Due to my wife craving for Fish Head Curry plus the pressure + nags that she puts on me. I finally succumbed and relented to her wishes. So both of us + one of her best friend stopped by at Banana Leaf Apolo.

Anyway, we ordered:
- Naan (Plain, Butter and Garlic)- $5.80
- Butter Chicken - $10
- Fish Head Curry (small)- $20
- Mutton Mysore - $10
- Bryni Rice W/Veg and Papadum - $3.50 p/p
- Mango Lassi - $4.50 (A bit ex right???)
- Lime Juice x2, Coke Zero X1, Soda Water X1 others + Towel - $11

Although the original craving is the curry fish head, we actually find that the Naan here is fantastic. Straight out from the oven, crisp on the outside but soft, tender and moist in the inside. Deep it with the butter chicken or the curry from the fish head, and you get a heavenly taste man. I actually dunno how to describe it better.

Well before we manage to enjoy the heavenly naan, we have to wait around 10 mins after order before our food arrived. During this time we actually stuff ourself a bit with Papadum (free flow of Papadum). I have to admit, its pretty damn good. Not oily, very thin and crisp to perfection. You can't even taste the spiciness of the pepper that normally kills the actual taste of Papadum. The first basket gone 60 seconds, nah, actually 3 mins :) the second basket lasted until the meal finished.

Unfortunately the Briyani not a tad hard for my liking. The Pumpkin vegs side dish is nice though and also the cabbage.

The Fish Head Curry, although we ordered the small size it look quite big. Not much vegs inside it, but it does not bother me since I'm not a ladyfinger or brinjal fans. I do find the curry a bit sour. The fish is nicely cook and easily scoop out.

The butter chicken goes nicely with the naan. Non spicy option and the meat is tender. Its quite well balance and you won't feel the butter to overwhelming. The mutton is definitely a killer. I'm serious. The meat is tender but after the first bite, the spiciness starts to kick in, and I start sweating short after.

To put off the fire, I ordered the Mango Lassi. Lucky the lassi works, after a few sips the spiciness is gone. Armed with the mango lassi, I manage to shove a some more(hmmm a lot actually :)) food into my body and need my wife to drag me out of the restaurant afterwards because I'm too full.

Service: Its actually quite good. You can find the waiters when u need them. The even top up the Papadum without being asked and offered to top up your rice when your rice almost gone.

Well if you drop by, don't forget to try the naan. :)

wow the taste of fish curry from banana leaf still lingers on after 3 hours. hahahha. had a company lunch out, with bout 18 ppl. ordered 4 large fish curry plus some side dishes, like masala chicken, curry sotong, potatos to share. had briyani and plain rice to choose from also.
particularly enjoyed the fish curryyyy. :DDD not too hot but just right, with the best indian spices. liked the veg which came with the rice as well. the lime juice was a bit too sweet, but i still had two cups of it.
side dishes were average though, but the masala chicken was spicy and smooth. had an enjoyable meal! hahah filled with smells of curry in the entire restaurant.
meal came up to bout $350 for 18 ppl.

Do refer to the Gayatri review for the other comments on this challenge (from the gayatri perspective)

I used to eat here when I was young. When I was young, I didn't know what was service. All I knew was that the moment my butt landed on the chair + 2 minutes, I would have a banana leaf laid in front of me with some Indian waiter bringing my papadams and lime juice, ready to take my order.

Perhaps I'm older and have eaten at other Indian restaurants like Delhi, Muthu's, Gayatri, Jaggis that are along the same road, and my expectations remained the same....only that Apolo has not kept up with its service standards.

As mentioned in the Gayatri review with the same title (almost), I had eaten the two Indian Fish Head Curries over two consecutive days. Each place was different - either in terms of the way it cooked its Fish Head Curry or the service experience. Here's the verdict:

Fish Head Curry - For $18, the portion was the same size as the Gayatri one. In terms of freshness, the chunks of fish flesh was cooked just right and it kept the fresh taste of the fish very well that at one point (when my tongue was in so much pain from the spices) that I ate the flesh without any curry sauce. Yes, the fish meat was nice...that was until I reached the part of the fish where there were bones and I suspect, quite near the stomach area. Then the taste of the fish became laced with bitterness of the fish bile (they must have excited the fish before they bashed the head to kill it)

The fish curry came with ladies fingers ONLY (unlike the Gayatri version that came with brinjals too) and it was undercooked and probably 20% on the "old veg" side.

