Banana Tree Cardiff — Restaurant in Great Britain

Review of our visit on August 13th 2025 - arrived at 20:45

Let’s start by saying the food was a great. Nicely presented and tasted great - ok value too, but now let’s talk about service - terrible.

We arrived at 20:47 (I often take a picture on arrival) and were greeted by a young woman. There were two of us, and the restaurant was pretty empty. She suggested we stand and wait while she found us a table. “I’ll be literally one second” was her exact quote. She wasn’t.

In fact what she did was pop us into the tightest seats I’ve been into for a while, while telling us she was very knowledgable about the menu, and would we like to order a drink?

I said yes to a drink, a non alcoholic beer, but realised immediately that my 6’4” frame was never going to be comfortable in this horrid fixed seat area. We reassumed the wait.

Moments later she guided us to the far side of the room, past a sea of messy uncleared communal tables, to a two person set up. Next to me was a round table with menus akimbo, and crayons out. It looked like the patrons had perhaps become fed up of waiting, and left. This is pure supposition of course, but the table was never tidied during our stay, although I did have to grab a fork from it, as we were not offered cutlery (chopsticks apart of course).

Ordering: The young woman who greeted us never returned, even though we’d had that very brief beer conversation. After over 10 minutes waiting, a man otherwise engaged in the take-out area, spotted us and took both food and drink orders - although he failed to note that some of the rice options he proffered, were in fact cost upgrades - bit sneaky.

Despite his earlier attentiveness, our order taker then started moving chairs and wiping the odd table. He didn’t spot our food on the pass for quite a while, but did eventually bring it over when we caught his eye (I nearly fetched it myself).

As stated previously, the food was great, but eventually when finished we stacked our own bowls & plates as it was clear no-one else was calling over. No table check at this stage, although once we’d stacked the empties, our original non-server called over and asked just me if I was “ok?” I said I was fine. She didn’t ask about the food, she didn’t offer us a dessert menu, coffee or the bill, and she didn’t remove the plates, but she did start to clear the spilled food from the table behind me that had been on show for well over 40 minutes at this stage.

At this point we gave up. My partner tried to use the QR code to pay, but it didn’t take us to a pay site for the resturant we were in!

She then when to see someone standing at the pay desk, requested that the automatic service charge be removed, because the service was terrible, and we left to find coffee and ice cream somewhere different.

August 13th was my birthday. I was 58, and have had many fine birthday meals in Cardiff, but this wasn’t one of them. We often go to their stablemate Wagamams, where the service is usually terrific. I think...

So I had the banana tree curry with tofu and the gyozas. The waiter specified them being vegan! But I didn’t want vegan food. I just want food. I’m not actually a vegan, this is actually what I felt like from the menu.

The gyozas appeared to me to be completely fried rather than pan fried. So I wasn’t expecting that.

The mains came with white rice, but there was something wrong with it. I couldn’t tell whether it was the dodgiest, cheapest kind of jasmine rice from China - the factory toxic runoff rice!

Or I wondered whether it was really old or just wasn’t cooked properly. Either way it appeared chipped and hard, clumped together and generally not fluffy and tender like white rice I have at most establishments anywhere I go in the world.

The tofu was the cheapest kind of beancurd, which brings a sense of unease as to its origin and how it was made and what chemicals they used. For this price point I actually want decently crafted and nutritious tofu, not this fluffy cheap stuff.

The sauce was tasty enough, but there just wasn’t enough nutrition and vegetables around it. The literally few little bits of beans and capsicum that I got didn’t actually provide any substantive nutrition.

Anyway, I was quite sick then and prepared to pay for a filling and substantive meal to help me recover, and instead feel like I got cheated by another corporate chain trying to cut corners with cheap and crappy ingredients.

Also, what’s really missing here : has the chef eaten this meal? 100% that has never happened before, because the chef would feel a sense of unease and digestive discomfort if they actually did.

Anyway, the staff were nice and the seats...

🥢 NEW SPOT IN CARDIFF YOU NEED TO TRY 🍌✨ Cardiff just got a spicy little upgrade with the arrival of Banana Tree – and trust me, the starters alone are worth the hype! 😍🔥 Whether you’re a street food snacker or a full-on feast fan, this Southeast Asian spot delivers flavour bombs with every bite.

Here’s what we had (and LOVED):

🥥 Prawn Crackers Basket with Sweet Chilli Dip – crunchy, moreish, and perfect for dipping while you wait. An essential snack starter!

🌶️ Bang Bang Broccoli – crispy, saucy, sweet & spicy goodness. If you’re not a broccoli fan yet, this will convert you.

🌽 Sweetcorn Ball Fritters – golden, fluffy, and packed with sweetcorn – these little guys were dangerously addictive.

🥢 Vietnamese Spring Rolls – fresh, light, and dunked in a tangy dip… the kind of roll you don’t want to share.

Mains:

🔥 Legendary Beef Rendang Curry – tender, slow-cooked beef in a rich, coconutty, spicy sauce that melted in our mouths. A MUST.

🍜 Chicken Pad Thai – classic, comforting and full of wok-charred flavour. Sweet, nutty, tangy – just how Pad Thai should be.

🍟 Salt and Pepper Chilli Chips – These were decent and came with some seasoning and chilli heat.

🌟 Overall verdict: Starters = absolute SCENE STEALERS. Mains = proper soul food. If you love Southeast Asian flavours, Banana Tree needs to be your next stop.

📍 Find them now in Cardiff – but book ahead, it’s already buzzing!

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