Down here in Playa del Carmen on vacation with Wife N and two friends we brought along.
Bana is located within the Paradisus Playa Del Carmen resort, and is one of the many included restaurants.
Bana's theme is Asian Fusion; while the dishes seemed to be primarily Japanese-leaning, there were Chinese and other Asian dishes available.
I ordered a double-order Sashimi platter; the others ordered a rack of lamb, a General Tso Shrimp, a tuna tartar, and a lovely grilled salmon.
The food was all above average in quality, though it diverged from the menu itself. We have found in this resort on occasion they simply replace incredients, probably due to availability. My Sashimi was supposed to include Hamachi (yellowtail) but instead included Tilapia, which in itself isn't bad but it's no Hamachi. Salmon was gorgeous--this plate was easily a $50 Sashimi plate back home in Oregon.
Wife's salmon was flawlessly grilled to perfection and wonderfully flavorful, on a bed of cauli puree. Very tasty.
General Tso Shrimp's flavor was fantastic and mildly spicy, but really the highlight of the plate was shrimp were flawless. The cook was absolutely perfect. I've eaten shrimp at some of the finest restaurants and it wasn't cooked as well as it was here at Bana. Perfect!
Lamb rack had excellent flavor, though the cook was a little over, well done on the outside, and just shy of medium in the middle. Still tender though, and flavors were bold and beautiful.
We played the field on dessert, with Wife N having a lovely Yuzu Mousse to herself, and the rest of the table sharing a dessert sampler platter with a variety of sweet treats (five flavors of ice cream, most were great though a couple were.. Umm..Interesting. I wasn't fond of the teriyaki ice cream--some experiments should never see the light of day. Lychee ice cream and Ginger sorbet were unique and nice.). The Yuzu mousse was texturally unusual but it worked.
In all, 3.5 stars, but rounding up to 4* given the region and really how well they did with flavors that really aren't in this region's wheelhouse. I suspect this is some of the best Asian/Japanese food in the area. read more