The spiciness of the fish curry gravy was sharp and gave me many moments of sweaty, runny nosed pain - which only encouraged me to pour more gravy on my rice to relive that spicy kick to my senses.

Service Experience - From my observation, the Apolo service staff are very efficient with their service. They'll sit you down at your table, bring you your menu, ask you what you want to drink, take your order, bring you your banana leaf with one set of cutlery each, serve you rice, scoop the "all you can eat" vegetables onto your leaf, bring you your papadam and then your food order. I observed....5 minutes is all it takes. That is, if they see you in the first place.

When I arrived and took my seat, they said they would be with me in a minute. 2 minutes passed. No one.

I waved. Someone saw me. He gave me "the hand" - WAIT. I waited....I thought it was an Indian restaurant at Race Course Road...they are busy...so it's acceptable. Another 3 minutes passed. No one

I waved in a different direction to attract the attention of the pink shirted manager. He sees me. He gives me "the hand" too! - WAIT he mouthes...I thought...ok, he is the manager. I'll wait. Another 3 minutes passes. No one. (at this point, I notice new customers who get their menus, rice, order and drink....and I look at my empty table....)

I wave again. This time I catch the eye of the waiter who seems to be doing most of the serving on my side of the restaurant. He sees me. He, too, gives me "the hand" -WAIT he mouthes....I think, ok....this is the old guy...I can still be nice here. He has the power to bring me the menu since the pink shirted manager seems pretty good at standing where he is near the order system "looking busy". So I wait.....I wait....I wait....and WAIT A MINUTE! It's more than 5 minutes and I'm watching the old guy attend to other newly seated tables and then it dawned on me....They are never coming....

So I had to walk up to the pink shirt manager to tell him that we had been sitting there waiting for our server to arrive. The Pink Shirt Manager then tells me "I didn't see you...." WHAT THE??????

Anyway, I thought I would let is pass as today could be the day where I'm the 1% customer that encounters bad service at an institution like Apolo...so I let it slide.....till I got my bill.

THE BILL
Apparantly at Apolo, ordering a fish head curry does not include rice and vegetables (unlike Gayatri). Moreover, without asking what rice I wanted, the server gave me Biriyani (which I didn't want but didn't bother changing it since the old man was obviously busy)....and then charged me $3.50 per person for the Biriyani rice which was not my first choice....I prefer white rice.

VERDICT
Do you really want me to recommend Apolo to you after what I went through? Out of 5 stars, I'd rate the overall experience - food and service and value - as 2.5.

Neither fish head curry blew me away because there was something wrong with either the food (the way it is cooked...Gayatri uses coconut milk in a traditionally Southern Indian fish head curry while Apolo does it the non-coconut way) or the service.

I'm quite certain there are other restaurants along Race Course Road that will do the fish head curry just the right way and serve you well without compromises. Just let me know when you find that place

I came here on the recommendation of my friend, having tried Muthu's along the same stretch of road.

What I really like about this place is the free flow of papadums. The papadum was perfect, being neither oily nor too spicy.

The nasi briyani was soft and fragrant and it wasn't too peppered with spices if you get what I mean. I also liked the naan here compared to the ones I had at Muthu. I can't remember how much I spent at Muthu's but Apollo is definately a tad cheaper plus I got a discount for using my UOB card.

These are my favourite dishes:

1. Papadum
2. Nasi Briyani
3. Fish Head curry
4. Naan (the cheese is my favourite)

I didn't quite like the chicken curry (then again, I'm not a fan of chicken curry) and I'm not in favor of Indian styled vegetables but the cauliflower and potato is ok. However, I will be back should I crave for a dose of Indian fish head curry next time.