Two thumbs (and a sliced index finger!) up at Jaipur Curry House, TTDI

I was jolted out of my blogging inertia by two encounters this week. The first was dinner earlier in the week with two of the most industrious and charming bloggers I know, Kenny and Ciki, who put lazy recluses like me to shame with their consistent blitz of mesmerizing and engaging posts.

The second involved some degree of pain. See, last night, I had attempted to cook while under the influence (I have a ridiculous habit of fancying myself as some sort of Ramsay understudy after a bottle or thereabouts). While slicing this bitch of an onion, I unceremoniously let slip on the knife and came close to lopping off an index finger. Somewhat traumatized by the amount of bleeding and the herbal oil needed to make it stop, I decided to overcompensate today by eating, which led to the second inspiring encounter of the week - the banana leaf rice meal at Jaipur Curry House.

The deep fried fish arrived looking rather synthetically red but once we forked into its tender white flesh, we knew we were in good hands. Fresh and sprightly.

Chicken curry stew was a huge fat tick as well - packed with spice and pizzazz!

If I absolutely had to pick on something, it'd be the fried bitter gourd. I think there's a fine art to making this delightful complement to BLR a hit - while the crunch factor is essential, more so is the actual vegetable underneath the batter and if too heavy-handed on the latter, you basically end up with unidentified crunchy bulk, as was the case here. Still think the best fried bitter gourd resides at Sri Nirwana.

The BLR spread at Jaipur is good, really good. The curries and dhall effortlessly soaked the mountain of fluffy white rice dished out. The sides were generous and scrumptious. Even the rarely seen sweet potato chips made an appearance.

Spotted the chicken curry puff on the storefront and I can never resist such a solid looking package. The curry filling in this was probably several notches spicier than the standard Malay curry puffs, which tend to veer towards sweeter notes. There's a quarter of an egg within thinner pastry. At RM1 a pop, these have definitely inched its way into my curry puff hall of fame!

While I will not care to repeat the injury that preceeded the visit here (note to self: if I must absolutely cook after intoxication, at least make sure all the slicing and dicing's done before I begin drinking), I am certain Jaipur Curry House will be one place I will undoubtedly return to again and again. Service was genuinely affable too.

Jaipur Curry House

32 Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu

Taman Tun Dr Ismail

60000 KL
Tel: 03-77282955

The Return of the Bride, Vishal's Brickfields

Vishal in Brickfields had been unknown to foolishly ignorant me until one recent sunny Sunday morning, on the occasion of the return of our lovely (and soon to be blushing bride) Li Ann, back from her working holiday stint in the UK, tightly escorted by strapping groom-to-be Benji.

Li Ann and the disgustingly fit Benji, fresh from walking the Terry Fox run, jumped into my car and provided directions down the narrow streets to Jalan Scott, where Vishal's occupied the unassuming lot opposite the temple.

The immediate word that came to mind when we entered was "mess hall", in its most charming interpretation. Most of the dining seats in the house were lined up on one side of the long tables to minimise traffic obstruction. Not the best for a five-way conversation so we were lucky to secure one of the few regular 4-seater tables.

As soon as the rice and vegetables were heaped onto our individual leaves, I knew this was no regular BLR joint, what with the gorgeous shades of greens and reds. Like Christmas almost! Li Ann explained that Benji favoured Vishal's for its heady curries. I watched transfixed as the staff splashed fish curry & dhal on mine, all the while muttering "banjir, banjir."

Benji knew his curries all right. The curries here were not as viscous as Kavitha's but it was certainly no less commanding. We were stunned into silence for a few minutes while we paid respect to the blazing spread in front of us before we resumed firing questions about her Continental adventures.

The Poppadum and stuffed chillies took some time to arrive. I am a staunch devotee of the freeform style poppadum rather over the square cracker variety but it's a trivial flaw so will let it pass. Still crazy crunchy even when mixed in with all that soggy rice.

Riz also got the curious-looking minced sharkmeat & egg dish, nicely flavoured with spices and curry leaves. I had long-standing misgivings about sharkmeat but this was a nice, albeit dry repeal.

We finished with Rassam, sour and substantial, not the watered down variety to which I had been wrongfully inducted. I shall forever repent for pooh-poohing this digestive after BLR, for this prevented me from a melancholic, would've-been highly regrettable nap that same afternoon.

Welcome Back Li Ann, and may this be the start of another wonderful adventure right here at home!

One For The Road, Kavitha's, off Jln Gasing

With the remnants of Raya-induced misbehaviour slowly dwindling to a heartbreaking stop, so begins the onset of a period of solid work and discipline, right up until year end. But before that, I had to make one last hungover pit stop at Kavitha's in Taman Petaling, off Jalan Gasing.

Had spied Kavitha's when we were in the area not too long ago for Khun Thai, and had subsequently heard raves from other bloggers and BLR lovers alike.

We had been warned about the atrocious service here so we arrived with a good measure of patience and good faith. It took the staff a full 20 minutes before they leisurely laid on our tables the banana leaves, and a further 15 minutes to dish up the rice and the sides.

Now we weren't 100% sure what this was - one of the staff, who looked like he'd been smoking a lil' something something, said it was "perut ayam" but Fat Tulip who finished this all by himself said it tasted more fish than chicken. Can anyone enlighten?

Spicy shrimps - these were just okay. I'm not crazy about the sweetness of the sauce, especially when served stone cold.

Their Chilli chicken worked for me - chicken was fresh, nice mix of breast and thigh meat, all coated very nicely with the pungent, extra spicy dressing.

