Sri Lankan food is an explosion of colour, spices and flavours, as dining reviewer WENDY JOHNSON reports from Banana Leaf.

BANANA Leaf restaurant, which has had various homes over the past few years, has now settled once and for all in the heart of Canberra on Akuna Street, promising an intriguing blend of Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Dutch and Malay tastes and textures. 

The massive wall of creative masks makes for an impressive entrance and the décor is light and warm with wooden accents and dining over two levels.

If sharing is a priority, talk to staff about the best selections since not all dishes lend themselves to this style of eating. That’s not necessarily a problem; it’s a consideration (for some diners).

Banana Leaf focuses on authentic dishes, including the entrees. The chicken pan roll was a great start ($16 for three) and the minced chicken curried at just the right level. The chicken, combined with potatoes, were wrapped in a soft roll and the trio attractive on a stylish, mottled black plate. The dish of mayo on the side featured chilli, but not super-hot chilli (by design).

The “devil sauce” with the Yaka Bao was zingy and we chose tofu instead of chicken or fish ($16 for one). 

At the top of the menu is the promise of “fine-ish dining”. Am not clear on the precise definition of the phrase, but mains designed for one start at $30 and top off at $42, so Banana Leaf isn’t a “cheap and cheerful”. 

To make life easier with the three of us wanting to share and test multiple dishes, we ordered the Traditional Sri Lankan Village Set. It’s a signature for Banana Leaf and is $100 for two. It’s massive and, after entrees, was more than enough for the three of us to explore.

The set only has one meat (chicken or beef) or fish dish, which satisfied us. It’s a veritable feast and delicious. Items include string hoppers or savoury rice. The set is loaded with vegetables, spicy lentils, a wonderful egg curry and devil potato. Pickled eggplant packed a punch, the tempered cashes with anchovies were addicting, and who can go wrong with crispy, fluffy roti, crunchy pappadum and butter chilli? 

Mains include Seeni Sambol gnocchi ($30), Kalu Pol pork with truffle mash ($35), spice marinated grilled barramundi ($35), curry glazed duck ($36) and king-prawn curry ($42). Other entrees include a chilli-honey squid ($18) and a tempura-prawn taco ($17).

We enjoyed our meal with a Hunter Valley verdelho.

One major concern was the timing of the arrival of our food. Pretty well all dishes were brought out together, which was overwhelming, not only visually and mentally, but it sure crowded the table.