Friday, November 28, 2008

Sri Nirwana Maju, Bangsar

This place needs little introduction - it's an institution on its own, based purely on the power of word-of-mouth generated by the heat and awesomeness of the food here. Situated directly opposite Bangsar Village (the Delicious end), I found myself staring at the hordes of people traffic moving in and out of Sri Nirwana Maju one sleepy Sunday afternoon. And when joined by friend later, we decided banana leaf rice for lunch it was then.
There are so very few ways you can go wrong with banana leaf rice. Rice, soaked with aromatic curry, dressed with an assortment of tasty sides all on a fresh leaf... Sri Nirwana Maju is doing something very right to stay at the top of a very competitive game!

Poppadums in a basket... can you hear CRUNCH any louder?

We didn't want to overdo sides, as we wanted to remain conscious that afternoon. I had the honour of choosing one to share and I ended up with this, which didn't turn out as good as it looked - a peppery, tumeric-ky, curry-leafy, chicken dish. Still, it's only one wrong in a sea of rights, so Sri Nirwana still gets a nod!

And the cream of the banana leaf experience - fried bitter gourd!! This is heavenly, crispy and soft at the same time, with a wonderful balance of spices. And upon seeing our expression of unmasked delight when it was served, the wait staff piled on a larger than usual mound on our leaves.

Our meal for two, including one drink, came up to about RM17. Not too bad at all, considering the neighbourhood!

13 comments:

Mellie said...

I was there just now for tea. Starving after steamed carrot & french beans lunch (pathetic I know). Took monstrous strength not to hv the darn banana leaf rice at 4pm!! Let's go again shall we?

worldwindows said...

Good deal. Hard to get genuine banana leaf rice with the full accompaniment of authentically cooked side dishes.

-j- said...

must ask my husband to go try there. he loves banana leaf rice and always complains that there's no nice ones in KL

Steven Goh said...

I just had my banana leaf just now but not is Sri Nirwana, is in Sri Ananda instead. I can see that the way they presented the banana leaf are quite similar for both restaurant. I gonna try Sri Nirwana when going down to KL.

minchow said...

Mellie, yes we shall we shall!

Worldwindows, this is the real deal, no doubt!

Duckie, ooh do get him to try this one. Or Kanna's near SS2, a close second to this.

Steven, the hunt for the best banana leaf rice is never ending!

email2me said...

I prefer Sri Paandis or Raju's at Jalan gasing more coz they offer much more side condiments.

Ciki said...

that's pretty affordable of BL!

J2Kfm said...

Sri Paandi's everywhere eh? I saw a few at different sections of KL n Sgor.

this Nirwana I've no idea it's THIS good, but was surprised by the turnout during lunch hour, when we were passing by one time.

true, with banana leaf curry rice, how wrong can one go?

Tummythoz said...

This is dangerous stuff. I tend to go overboard with the rice.

Anonymous said...

Dash. Now I know what I want for lunch. BLR!!!! :D

minchow said...

Email2me, believe it or not, I've yet to try those two outlets and they're BLR legends!

Ciki, cheap right??? I heart cheap!

J2Kfm, yup, when in doubt, banana leaf it!

Tummythoz, me too! Really have to watch that control button with this!

Life for Beginners, oh go on, you know you want to! :-)

spacebaby(r) said...

they are charging extra for side dishes if you require anything more than the initial "allocated" portion. the staff know best how much we should eat.

Mellie said...

Bloody stupid waiters with crap attitude. U have to beg for your food. N pray that the waiters r in a good mood to serve u.
Good good food, bad bad service. Be warned.