coconut rice!
The food is made with all fresh ingredients abd made to order which you can taste in every flavor packed bite. I revisited for lunch and got the £5.99 special of lemongrass chicken which despite its tame description was delightfuly packed with exotic flavors.
Lunch special was a bargain coming with rice and salad and the dinner was reasonably priced although you have to pay extra for rice (lots of selections though), however I had more than enough leftovers to make a nice meal the next day. Can’t wait to go back and try some more dishes!

I do like Banana Tree for not being expensive and suitable for a casual dinner. It is not your usual Asian/​Oriental dishes which makes it different. But i dont think the standard is not as good when i first tried it a few years ago.
I usually choose one of the main and get it as a combo. A complete dish enough for one person.
If you have room for dessert then the Coconut stuffed green Thai pancake or the black rice pudding takes my favour.

There’s a great offer that you must take advantage of.
At the Banana Tree they run a lunch express menu till 7pm. So you can get a full plate of yum yum for under a tenner. I recommend the Rending menu box, it comes with a lively asian salad and rice.
Unilocal.

Not much to add that hasn’t already been said, so I’m just casting my stars. Good and friendly service, good food and at a decent price. Being a fusion of South East Asian cuisine I felt like I was more in some backpacker place than a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant (specially since most the staff were t-​shirt wearing blond Eastern Europeans), but don’t let appearances fool you. Some traditional dishes may be missing but the menu has a good selection.

Food was good and the price was appropriate. I would go back since it’s a great option for a nice meal if you are in the West Hampstead area.

It is a best spot to stop
to buy some foods while shopping at nearby department stores in this area. The
décor is modern and very classy that surely uplift your soul. Very simple but
unique in style. I will surely visit here again to grab some delicious and
healthy salads that they offer.

the banana tree is what i call a stable food place, in that it’s not great (and certainly not authentic asian food by any means) but it’s good enough for a decent enough price that if you’re hungry, and you need something to take away quickly that’s not going to be too too heavy (indian, italian, pizza etc.) then it’s fine. due to the lack of other good asian (east/​south east) food in the area, it’s sort of the go to for marginally decent asian and it does ok.

The soups here are good, lets say very good! Other kind of food is good too but the service is not on the same level. Anyway, you can takeaway and this will be my future choice.

Spotted this place as I happened to be in Hampstead town, and my first thoughts were ones of suspicion. I can’t help but look upon nicely furnished South East Asian restaurants without thinking that they’re going to lack a certain authenticity. Of course, I also look at slightly more run-​down places with a raised eyebrow too (well, I WOULD if I had independent eyebrows…), so really, I’m totally at Unilocal’s mercy these days.
Anyway. Banana markets itself as an Indochinese restaurant, with dishes taken straight from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam etc., although the Malaysian/​Thai dishes seem to be the most prominently featured on the menu. The canteen itself is a nice space with solid, darkwood tables and there’s plenty of elbow room, so it does make you feel like you have your own space.
I started with the laksa for starter — it’s a difficult dish to get right, too much coconut milk and it’s too sickly, too little and it’s too thin. Then there’s the cooking of the noodles, and the amount of goodies, and the amount of spice… Banana’s one is pretty good, they got the balance right with the soup base. However, they do put in both vermicelli and egg noodles, which is a little odd. Also, my other gripe is that it’s just not hot enough. Even with added chilli oil, it just didn’t have the same kick. However, it’s better than a lot of the laksas that I’ve had here, so it’s something I’d definitely be willing to have again.
I had a beef rendang for main course with the Banana Special Combo Curry Upgrade thing (for about the same price as a plate of rice, you get rice, a small sesame salad, prawn crackers, and corn fritter things). The prawn crackers are gerat (the spicy kind!), but the corn things were a bit meh. The rendang itself was… ok. Hmm. It’d obviously been cooked for a while, and the beef was nice and tender. On the other hand, it was just too wet. The rendang sauce needs to be a bit more concentrated and intense and the extra liquid just watered it down a little bit too much. It’s a shame, because they’ve got most of the spice balance just right.
I think I’d give this place a 3.5 if I could, but it doesn’t quite do enough to tip it to a 4 star review. It’s not expensive (yeah, the rendang was one of the more pricey items) with most main courses in the 7.50−8.50 range, although you can get cheaper and similar quality Malaysian food elsewhere. Still, I would visit from time to time if I lived in the vicinity.

The bf and I were staying around the corner at Charlotte Guest House, and stumbled upon this place as we were scouring the area looking for a cheap and filling bite. We had just gotten off the plane after flying in from the states, and the Banana Tree certainly hit the spot.
I ordered Phở and the bf got the sweet and sour chicken; both were delicious, hearty, and perfect comfort food after a long journey. The phở was a bit different from traditional Vietnamese phở that one might get at a Vietnamese restaurant (especially back in the states), but I really enjoyed it and appreciated all the veggies.
For 6 pounds, it was a legit meal, and I was a full and happy traveler

Excellent South East Asian cuisine and relaxed service make this place a must try.
I lived in West Hampstead for over and year and I frequented this place. The place has almost like a café style ambience and service to it. Some people stay for 45 minutes whiulst others stay the whole evening. The mixture of Thai, Malaysian, Singapore and other regional foods offer lots of choice and it’s delicous. It’s also very reasonably priced.
Great place and I’d throughly recommend going.

To all my many Unilocal friends, firstly an apology for my long hiatus from Unilocaling but I’ve had builders in my house for 8 weeks (scheduled for 4) followed by the death of my home computer. Thank you so much for your many messages of concern that took me a whole day to work through!
I found myself up in Hampstead a couple of weeks ago and spotted the Banana Leaf Canteen with the magnetic words, south east Aian cuisine. Peering through the window, there were quite a few customers but I didn’t see many south east Asian looking cooks in the kitchen.
Nevertheless, the lure of Malaysian grub always wins over any scepticism and I plonked myself down. it isn’t quite a canteen in the Wagamama style in that I had my own table but it is bench seating.
The service was very attentive throughout but again, the waiter’s knowledge about south east Asian food was limited. I chose one of their combination platters of kambing bakar (grilled lamb with a sweet spicy marinade) and mee goreng (savoury fried noodles).
I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a lovely authentic smells when the arrived — I think a lot of the appeal of south east Asian food is the memory of lovely smells wafting through the open air evening food markets, The taste of the food was also great — the lamb had obviously been properly marinaded in a mélange of spices and carried some lovely umami flavour in the charred edges. Complemented well with the mee goreng.
The prices are on lightly high side for canteen style dining but the portions are generous. Worth a re-​visit sometime for some of the big bowls of noodles in soup I spied on other tables

The staff in here are nice and the food is quick, good, and tasty.
If you’re in this neighbourhood, it’s worth a bite!