Apollo Banana Leaf (Tooting)

• The evening started with a long wait for Tom outside Tooting Broadway tube I thought something was afoot and it turned out he'd been at the podiatrist (and grossly overcharged)
• Mike Stone was supposed to join us
• As the scene is constantly expanding)
• Whilst more traditional in its restaurant layout than many Tooting establishments it is still more Millenium Falcon than
• A more advanced space ship that I can't think of (Star Wars is overrated there
• The walls were covered top to bottom with Windows desktop esque landscapes and in the gaps were some choice artworks
• The waiters finally brought our poppadoms which were rather disappointing
• The sole accompaniment of mango chutney was a meagre ration size
• We are sad to transmit that these were probably the most disappointing poppadoms we've experienced on the circuit so far
• The chicken masala dosa was pretty decent the stand out dish
• The word special on Tooting menus is used about as sparingly as the BBC use Fern Cotton
• The Special Kothu was one of few specials listed on the menu and was pleasantly unique
• As someone with a mild aversion to sea food this was far from ideal
• I don't know if this is the Sri Lankan equivalent to a Scotch Egg or just a confused take on the Kinder surprise
• These dishes were quite dry and
• Warp speed is not something Apollo can be praised
• Family affair with only two waiters to start with (presumably father and son)
• The service was far from meteoric
• When we asked for the Nethali Fry we were informed it would take another forty minutes we just didn't have time
• It was so cheap it was as if there was a Ceylon
• Because it is a rare occasion indeed that you find somewhere serving food of such quality at such bafflingly low prices
• Everything is rich with lovingly crafted spicing and careful slow cooking
• Unspoken knowledge that they are amongst the very best at what they do
• Indeed this was quite similar in taste
• Expertly balancing salt and vinegar with a powerful chilli hit
• Aubergine masala was one of the biggest hits of the night
• Done in the same sauce was a just done fillet of masala cod
• Choosing highlights was a difficult job
• Seafood string hopper was a sort of South Indian paella
• Chicken and Prawn 65 were expertly fried nuggets of shocking purple
• Perhaps this was partly a result of them forgetting a "
• That usually appears with this dish according to the regulars I was eating with
• The dosa itself was still tasty
• Fortunately there was still a bit of that incredible hot sauce left to dip it in
• Comparable in style to the Tayyabs dry meat and we all know how good that is shot through with crispy fried curry leaves and onion
• Each cube of mutton was meltingly tender and generously coated in that thick
• Hopefully you'll have made your mind up by this point in the post that Apollo Banana Leaf is a serious restaurant worth anyone's time
• With everything you see above apart from the wine (ABL is BYO) came to just under £
• Even with the usual 12.5% added on which they didn't even ask for it still was only £
• The restaurant inside is very tacky and rundown but the menu look ok with lots of variety
• We ordered a selection of starters to share between 3 the portions were really large and the starters where really tasty
• The main course was disappointing after such a great start
• 13 per person which is amazing value for all the food we had
• Lahore Karahi so it was only fair we gave the equally well known Apollo Banana Leaf a go
• We started with the famous mutton roll
• Our curries were pretty good though the chicken ceylon was well spiced and had a decent amount of heat
• While the saag mutton was creamy and rich with a lovely bit of sweetness
• As always we ended up with way too much food
• As CURRYBOND is a liberal church they are more than welcome for just half a CURRYBOND
• We dive into the starters and with ten CURRYBONDers we get a good look at this variety with dosas
• This particular bhaji is another onion behemoth
• Tasty bhaji with a nice crunch
• Who may have ordered a Jalfrezi in every curry establishment so far looks a bit concerned at his rather milky dish with red clumps sticking out

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