Moods and Meals – Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION.

First of my new A Moment, A Mood and a Meal series.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve become accustomed to having two meals a day for quite some time now. Usually, it’s breakfast and dinner. It’s not necessary to have three meals a day anymore – maybe it never was. As you get older you tend to eat less.

But sometimes, my mood calls for a midday meal, which ends up being the only meal of the day because it’s too late for breakfast and too early for dinner. It becomes a lingering late lunch. Lately I’ve been discovering the exotic sample tasting menu.

I haven’t travelled anywhere International for a number of years now. It’s my choice to not be away from my dogs for maybe no more than two weeks a year. Those two weeks have been spent going to Toronto for TIFF (film festival) and Montreal to visit family. Other than that, I have to live vicariously through other people’s adventures. At least for now. One of the things I miss the most about travelling other than the sight seeing, is the food.

So I’ve decided to indulge my desire for foodie adventures through various tasting menus from exotic restaurants around Vancouver. A journey through food so to speak.

I just had a wonderful tasting experience at Banana Leaf restaurant. Their Malaysian roots take inspiration from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, China, and India. They offer unique dishes you won’t find elsewhere.

Sitting on their outside patio with my dogs was like being on a little adventure. It was a six-course tasting for one (for two people they serve everything individually) which started with a bright pineapple papaya Asian salad (papaya, pineapple, green leaves, capsicum vinaigrette, tomato, fish sauce, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, brown shallot)….

Then came a platter with:

Roti Canai (handmade flaky flatbread with vegetarian coconut curry sauce), Chicken Satay with a spicy peanut dip, an aromatic Rendang Beef curry (an iconic slow-cooked lean beef, coconut milk, turmeric, coriander, galangal, lemongrass, curry spices & herbs), breaded wild Sablefish (malay black sweet sauce, garlic, caramelized ginger, shallot, chinese wine) with ginger garlic rice. All served on top of a banana leaf.

Dessert was coconut panna cotta (pandanus juice, cooked coconut cream, mango puree & gula Melaka). So delicious.

They also have an amazing refreshment menu featuring everything from young coconut water to pineapple, cucumber + ginger smoothies and passionfruit, mango mocktails.

Their cocktail list includes lychee mojitos, Thai lemongrass basil margaritas, and a house signature “Leaf Me Up,” made with lemongrass‑infused tequila, banana liqueur, lime juice, pandan syrup, Thai chili, and your choice of aquafaba or egg white.

Something about that meal reminded me that I don’t have to board a plane to feel transported. For an hour or two, those flavours took me somewhere warm, bright, and far away – and that was exactly the escape my midday mood was craving.

There’s a whole world of flavour in this city, and I’m ready to explore it one midday mood at a time. But not every day of course.

Banana Leaf Malaysian Cuisine operates five locations across Metro Vancouver. I was at the one in Kits on Broadway. Here is the main website for all five: