I came to Banana Tree after dinner with a cousin one night. We were walking around looking for a place to have dessert. When we arrived the staff was pleasant and attentive. We ordered two ginger and lemon grass teas with the chocolate cake and coconut ice cream dessert. It was all delicious and perfect. I will come back! read more

Banana Tree - Halal Near Me - London, XGL

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. read more

Banana Tree - Halal Near Me - London, XGL

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! read more

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! read more

Banana Tree - Bananatree Laksa, one of the chef's recommendation - Halal Near Me - London, XGL

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To all my many Yelp friends, firstly an apology for my long hiatus from Yelping 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 melange 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 read more

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 cafe 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. read more

After looking for a restaurant for quite awhile, we finally settled on the Banana Tree... which was great! My dad and I came for a late lunch, luckily still in time for the lunch specials. We had the pho with beef and the rendang. The rendang was delicious... a good amount of flavor and spicy in the curry served with rice and salad. I'd definitely recommend this. The pho was so so. It was lacking flavor as it was served, so I asked for some hot sauce. Here is where this restaurant gets major points... they brought out a house made hot sauce that was, not only a good source of heat, but amazingly tasty... this stuff transformed the pho into something I wanted to finish. The lunch specials were decently priced. I would recommend! read more

I went to Banana Tree today thinking for some reason that in it's place there would be a 'Giraffe' restaurant. Anyway, I got the ginger chicken with shitake mushrooms, which, as part of the 'express' lunch deal, came with jasmine rice and salad. It was tasty and there was lots of sauce. The chicken was also tender and the pieces were big and meaty. It was the perfect amount for lunch and was yummy. Not delicious, but yummy. The food came out pretty quick after ordering it, and cost around £6.95. The place itself is very simple, and I really didn't like the paint-job inside! The walls are all mismatched - some purple, some cream, some this weird 'distressed' look (that just looked grimey to me)... but anyway, it's not meant to be a palace, just a simple canteen. The menu is extensive and has a lot of tasty looking options, but I didn't find it a particularly amazing dining experience overall, so I won't be rushing back. Oh, I did enjoy the cheeky stares and silly little-girl waves that I received from the two grown-man chefs as I left! :) Hahahhaha! read more

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. read more

Banana Tree is decent Asian food. I've had their Vietnamese bowl of Pho noodles which I found alright. Doesn't have the rich and flavorful broth that a good bowl of Pho has. This time around I ordered the laksa with shrimp, and unfortunately just like the Pho, the soup was lacking that strong flavor that laksa should have. Service is good, although can be slow at times when it's very busy. read more

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 Yelp'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. read more

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! read more

Forget the name Canteen, which suggests a place which serves unappealing, tasteless food, reminiscent of that of a schools' canteen. This is quite the opposite. The food here is good and comes in large portions. The decor is simple, smooth wooden tables ad benches, and communal tables- which I guess is where the word canteen can be applied. But I'm not fazed buy this, I'm part Asian and this is a very common way to dine. The menu is South East Asian serving such things as spring rolls, soup noodles, fried noodles, curries and stir fries. I used to trek all the way up to West Hampstead to come here for their wonderfully large servings of Pad Thai with prawns and pork, as well as munching on their prawn crackers dipped in sweet chilli sauce. The good news for me is that no longer do I have to trek up to West Hampstead for this, as they have recently opened a new branch in Angel just round the corner from where I live, which I am delighted about! read more

Really nice place - been here a couple of years ago and remember eating some yummy lamb thing. When I went a couple of weeks ago I tried out the soup. It was absolutely delicious with probably the best and freshest pork and prawn dumplings I've ever had. Yum. Took my baby niece here and that wasn't a problem at all - promptly gave us a baby seat and paper and crayons to play with (apparently they were for her) My sister's noodle soup was also good and the children's meal of chicken noodles and spring rolls was really tasty. whole lot plus drinks came to around £20 so it was a bargain too! highly recommend, lovely place, lovely staff. And they gave me a bowl of fresh chillies on the side gratis. Love it. read more

Banana Tree - Halal Near Me - London, XGL

One of our friends recently shifted to West Hampstead. After helping them out with shifting, we were so tired and a good restaurant is all we needed! Not knowing much, we chose Banana Tree. And wow! this place was perfect! We ordered Crispy Chicken with Mango and Sweet Lime Sauce, the Legendary Rendang, Gaeng Keo Wan Green Curry and the Malaysian Laksha Soup. All of them were simply finger-lickingly tasty. I highly recommend the crispy chicken. It was good change from having the regular food in the nearby restaurants. The service is good. This place is packed during the weekends, so a prior booking is a good option. I would love to come to this place again. read more

