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White rice on a banana leaf with three vegetable dishes, papadum, pickle and a choice of curries, refilled until you fold the leaf. Brickfields and Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur serve it from morning to night.
Banana leaf rice arrived with South Indian, largely Tamil, migrants who came to British Malaya in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to work plantations and railways. The leaf serves as plate, and a meal of rice, vegetable poriyal, rasam, pickle and papadum is set out in a fixed order, with curries of chicken, mutton or fish ladled on request. In Kuala Lumpur the tradition lives in Brickfields, the city's Little India, where Sri Paandi on Jalan Tun Sambanthan serves from 09:00 until 23:30 most days, and in Bangsar, where Devi's Corner and Sri Nirwana Maju draw a mixed office crowd. Eat with the right hand, and fold the leaf toward you when you are done.
3 editor picks for Banana leaf rice in Kuala Lumpur, ranked by editorial score. All Kuala Lumpur signature dishes · Banana leaf rice across every city.
Sri Nirwana Maju's banana leaf rice, ladled with fish curry and rasam, draws lunchtime queues on Jalan Telawi in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, most weekdays.
OrderBanana leaf rice with fish curry, rasam and fried chicken.
TipCome hungry and ask for extra rasam; the queue outside moves fastest right at the 11:30 opening.
Sri Paandi serves banana leaf rice in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, from 09:00 until 23:30 most days, with a dry mutton curry that regulars order by name.
OrderOrder the banana leaf rice with dry mutton curry, the dish regulars come back for.
TipThe dry curries are the strength here, ask for extra on the rice rather than the wetter gravies.
Devi's Corner, serving banana leaf rice in Bangsar since 1997 and known for its crab curry, has reopened on Jalan Telawi 3 in Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur.
OrderOrder the banana leaf set with the house crab curry and a chicken 65 on the side.
TipSatti sooru is cooked to order in a claypot, so allow about 20 minutes; leaf sets come with unlimited refills.
Banana leaf rice makes more sense with someone from Kuala Lumpur explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.
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