Banana Leaf Vegetarian Curry
I headed out to KL Sentral and Brickfields this afternoon for my first banana leaf curry lunch. From the monorail station, one walks down the steps and heads left up Jl Tun Sambanthan. Supposedly, if you walk far enough up you run into many of the little places but I accosted a gentleman on the street and asked him for his favorite place and he directed us to a small corner shop one block behind the main road. I apologize for the quality of the images; I had already dug in and only had my left hand free to photograph so there may be a bit of blur.
A banana leaf curry is served, obviously, on a banana leaf. Someone lays out the washed leaf, places a bowl of steamed white rice beside it and comes back and forth dipping out various vegetables onto the edges of the leaf leaving the middle open for your rice. The curry is served in a small bowl to the side as well as what looked like a bowl of coconut milk and some other tasty liquid. Take a handful of rice, plop it down in the middle and, with your right hand, start piling in different bits of food and enjoy yourself. Eating with your hands is great; it makes you feel like a kid again and brings the fun back to food. Quite a contrast the five-star restaurant at the hotel I once worked at.
Photos after the jump
Steamed Rice With Vegetable Curry
The Full She-bang
I also went to a Punjabi restaurant and dessert shop where I typically have some nice naan and dal and decided to get some sweets as dessert. The ones pictured below are called “barfi“. I also bought ten pieces of what I think the man called “milk bread” but not sure. Delicious though. And unpictured currently.
Barfi
Hopefully in the future I’ll stop myself from digging in before I get a good shot of the food. All photos from jordan eats are featured in my google albums at this address.
Address:
Jassal Tandoori Restaurant
84, Jl. Tun Sambanthan
52000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
September 21, 2008 at 9:39 am
If ever there was any doubt in my mind about not coming to visit you over there, it has now totally evaporated. I would sell a kidney for that meal.
September 21, 2008 at 9:41 am
I think I meant coming to visit you. Crap.