Hi,<br />
can anyone please recommend me a place where i can find good indian banana leaf rice in KL/PJ other than Raju's and Grand City? Thanks. [Posted By Brian_K]

You should try Acha Curry in Petaling Garden, PJ.<br />
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Kavithas a few doors away is also well patronised. [Posted By Indie]

My fav place is Achas at Jalan 5/51, Petaling Garden as they're the only place that I know that serve yummy onion curry and fried bitter gourd. Their fried chicken is also quite unusual and tastes better as they chop it up in small pieces to marinate it and fry it. <br />
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The place is pretty run down but there are quotes and 4D predictions on the walls from the owner. Sometimes if you're lucky he will even show you his glass bottle trick.<br />
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Another place is Kanna Curry Hse at Sec 17, the variety is good there and service is snappy. [Posted By kylie]

oh,cool..thank you for all the suggestions. Will go try them out soon. i wonder if those places have rasam and payasam too.. i hope i spelt it correctly. [Posted By Brian_K]

Kanna has the rasam, that's the sourish assam soup thingie rite?<br />
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Not sure abt payasam as I have no freaking idea what is that. [Posted By kylie]

yeah..thats rasam. Suppose to help with digestion. erm,payasam is i think the desert that goes with the rasam..kinda sweet and thick in texture. served warm/hot and has alot of sago in it. [Posted By Brian_K]

I think you would prefer Kanna Curry house... Sect17 PJ.. up the hill kind of behind Lisa de Inn .. not sure if this website has review..<br />
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but must try their fried stuff.. crab n saltfish curry.. muttonfried nice n tender.. to me Kanna seems more cleaner and service better than the others..warning though .. you might get hooked and want to go there evry other day [Posted By foodkrazy]

Brian, that payasam dessert - think I had that at Annalakshimi in Mid Valley b4. <br />
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Yes, Kanna is a bit cleaner looking but it is also pricey. The clientele during lunch is all the big fellas in town with their bodyguards and drivers. [Posted By kylie]

yes Kanna can be addictive. i enjoy their cutlet and sotong goreng a lot.<br />
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however, i think their rasam is a bit lacking in umph.<br />
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they also have fried bitter gourd and salted chilli padi side dishes. delicious. [Posted By lanatir]

raju is ex larrr... usually will go sri paandi :p [Posted By babe_kl]

Yup tried Kanna before...food is quite good but very pricy oso..nowadays dun eat much banana leaf rice cos its too pricy everywhere... [Posted By Leo]

ahh..thank you..thank you..now i'll just have to visit those places slowly else i'll be broke before i know it. haha. grand city is on the same row as sri paandi i think. [Posted By Brian_K]

kewl .. brian ... give us your feedback after you have tried them .. to try >> paandi, grandcity, acha, kavitha, raju , kanna .<br />
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Its really tuff to stay awake on a working day after a heavy curry lunch ;p [Posted By foodkrazy]

hahaha..i think my comments wont stand to the standards the good people at friedchillies.com have set lar. guess they'll just have to go and try all the restaurants that's famous for indian banana leaf rice and do the reviews for us. <br />
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yeah,thats really true. haha. [Posted By Brian_K]

didn't know banana leaf rice is such a hot topic with you guys. Well, if you guys get tired Acha, Kanna, Raju etc, try Selvams in Brickfields at the makeshift food court opposite (the road from) the red Seri Kota Supermarket. Cheap and good as well. Place don't look as good as Raju or Paandi's. This place for hard core banana leaf eaters only. [Posted By The Foodster]

ooo,nice. i knew Brickfields would have some good restaurants but didnt dare to venture to that part of town since there's so many restaurants there. Thanks. Loads of restaurants to check out now. haha. [Posted By Brian_K]

oooh thxs foodster.. will try soon [Posted By foodkrazy]

Love BLR but I can't keep my eyes open after makan.I get real sleepy after BLR. Must be the spices! [Posted By jc]

Another place you can try is Jaipur in Taman Tun Dr Ismail... has rasam ... and on Fridays, they serve free payasam...the dry lamb curry is great... [Posted By FatBoy]

Give Nirvana Maju at Bangsar a go. It's at the other end of Devi's Corner. They serve payasam from Fri-Sun, a different flavour on each of those days. [Posted By Indie]

oh cool,man..thanks. Been trying to find places that do serve payasam..not many places seem to serve that..more of rasam. <br />
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So whats the location of Jaipur in TTDI? [Posted By Brian_K]

Finally had the banana leaf rice @ Madurai Sri Meenakshi Mess in Lebuh Ampang. Tried the shark curry, mutton veraval and a curried mutton tripe. Mutton head curry was on the menu but I hadnt the company or the nerve for it. While the mutton veraval was ordinary, the curried mutton tripe and shark curry were both great. The shark curry had a rich tangy sauce and spurpisingly sweet tasting meat. The curried mutton tripe (a first for me seeming like an indian curried version of mutton kwey chap if you can imagine such a thing with different cuts of mutton stomachs and all such good stuff) was rich with sinful deliciousness and no off-putting flavour of any sort. I washed it down with a hot crab rassam which was quite satisfying but not as sour as I would have liked. With regard to the accompanying veg, the cabbage and curried bitter gourd were fresh and tasty but the egg plant dish was a total disgrace. Overall though, I certainly recommend this banana leaf rice if youre in Lebuh Ampang.