Last to arrive were the crunchies - poppadum, stuffed chillies and rather lacklustre version of fried bitter gourd.

The best thing about Kavitha's though was the basic vegetarian set itself. The combination of its extra-rich gravies, generous serving of 3 types of vegetables, chutney and sambal was a beaut! The result was almost not entirely classic BLR; it had a whiff of nasi kandar, especially in the thickness of its fish gravy. One could happily tuck into this minus any of the side dishes and go to war (or period of hard slog & moderation) quite, quite charged.

While the service was dire despite the place being only half-filled, and the side dishes just adequate, I'd be back in a heartbeat for the very exceptional basic vegetarian set.

Until then, let's soldier on, troopers!

Spice & Everything Nice, My Spicy Kitchen, Sungei Way

Banana leaf love is hard to beat. After inflicting too much abuse on one's constitution, BLR is usually, undoubtedly the only route to revival.

I've been impressed with how the enterprising siblings currently running My Spicy Kitchen have been engaging spicy food lovers via very current and relevant channels specifically Twitter and Facebook. So when Saturday morning called for BLR therapy, I was keen to give it a whirl, despite having to grapple with maps, directions and whatnots to get to Sungei Way, an area in PJ that was completely foreign to me.

We find the unassuming corner lot in the depth of Sungei Way with little trouble, thanks to the map here.

Here, banana leaf rice serving comes with a tray of the requisites - 3 x vegetables, 1 x dhal, 1 x fish curry and 1 x rassam. Bring on the healthy heap of rice, top up with poppadums and go crazzzeeee!! I appreciate that it's a tidier way of serving the reqs but I still much prefer the ceremonious, haphazard serving right on the banana leaf itself.

The chicken actually offered poultry freshness, not stale, hardened fibrous mass that I've learned to expect from the BLR side dish line-up.

While the BLR did what it was supposed to do, what stole my heart was the Samosa preceeding it. The triangular pastry was beautifully crafted, with the right balance of spice and everything nice. This snapped me right out of Hangoverville!

If I had to absolutely gripe, my one and only would be the absence of fried bitter gourd. We ordered it, gotten it misinterpreted by the helpful service staff, and learned much later that fried bitter gourd was in fact, not on the menu. BLR without fried bitter gourd is a concept difficult to stomach so here's hoping they'll add it on soon!

Also found out about My Spicy Kitchen's upcoming World Vision initiative, where customers will contribute towards helping the poor help themselves to build sustainable futures for their children, families and communities. Right on!

Keeping the faith, Little India, Penang

The morning after jubilant Thaipusam took the roads of Penang, it was time for Memo's annual pilgrimage to the temple of Banana Leaf Rice at Sri Ananda Bahwan in Little India.


Nothing much tops the excitement upon having the leaf placed in front of you, a blank canvas of the most organic, aromatic faith.


The best vegetarian meal one could ask for, really.


Fried bitter gourd, a tad too battered for me.


Our misstep of the day. This vegetarian cauliflower dish was rather bland and uninteresting and this humble serving (for 3 pax allegedly) came up to RM10.50.


The original Sri Ananda Bahwan, not at all like the suburban flavours served up at its sister outlet in Tanjung Bungah.


We spied at the corner of nearby King Street a stall serving up some deep fried goodies for the hot, sleepy afternoon ahead.


On the way home, we chanced upon the lovely local sakura tree (botanic nomenclature unidentified), which flowers all but once every 12 months, in full bloom. These sakura trees are rare to come by; we spotted this at Jalan Loh Boon Siew, off Burmah Road (before the turnoff to Chinese Recreation Club).


We round up our afternoon out, sinking our teeth into crunchy, greasy vegetarian samosa, our guts sated and our individual faiths restored.

Souled Out, Desa Sri Hartamas

It’s not often that we bother with weekday evening traffic after work to catch up with friends but when we do manage, it makes me wonder why we don’t do it more often. One such unusual evening, we ended up at trusty, ever-dependable Souled Out in Desa Sri Hartamas.

Idle chit-chat and beer poured, gulped and set aside, we got down to the serious task of making our individual selections from the extensive yet thoroughly familiar menu.

Beef ribs – one friend ordered this stupendous dish. I don’t eat beef but even so, I couldn’t help desiring some of that smoky bovine goodness.

Mama Mia – another ordered the pizza topped with anchovies, beef bacon, black olives, garlic, tomatoes & cheese.

Roasted chicken fajita – I was trying to eat light, having consumed a massive lunch. Love the combination of jalapeno and guacamole in this, and it’s the best portion for a snack. Leaves plenty of space for merry drinks!

Chilli con carne – Massive serving of fresh corn chips, sour cream, avocado, minced meat and beans. This particular friend tends to stick very close to his tried-and-tested favourites; this never fails to bring on that big toothy grin.

Mango prawn salad – This looked too pretty to not be photographed. There’s just something about succulent pink prawns nestled among fresh greens, don’t you think?

Butter chicken – Souled Out has a more than decent Indian section in its menu and on this occasion, two in the group went for the big, value-for-money portions. One had Butter Chicken, the other Chicken Vindaloo (of which I took a bad photo of). They’re RM22 each but big enough to last you a couple of meals at least!

There were also desserts, including one sexy looking Lava Cake but by then, we were all so caught up with the business of catching up that the cameras were elbowed out. I remember many happy hours spent here years ago but it got too crowded and too much of a hassle. Also, prices have gone up all around but if it’s consistency and hearty fare you’re after, there are not many ways you can go wrong here. Recommend coming here early Sunday evenings and trying the Sake-san pizza!