Lotus Leaf Cafe

I went to this restaurant by recommendation of a friend on a Friday night. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed at first since after checking the details and directions on the web, I also saw that they had a few good write-ups and also won some awards on Citisearch. I was expecting a nice sized restaurant. That didn't turn out to be the case. This restaurant is pretty small! However, it turned out to be one of the best dining experience I had in a long time (and I hope they won't disappoint me next time I return). There were 3 of us and we all were pretty satisfied the the dinner. First off, we were greeted by a very charming host (probably a manager) who sat us on the enclosed patio just a few feet from the jazz band. We got briefed on the chef's weekend specials and something about a complimentary wine tasting going on and that he will send the wine presenter over later if were insterested. We agreed (it was complimentary!). A few minutes later, a waiter came by to take our drinks and appetizers order, we ordered the summer rolls and the basil duck salad (because it was recommened by Greg Cox) but passed on the drinks because we wanted to wait on the wine. Then the wine guy came by and we had a blast. He is a local wine teacher and is very knowledgeable about wine. We sampled all three wine and ordered a bottle of Menage a Trois white blend. The summer rolls were good but the basil duck salad was phenominal. For main dishes, we ordered chili lemon grass chicken, grouper in banana leaf and one of the chef's special, asian bouilabaise (sp?). We all loved our dishes but I wished I had ordered the bouilabaise with all the seafood instead. Well may be next time :). The Greg Cox recommended grouper in banana leaf was excellent and goes very well with the wine we chose. Desserts looked great (a lot of french desserts for an asian place), but we were pretty full and only ordered the fried banana with icecream to share. It was large enough to share and was pretty good. They use the the little bananas and wrapped like an eggroll with vanila icecream. Now comes the best part, with all the wine, the live jazz (oh, I love the voice of the jazz singer) and the excellent 3 course dinner, our total bill was under $100! What a steal! Needless to say, we left a nice tips and will definitely be back. Hope it will be just as good the second time around.