Vishal's at 18 Jalan Scott is excellent. Much tastier than Raju's or Grand City. They have a branch which is bit more upmarket near SriDevi also in Brickfields. Kanna Curry House is OK but not as consistent as before. They do a fantastic sardine curry. If you know someone who is a member of Subang Golf Club(KGNS), the Banana Leaf there is not bad at all. If you need somewhere upmarket, then Passage to India wins hands down. The PTI Prawn masala, the chukka mutton and the Chicken Tandoori are excellent.
At the opposite end of Raju's there used to be an Indian stall in the chinese coffeeshop and he used to do a fantastic wild boar curry. Dont know if he is still there. Also, on Jalan Bukit, PJ(parallel to Grand City Road)in the middle coffee shop is a woman selling Indian food. Not bad at all.

People have told me Kanna's isn't really good, and Sri Pandii is now rubbish. Thanks for the recommendation of Vishal's, I will try soon and share my opinion.

We have a favourite 5 banana leaf video. Vishal is in it, Marky. Check it out here,...

Ah, thanks. I had lunch already so it's safe to view the video. Otherwise gonna get me salivating all day long.

I always thought that BLR is on 'eat-all-u-can' concept for the vege meal. I was surprised when i last visited Nirvana in Bangsar (next to Ambank) where they charged me additional RM1 because i asked for additional servings of fried bitter gourd. Since when lah the fried bitter gourd is not free flow???

Had Moorthy's Mathai banana leaf rice in Brickfields over the weekend. His freshly fried tenggiri (you wait for it-never the other way around) still has no earthly match. It was wonderful as ever before.

uh, i should try that. where in brickfields is this?

Its at a food court previously called "May Flower Seafood Restaurant & Food Court". It has a new name now that escaped me but the adress is 144A, Jalan Vivekananda Off Jln Brickfields. Quite a few of the stalls from the now defunct New Lay Sin Restaurant moved there. Here's boo's post on the banana leaf when it was in its former location:

http://masak-masak.blogspot.com/2007/02/banana-leaf-rice-mathais-new-lay-sin.html

Devi's Bangsar now serves banana leaf rice on the 2nd floor... i tried it, and pleasantly very surprised with the unusual madras fish curry gravy, mutton gravy, crab gravy and chunky vegetarian gravy. The gravies really have chunks of fish and mutton.. It's a nice change from the regular chicken, fish and dhall gravy. The chicken varuval is excellent and the fried fish is well marinated and moist.

The price is also very reasonable at RM6 per pax. Just a warning: the spices are very strong so it really gives the ooomph feeling. Those who like mild spices should avoid this place. Those like me... will really enjoy this place.

I had the Banana leaf at Devi's Bngsar yesterday.I was surprised by the good lunch crowd that was up there. Otherwise the venue is surprisingly comfortable andyou dont get the afternoon glare as well. As per foodaddict2's advice, I ordered the chicken varuval and the fried fish. Both were very well done. The crab curry gravy I had with the rice was good and their fried bitter gourd was very crisp. Im glad theres a good alternative banana leaf in Telawi Bangsar to Sri Nirwana which Ive long since boycotted for reasons explained elsewhere in the forum.

I have heard that Devi's got better in the last few months. Glad that you had a great experience there. Someone told me that their teh tarik is consistent too.

perhaps we can get 2 ppl at 2 diff tables and order the same food. see how much they'll charge :p

Uh! That sounds like a great plan babe_kl

Actually I had the same thing happening to me...

"I can't stand Devi's Corner in Bangsar. They charge as and how they like. On one day, the fried chicken will cost you RM3.50, and the next day they would say it's RM6. I was forced to fork out RM6 for a piece of chicken because they said 'it was always priced that way'. Total b*llsh*t. The gravies are quite good, but the service and dishonesty puts me off."

So, a good way is to get another guy to kira again. If differ than you can screw the fellow. Somemore, its the law to display prices. So you say you can call the polis or whatever if they don't charge fairly. Make a ruckus, we will support you!

People power!

I think the kira strategy again is a good idea. They shouldn't do these kind of things to their customers. Anyone else has the same experience?

Have to say it hasnt happened to me in Devi's Corner Bangsar and Ive had food from the place quite often. I will say that when it comes to banana leaf rice or nasi kandar, the bill can get racked up very quickly if youre not careful when ordering dishes. The best thing to do is to ask for the price of each dish at the point when ordering to avoid any unpleasant issues after the meal.

Found a new place for banana leaf rice in Bukit Damansara.. but it's Sri Lankan, instead of Indian. The Sri Lankan banana leaf rice is different with Indian in terms of their presentation. The rice and vegetables (3 types) and sambols (instead of chutneys) are wrapped in banana leaf and baked before being served..!! Although they don't use thick coconut milk for the gravy, the spices are very intense. The gravy and dhall are served on the side instead of directly poured on the rice. The dhall is a killer, chunky and full of flavour. My favorite is the brinjal that comes with the rice. I added some mutton (forgot the name but it's black colour) and it was very nice.

Price : It's a bit pricey at RM 12 for the basic vegetarian, but it's really worth my money. The restaurant is very cozy with full air-cond. Parking are plenty on weekends.

The restaurant : Aliyaa at No.8 Lorong Dungun (next to Jarrod & Rowlins), Bukit Damansara. However, they only serve banana leaf rice for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. They open at 12.

I left the restaurant with a smiling tummy... It's like finding a new love..

Just did our film shorties there dude! Awesome food...