Banana Leaf

As a city that loves a little Eastern influence on the dinner table, you can hold the Glasgow Award for Oriental Restaurant of the Year in pretty high esteem. The competition was stiff and varied, but ultimately there could be only one, and 2017 saw Cambridge Street’s Banana Leaf hailed as champion. Everyone’s going to have their favourites, but it’s pretty hard to argue with that decision.

The stylish Malaysian restaurant is the passion project of a father and son committed to bringing the flavour of their home country to Glasgow’s city centre. The restaurant itself is filled with little touches to instil it with personality, from the hanging lamps to the green-glowing bar that towers with spirits and liqueurs from home and abroad. Wandering in off the street, it’s the kind of place that immediately gives you the feeling that you might be on to something here.

You’ll applaud yourself for that bit of intuition once the plates start to arrive: a mixture of familiar dishes with a twist and more obscure options, every offering is loaded with flavour and served up sweetly on the eponymous banana leaf. You’ll order the lemon chicken because you know you like lemon chicken and then realise that no, you have never had lemon chicken quite like this before – this is the only lemon chicken you'll ever want or need again. And then you’ll order everything else on the menu.