Banana Leaf and Overeating

My mum and I went to pick up my sister from her university after her morning classes. We wanted to try out a banana leaf restaurant located in the nearby housing area. On arrival, I could see that it’s interior design was unlike the usual “hot, stuffy and oily” banana leaf restaurants. The restaurant adopted an “open-ended” design, which allowed good air flow. A lot of leafy plants were planted along the outer edges of the restaurant, which helped prevent the heat and dust from entering. The ceilings were slightly higher than usual, with fans to improve air circulation.

We were seated at a small table and the menus brought to us. Shortly after completing our order, a waiter brought 3 banana leaves and laid it in front of each of us. He then brought 3 cans of side dishes and spooned it onto our leaves. Another waiter came with a tub of rice and heaped generous portions. Lastly, a set of 3 different curries - crab, chicken and dahl - was brought to our table and we helped ourselves by spooning the gravy onto our rice.

As we dug in eagerly, the rich flavours from the mix of different Indian spices in the curries made me sigh with satisfaction. It had been such a long time since I had proper Indian food. After a while, small dishes of chicken, mutton curry, sambal tofu and fried bittergourd was served. We also had teh tarik - a sweet and rich milk tea - to wash down all the spice and savouriness.

It was a great meal but with one imperfection. I had a too big portion of rice and I should have told the waiter to stop piling the rice onto my banana leaf. I ended up feeling very stuffed and had a minor stomach discomfort for the rest of the day. Overeating really is bad for your body :(. Lesson learnt!