For our final night in Punta Cana at Paradisus Palma Real, Samuel insisted on eating in the room and having a babysitter; we quickly agreed and reserved a table at BANA BISTRO in the main complex, which is their Asian fusion spot. They also have two other Asian places in the same doorway which are teppanyaki and sushi restaurants, but we will have to return another time to try these.
BANA BISTRO has the feel of the Old Trader Vics, if you recall those. There were bamboo accents, large ceramic tiki glasses for water, hanging orange lanterns with "Asian" lettering and the like. Bana calls itself Asian fusion claiming the food to be Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Read on and you will get this gist of what this means, and while there were some wonderful dishes, the overall food quality is not really that superb.
Will & I had been suffering from the "Dominican Devil" for a couple of days. This was our affectionate term for Montezuma's revenge, although it is on a much less intense scale--your basic upset tummy with minimal runs--enough of that. So we were worried about what to order, but decided to risk it all and blow caution to he wind.
We started with glasses of the all-inclusive house white Sauvignon Blanc SARMIENTOS de TARAPACA 2007 from Chile, which needed to be more chilled. After we polished off the first small glass, our very attentive server Manuel brought over a full bottle which was much colder and worked great with the spicy first course I ordered. This wine is about as uneventful as one can expect, but it serves its purpose. The SPICY OCTOPUS SALAD was a bed of romaine and iceberg (the menu said Mesculun) with a nicely spicy CHILI GARLIC Dressing and lots of sliced octopus all over the top. I gave Will most of the octopus that had no dressing, and even on its own it was deliciously tasty.
Will chose the BBB (don't know it's 3 B's as 2 B's makes sense for Bana Bistro) Chef's Selection, which was really for two people, so I helped him: Triangular Pillow shaped SPRING ROLLS had little vegetable filling and a sweet and sour sauce. GINGER BBQ Ribs were of mediocre quality with a tasty sauce. SPICY CHICKEN WINGS were not that spicy, but the best item in the triad. A finger towel would have been welcome after the ribs and wings!
We ordered off the "extra charge" wine list and settled on a bottle LAN RESERVA from Rioja 2001 that was indeed a great choice at $55 from the Wine Spectator Awardee list (but all these wines do cost extra above the all-inclusive plan). It was smooth and got even better as it opened up. We split two entrees which were both quite good. From the Japanese list was the SEAFOOD MASALA (yup, Indian curry on the Japanese list!) which was shrimp, huge mussels (they are the largest I have ever seen anywhere here in the DR!), calamari with the requisite Chinese vegetable mix of celery and bamboo shoots with a "Japanese Curry Sauce" according the menu. The curry was Indian and actually quite delicious, so we poured it over the white rice with glee and gobbled it up. From the Thai section we took Manuel's suggestion for the BEEF FILET with BASIL & OYSTER SAUCE which was not as good, but had pretty decent meat save for one small piece of gristle. Kikkoman Salsa di Soya was delivered to the table, but we refrained.
For dessert we split a bowl of Lychee sorbet with (naturally canned) Lychee Nuts which was even more reminiscent of those old style Chinese places from the 70's. I must also add that the lighting at the restroom entrance was so awful that neither of us could see the little man in the top hat on the tiny panel to tell the difference between the hombres and senoras!
I must also say that while at Paradisus Palma Real, we really did enjoy the breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets that we tried with their huge varieties of local and American-style or International foods. There was always something to eat for everyone and much of it quite good, and while the wines were really mediocre, you can always pay for the better bottles if necessary. Even the taco-like crunchy Texas style chicken wrap we had at the poolside HYDRO GRILLE upon arrival had two yummy dipping sauces and was quite a good preparation. This was my first all-inclusive experience, and we came away quite satisfied with most of the food and would consider it again, however, I think our first love will still be cruises.
