Hey there, foodies! It's been almost a month since the last time I shared a recipe or brought you with me in my gastronomical pursuits around Cebu City. That hiatus ends today as I bring you to one of Cebu's restaurants famous for its Southeast Asian Street Food, Banana Pancake Trail.
Are you ready to drool? 馃構
I've been wanting to visit Banana Pancake Trail months before this visit but never had the chance to. Then a few weeks ago, Jelo, a close friend, asked me out for dinner. I remember I was having a difficult week and I thought it would be helpful to go out for dinner instead of going straight home that night. That's when I suggested meeting in Banana Pancake Trail. If there's one thing I certainly love about Jelo that's his flexibility; he's always up for new things, new restaurants, and new adventures. Without asking why we were eating at Banana Pancake Trail that night, we then found ourselves ordering.
Here's the thing tho, although I've been eyeing this restaurant, I only came for their Pad Thai. I heard that their Pad Thai tastes great! But when the menu was given to us, I was shocked to realize that there's more to Banana Pancake Trail than just their Pad Thai. It's so funny we couldn't even pronounce the names of the food we ordered and only relied on the short description of what the food is made of. After choosing my main dish, I ended up giving Jelo the right to order the rest. I give up! Haha
While waiting for our food to be served, I wandered a bit inside the restaurant. Honestly, I felt
lost; I felt I wasn't in Cebu. Not sure if that's a good thing. As the restaurant boasts of its Southeast Asian cuisine, the interior had to stick with that branding, too!
How they designed the interior wasn't pleasing in my eyes at all. I do understand that they wanted the space to feel like one is touring Southeast Asia while enjoying their food. But I think they failed to create harmony as designs transitioned from one Southeast Asian country to another. If you look at each part of the restaurant, it does look great with popping bright colors and decor that without difficulty could be identified with SE culture and tradition. But once you look at the entire space, there's no coherence. Well at least, in my opinion, I think they could have done better.
To give you a better glimpse of what I'm saying, let's start the tour! We sat near the glass walls facing the road. There's a brick wall with artificial plants sticking and hanging in the wall.
Beside us are these colorful seats. There are small signages that resemble a vehicle's plate number with the word Thai in it. I assume the idea came from Thailand's tuktuk.
Behind the wooden counter is a huge wall painting with temples, elephants and other characters that refer to SE culture still.
What really caught my attention is this part of the restaurant that depicts street food as the area was designed like you are really eating on the sidewalk. There's a huge street art, a street barricade, and even a replica of a streetlight.
On the center island or part of the restaurant, rusty metallic tables and chairs that come in different colors were spotted. SE Asia's also famous for its farming activities and that could be seen here, too!
Overall, the place was decent enough and could actually give off a SE Asian street food vibe, but I'm not entirely impressed and I think the interior could be further improved taking into account the various cultures and traditions while not leaving harmony behind.
Okay, I'll let Jelo order and he got one order of Malay Hokkien Mee and one serving of Char Kway Teow. Both are stir-fried noodles. When I tried these two, they tasted more or less the same. I couldn't find a distinction. I haven't tried these in any other restaurants before so I don't have a basis for comparison but I find both too salty and there's this weird aftertaste that's not appealing at all.
Jelo also ordered fried lumpia (I forgot the name and I couldn't find it in the menu). Both of us ordered Com Thit Nuong or Vietnamese grilled lemongrass pork. I was a bit dismayed with the pork. It tasted amazing but for the price of Php 235 ($4.4), the serving was too small. It's not worth it for me.
Jelo paid for this dinner; he's generous as always. I kept saying we should just split the bill but since we called for this meeting, he's insisted he'd pay for it. Maybe my expectation was just too high that I turned out to be disappointed with the food served in relation to its price and taste. I'm checking out Lemon Grass restaurant which offers Thai and Vietnamese cuisine soon. Let's see which one's better.
Thanks, Jelo for the free food!馃構馃榿 See you all in my next food blog.
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