Raj's Banana Leaf Restaurant @Jalan Telawi Bangsar Baru Kuala Lumpur

RAJ'S BANANA LEAF
Place For Spicy Fare In
Bangsar Kuala Lumpur

Authentic South Indian Banana Leaf Cuisine

My cravings for tasty and affordable banana leaf rice has brought me to this part of the Klang Valley in Bangsar. Raj's Banana Leaf Restaurant was recommended to me by one of my foodie friend who's working in Bangsar Baru. She chanced upon this new-kid-from-the-block a few months back and was quite excited with their banana leaf meal, roti canai, thosai among others. So here I am in search of some amazing eats in Bangsar this time!

My latest finds, Raj's Banana Leaf Restaurant is a brand new restaurant which is a spacious corner shoplot located along Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru. This eatery specialise in serving banana leaf rice; serving an array of tantalising and authentic South Indian food cuisine to local folks in Klang Valley.

This restaurant opened its doors to customers barely six month ago and have been enjoying brisk business ever since. It's becoming a popular eatery among the office workers and Bangsar folks as families and young adult groups seems to be enjoying this simple and wholesome Indian food.

Simple & Clean Environment

As you can see Raj's Banana Leaf Restaurant's set-up is simple, clean and bright, totally a no-frills eatery where the focus is purely on serving all-day-dining delicious meals to its diners. The service is good and the waiters are quick to take your order and clean up after patrons have left. If you're lucky, go ask for this particular waiter called Kumar, pleasant young Indian chap who's good with his recommendations of what to eat for the day.

Fresh Banana Leaves

Ah, I'm delighted when I saw some real fresh banana leaves are being use here. Some establishments in order to save cost, have resort to use synthetic banana leaf instead of the real ones to serve their food. I would never eat at a banana leaf rice eatery without banana leaves, it's deceive the whole concept of enjoying it, while it took away the authenticity of the particular cuisine.

Menu For Banana Leaf Rice

Steaming Hot Rice on Banana Leaf

Priced at RM 7.50, the meal comprises rice, 2 vegetables and other condiments such as papadams, fried bitter gourd, fried salted dried chillies, pickle, rasam, vegetable curry and sambar. Diners can order various chicken or mutton dishes, chicken varuval or fried dishes including fried fish, fish egg, squid, giant prawn and chicken drumstick on the side.

Chicken Peratel

RM 8 per serving

Chicken Masala

Chicken Varuval

Mutton Varuval

RM 10 per serving

Mysore Mutton

RM 11 per serving

Fried Squid with Onions

RM 9.50 per 100gm

An Assortment of Marinated Fresh Seafood & Chicken

Fried food goes well with banana leaf meal. Fish lovers will be spoilt with choice as there are wide array of fishes such as threadfin (senangin), mackerel (tenggiri), Silver Whiting fish (ikan bulus), white pomfret (ikan bawal) and even fish egg (telur ikan) to choose from.

Fresh and Succulent Giant Tiger Prawn
RM 15 per pc

Mouth-Watering Freshly Fried to Perfection Dishes

Fried Chicken Drumstick (Skinless)

RM 6.50

Crab

RM 15 per pc

Although not a fan of crab, I enjoyed eating this fried version of the flower crab as the meat was very fresh and sweet-tasting.

Giant Tiger Prawn

RM 15 per pc

Ikan Bawal - White Pomfret

RM 7.50 per 100gm

Senangin - Threadfin

RM 7.50 per 100gm

Ikan Bulus - Silver Whiting Fish

RM7.50 per 100gm

Tenggiri

RM 6.50 per pc

Fried Fish Egg

RM 5 per 100gm

Sides of Vegetables & Rasam

The fun of eating banana leaf rice is the unlimited toppings of vegetables, sambar, papadoms and flooding of your rice with all your favourites curries gravy. My son love his rice, drenched with gravy and crush papadam for the extra crunch.

Fried Salted Dried Chilli

I always enjoy eating my banana leaf rice flooded with the 3 types of curry; fish curry, chicken and dal curry. For added flavour, there is the addictive rasam, a tangy-sourish and spicy soup as well as the salty but tasty fried salted dried chilli which I'm crazy about.

For first timers, it would be good to try out the rasam before you pour it over your rice. My greatest satisfaction is to savour my banana leaf rice with hands, mixing-up my curries and rasam while relishing my chicken and mutton dishes. I'm not a great fan of fried food but just love the Indian curries that are made with a good mix of spices and fresh herbs.

Fresh chicken dishes and the delicious curry gravy over my hot banana leaf rice really made my day. After indulging in a good and satisfying meal, I washed down everything with a refreshing coconut drink straight from the shell.