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Go to the Banana Tree: your taste buds will thank you. It's not fancy. It's a few benches, and you're likely to find yourself wedged up alongside someone you don't know. It's very small, and in the winter it can get chilly every time the door opens. But it serves up a large menu of all sorts of South Asian dishes. Thai, Singaporean, Malaysian: there's all sorts. I love the blackened pork Nasi Goreng, and the laksa. They've got some deal options too, if you want multiple dishes. It's usually busy if you like a side order of background chatter with your grub, but it's really the taste of the food that's the main reason to go here. Fun with a group if you can commandeer a whole table and share. They have a side door to pick up takeaway, too. read more

Banana Tree have a few branches spread across London (I first visited the West Hampstead restaurant after finding their Battersea branch) and this one serves up typically excellent South East Asian cuisine. Although the shared seating approach (almost school cafeteria like) can take some getting used it, it actually helps give the place a bit of individuality and quirkiness, and feels less affected than the similar approach you see in Wagamamas. The food itself is superb. As well as being excellently priced, it provides distinct flavours, interesting combinations, and good portions; and the signature Banana Leaf dish that forms the base of many main courses is spot on, while the vegetarian options are varied and exciting. The beers match the food - typically Japanese and Singaporean lagers and fruit smoothies based on exotic fruits. There's not much else like this in West Hampstead (or nearby), and for the food as well as the buzz this is well worth visiting. read more

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. Yelp. read more

The food was actually really gross... Everything was so sweet, even the salad! I felt so ill that I couldn't even finish the meal. The only sweet in the restaurant that was nice was the man sitting next to us! read more

good takeout option! i really like their fake chicken, it doesn't taste like chicken but it's really good. all their noodle dishes are good & flavorful read more

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. read more

The food is wicked. Let me tell you what to order: for starters; thai toast (prawn and pork fried on toast), satay (chicken skewers with peanut satay sauce), lamb pieces in a lettuce leaf with sweet chili dip and vegetable spring rolls. I usually DO NOT eat lamb, after seeing a startling Simpson's episode; however, my Brenda friend ordered it, and I gobbled it up, like the piglet I am. I was getting a cold, so I picked a HUGE bowl of coconut soup, which filled EVEN ME up. Brenda had chicken in sweet lime glaze with jasmine rice and some corn cakes, which I stole every time I got her talking about her boy problems (they were delicious). There is a hot waiter named Silvio which added a fifth star to the experience. I want some TREE now! read more

Okay - I'm only giving it 3 stars, but a solid 3...more like 3.5, actually. Thing is, I've only have a few dishes and one of them consistently is really tasty. The other was merely okay (a solid okay, more like okay.5). What I liked: -Char Grilled Blackened Chilli Pork (with the Banana Tree Supplement Special) -Kau Chi Steamed Dumplings There's plenty more on the menu..but I haven't yet got that far. Go read more

This place is simple good food. I like the menu selection, which allows you to either select a simple main and ad sides to it or (what I went for) pick a main meal and upgrade it (forget what they call this) giving you a bowl of rice, salad and some prawn crackers as extras. Good food served hot, quickly served and very reasonably priced. Definitely recommend! read more

I really love this place : service is really nice and friendly and the food is great ! My faves are their monk noodles and the chicken with mango and sweet lime sauce. As a starter, their vegetarian spring rolls are also really tasty ! They also are really understanding and attentive regarding food allergies (I'm allergic to fish and seafood) and do offer nice veggie options. I recommend it ! read more

A great fast-food chain if you fancy something a bit different from pizzas and burgers. The menu is varied but simple enough to suit a western palette. Staff are friendly and efficient. Order the black rice pudding - it's divine! read more

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. read more

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. read more

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. read more

i LOVE this place - great great food!! Fusion South East Asian dishes, at a good price. I recommend going for the banana leaf menu; gives you a mini-platter with main course and some trimmings Personal fav: Aubergine curry read more

Oriental place close to West Hampstaed tube station. The food is ok but the service isnt very good. You have to wait a long time to order and the waiter didnt know anything about the food on the menu. Very busy on weekends. read more

Great food. Friendly service.

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 read more

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. read more

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! read more

Excellent food and atmosphere. The Banana Tree is located on West End Lane, West Hampsteads main thoroughfare and mixes South Asian cuisine with a relaxed and contemporary decor. In the summer months the large front windows fold away and there is also seating outside for those who prefer this. The shared seating arrangement inside makes the most of the small restaurant and works well. The cost, although not cheap is not overpriced and pitched about right for the food on offer. All in all highly recommended. read more

One of the best Asian restaurants I have visited. Great atmosphere as well as delicious meals and service according the highest standards.

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. read more

I have been using this place for years and although its prices have steadily crept up its still pretty affordable. The restaurant can get noisy but the food is worth it. The staff in this restaurant change a lot which is sad but I understand it is used as their training ground. All things considered though its a great place to go if you feel like tasty food nicely served that won't break the bank! read more

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. read more