Birmingham Banana Tree NEW menu at Bullring & Grand Central

SPONSORED CONTENT HALAL STATUS Fully Halal food menu • Alcohol served

Banana Tree has taken the bull by the horns this year with not just a flurry of new openings across the country, but also some fantastic new items being added to its impressive Pan-Asian menu.

Only recently, the restaurant brand made its big Birmingham debut with a huge restaurant ideally located just outside the happening-place of Bullring & Grand Central shopping complex.

With plenty of seating both downstairs and up, including tables available outside on the wooden patio, they offer a fully Halal food menu that’s inspired by the flavours of Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand.

More importantly, they’ve improved upon an already impressive menu with some incredible new dishes that don’t just include the classic katsu curry, but also popular bowls of, wait for it, Ramen.

Not only do they also offer a lunch time menu between noon and 5pm every Monday to Friday, but a loyalty card is a must for regular diners to earn free dishes by collecting banana points every time they dine in.

Banana Tree introduce a number of exceptional new items

As an established, reputable brand, Banana Tree have all their bases covered, with a menu that screams quality of produce while promising to “fuel your spirit”.

What better way to kick off proceedings than succulent segments of chicken marinated in an “authentic recipe from the shrine of Satay in the town of Kajang in Malaysia”.

This attractively presented platter of Malaysian Kajang Satay has barbecued satay sticks going wonderfully with Banana Tree’s “secret peanut sauce”, with pieces of cucumber serving as palate cleansers.

Swiftly on to the new menu items and starting with the classic Japanese staple, Chicken Katsu Curry, which boasts addictively crispy panko-coated chicken paired with a mound of sticky Japanese rice, edamame, and a lusciously flavourful katsu curry sauce.

As part of their new Grilled Fish section, Banana Tree’s Grilled Teriyaki Salmon for £19.50 isn’t just exceptionally presented, but bursting with complex flavours and textures.

With the skin superbly crisped, the moist Salmon, based as it is in a subtly aromatic marination, is served with a medley of vegetables, juicy stir-fried shitake mushrooms, Japanese rice, a wedge of charred lime, and a sublimely silky Teriyaki sauce that makes this plate sing the high notes.

Banana Tree have really elevated their menu with the introduction of Ramen with not just one but two very contrasting broths – white miso or soy – both of which come with chicken gyoza, beansprouts and pak choi.

With the rice noodles effortlessly absorbing the flavourous broth; and garnished with fresh mixed herbs, crispy shallots and chilli; this aromatic bowl of ramen will delight the senses well before the taste buds.

There aren’t many that offer Halal duck. Banana Tree’s manages to strike that perfect balance between the meat being soft and juicy, and its snappy skin being uber crispy.

Add to that the aromatically fragrant hoisin sauce with dark soy and sesame oil, and a garnishing of fresh mint, coriander and cashew nuts, and all that’s needed to round off a spectacular meal is to ‘Go Premium’ with Nasi Goreng Indonesian Fried Rice.

You can’t visit Banana Tree and not try their signature Singapore Laksa, which in this case contains gorgeous large chunks of chicken, with tofu and prawn versions also available.

This bowl is comfort personified, with not just tofu, aubergine and beansprouts included, but also a deeply rich and soothing coconut-based soup whose heat-factor can be dialled up by requesting a jar of their punchy sambal sauce.

And last but not least, this brand’s Pad Thai is another popular choice with diners, with glistening flat rice noodles wok-fried in tamarind and palm sugar.

Smartly served with eggs, beansprouts, peanuts, crispy shallots and prawn crackers, this dish can be enhanced by requesting a combination of both chicken and prawns all at the same price of £13.75.

With a dearth of pan-Asian restaurants offering a fully Halal food menu, Banana Tree is a massive addition to Birmingham’s dynamic Halal scene.

With a quartet of new dishes, which also includes the Teriyaki Stir Fry, that have to be tried to be believed, they deliver in spades, with delivery available via their partners Deliveroo.

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Banana Tree
Unit SU744, Upper Mall West, Birmingham B5 4BG.

T: +44 (0)121 272 8445 | W: bananatree.co.uk | E: [email protected]

Opening Hours: Sun-Thur 11:00-22:00 | Fri-Sat 11:00-23:00