Review: Banana Tree, George Street, Oxford

The question everyone asks when they arrive at Banana Tree, George Street’s newest restaurant, is what one earth was there before?

Was it a restaurant or pub and if so which one?

It was in fact Jessops, the photography shop, the lovely new manager Anwill So told me proudly, as I stared open-mouthed at its transformation, revamped so entirely as to render it unrecognisable from its former self.

Offering Indochinese cuisine from Malaysia, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as Thailand and Indonesia, it is more Eastern than Thaikhun’s Thai street food over the road, and enables you to try dishes you might not have come across before.

Whether it would be an English version of Oriental food or the real deal though remained to be seen, and I was sceptical to begin with, especially as George Street can be fairly glib and mainstream food-wise.

Guided over to the Japanese style tables which you have to climb into, admiring the urban stripped back brick walls, low lighting and minimalist interior, the menus were much more flamboyant.

What to have though? It all sounded good and – unless you have travelled through Asia – novel.

So we went on Anwill’s recommendations and tried a bit of everything, usually the way to ascertain whether a new restaurant is any good or not.

The aubergine half with aromatic caramel sauce sounded strange and unlikely but was absolutely delicious, served as it was with fresh herbs and crispy shallots.

The fresh Indo Herb Wraps were more challenging though, as they came with spring rolls, and we couldn’t work out if we were supposed to roll them up in the lettuce and add sauce or eat them separately.

The Kajang Satay Sticks were good though, the Malaysian barbecued chicken served with palm leaf sticky rice, cucumber, mixed pickle and a hot peanut sauce.

And then onto the beef rangun curry – a house speciality from the Minangkabau Hill Tribe of Indonesia apparently. This slow cooked dry and fragrant curry was supposed to be rich and nutty but was too dense for us, a rich, thick dish more akin to a Mexican Mole than the spicy broths usually associated with this part of the world.

The accompanying Indo House Salad with crushed nuts, sweet corn cakes, indo viet cracker and aromatic spiced rice still made it a firm contender.

The Banana Tree Laksa Rice noodles however topped the bill, another house special; spiced coconut broth, with aubergine, tofu and bean sprouts, with your choice of prawns, chicken or coriander meatballs .

Deciding to try our luck with the Tamarind Spicy Aubergine as a suitable accompaniment to our feast, it was less of a success however than the starter.

We continued for longer than was good for us, marvelling at the new flavours, colours and combinations so that when Anwill brought the dessert menus we all agreed it would be one step too far.

He persuaded us anyway to try the Coconut Stuffed Green Thai Pancakes which were indeed green but quite delicious, and we were firm converts by the time we left, rather unsteadily thanks to the fantastic cocktails .

All-in-all I’d recommend Banana Tree which is a great idea, and a real balancer in terms of Oxford’s Mediterranean penchant.

If you want to try food you haven’t eaten before Banana Tree is a great place to start, especially as its open all day from noon till 11pm.

With a lunch deal of two courses for £9.95 and one course for £6.95, there’s no better time than now.

Banana Tree
63 George Street, Oxford OX1 2BQ
01865 200685 bananatree.co.uk/locations/oxford/