Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Banana Leaf Meal @ Sri Nirwana Maju

Restoran Sri Nirwana Maju
No.1 Jalan USJ 9/5M
47610 Subang Jaya
Tel: 03-80259445
(They have another outlet in Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar too)


One day sometime last week I casually asked LL what he would like to eat in Subang since I would be picking him up on one of the afternoons from there. He said he would think about it. That night we were silent while eating our dinner, each very preoccupied with own thoughts. Suddenly… both of us blurted out SIMULTANEOUSLY - “let’s go eat banana leaf rice!” Wahlauu… I tell you, that was so creepy!!

So, a banana leaf meal we would have. Now I don’t know of that many banana leaf joints in Subang ever since the (in)famous Barath’s closed shop years ago. So LL did some smart checking-around from his cronies and this was how we ended up at this Sri Nirwana Maju.

We were lucky to get a parking space right beside the restaurant - you know how horrendous the parking situation is in USJ. It was drizzling when we got out the car - ahhh… nice cool weather to tuck in some fiery grub!

There was a good crowd but service was very fast. As soon as we were seated, the waiters came and took our order. Even before I could finish admiring the colorful paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, the banana leaves appeared on our tables...


...and immediately the rice, condiments and curries were ladled on the leaves!

Unlimited curries ... take your pick: fish? chicken? dhall? Vegetables were acar and yoghurted cucumber...

I was looking for my favourite fried bittergourd but was told that unfortunately they were not serving that that day! What??? No fried bittergourd? How can? Isn’t that like the staple dish in ever self-respecting Indian restaurant? Instead they served this…

Fried Ladies’ Fingers… there was more flour than ladies’ fingers. I totally did not like this.

The mandatory salted dried chilli & fiery sambal


We made our way to the back of the shop to select the items to be fried. There were not many choices... 3 types of fish, chicken and squids...

We chose 1 Chicken Drumstick (RM3.00) which turned out to be quite disappointing. It has been over-fried to death (cremation, in this case!), rendering it very dry and not tasty at all. While it was very crispy, there was hardly any flavour in it. Good fried chicken should have the skin crispy and when you bite into it, the flavoursome juices inside should still be spurting out...

We had 1 Ikan Bulus (RM4.00) deep fried too. Nothing special - it was crispy enough...can't remember much about the taste (maybe there was none?)

The piece of Ikan Tenggiri (RM7.00) fared better. For that price, it was a fairly large piece and it was very fresh.

Now the best fried item was the Squids (RM10). Not exactly cheap, I must say... the piece we chose was just slightly bigger than my palm (spanning from wrist to fingers lah)... and then when they cut it up, there were not that many pieces on the plate leh! Coated and fried in a light batter, the squids were fresh and firm... and the best thing was they were tossed in onions, dried chillies and lots of curry leaves! Yummm! This is one item you must order!

There were about 3 choices of lamb/mutton from their selection. We chose the Lamb Ribs Paratal (RM5.00) ... bad choice! Because... when the plate was served, they were all bones! Could hardly find any meat under the gravy... and it was a tad too salty too!

There was a array of other curries set out... fish, chicken, lamb...

...Nasi Beriyani pun ada...

At the front of the shop there was a variety of indian sweets in a glass case...

I don't know their names...
but they were all so colourful and pretty...
... and verrryyy sweet too, I'm sure! (they look sweet wor)

Banana Leaf Rice is charged at RM5.00 per person... with unlimited rice, curries, vegetables, papadam... I'd go back there for the Fried Squids, hehe! Just avoid the Lamb Bones Ribs and the cremated chicken and we're good to go... that is, whenever we get banana-leaf pangs again!

My rating: 6/10

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

banana leaf meal...no one can resists lah....

PureGlutton said...

simple girl: thanks for dropping by. Ya, can really eat a LOT of rice when having a banana leaf meal, no joke! very bad!

Bangsar-bAbE said...

I can't stand their over-fried chicken. The bones also like keropok de!

It used to be good, but I guess they became too commercialised.

PureGlutton said...

bangsar-babe: Ya la, i wonder why they had to fry their chicken to death!

Rebecca Saw said...

Hahaha.. I totally agree with you on the squids! And yup, commercialisation is a bad thing for food..look at Secret Recipe! Urrghh!
Also do u know that they had an outlet in Jln Berangan, off Jln Sultan Ismail which only lasted 2mths i think. Food there was worse. Alws go bk to Bangsar to be on the safe side..

PureGlutton said...

nomadgourmand: No, i didnt know about their Jln Berangan branch - this is the only outlet i know, hehe!

Selba said...

The food looks so yummy!! I want.. I want... *slurp*

mysimplefood said...

Bharath closed down?!!! I did not know...how come la??

mistipurple said...

hungreeeee. gonna fry some fish fingers when i get home.

mistipurple said...

oh ya, the cremation of the fried chicken was really funnie hahah

PureGlutton said...

selba: Curries on banana leaves definitely hard to resist, haha!

PureGlutton said...

mysimplefood: Aiyorr, Barath's closed down several years ago lahh! Where have u been?? Such a pity though coz their food was good and they were doing well, judging by the crowd. Probably they made enough money & decided to retire la.

PureGlutton said...

misti: Fried fish fingers on banana leaves ahh? Hmm... sounds yummy too :P

J2Kfm said...

RM5 for unlimited curry GRAVY only is it?

that's rather expensive! imagine eating rice n vege and curry only already RM5. additional one squid already RM10 extra.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

aiyoh..dun stoke up that craving..i work near brickfields hahaha

Anonymous said...

OMG, 24 years living in Malaysia, and I have yet to dry banana leaf rice... I'm so ashamed of myself... =.=

Unknown said...

ai ya, you just tempted me with banana leaf rice,been a long while now,i love eating it with my bare hands,very nice.

HairyBerry said...

the squid does look good with the cili kering and daun kari!!

too bad about the peratal cos it would have added so much flavours to the rice!

colour sweets too! :)

PureGlutton said...

J2Kfm: Of coz it's only the curry gravy lor! You think they'll give you the meats also meh??! What to do, prices of everything have gone up like crazy. But for RM5 u can have mountains of rice, 2 types of vege, papadam & banjir with curries - not so bad la :P

PureGlutton said...

Joe: Yeahhh... Brickfields is Banana Leaves country! Way to go, man!

PureGlutton said...

cleffairy: Faster go find the nearest banana leaf joint - u dunno what u been missing, LOL!

PureGlutton said...

eugene: Ya, banana leaf rice is meant to be eaten with the fingers! Added bonus: u get the lingering smell on your fingers for hours after that!

PureGlutton said...

Nic: Hmmm...ya, must try the other lamb dishes next time - hope it won't be as salty or boney la! Ya, everything about the sweets looked sweet, LOL!

Anonymous said...

Cremation! Hahahha. I've always liked their Bangsar branch, but parking isn't so easy either. I love indian sweets...but maybe that's coz I grew up eating the stuff.

PureGlutton said...

LL: Thanks for dropping by :) In terms of parking, USJ Taipan & Bangsar are about the same - horrendous!

Anonymous said...

=.= I takut I cannot finish the rice lahh.... summore hah, the curry looks fiery, duzzin look so kind to my stomach.... =.= I always pass by Brickfields, and wanted to try out a few times, but really dunno how to eat.... wait they dump all curry on it and taste weird... LOL...each time i pass by there, I only end up buying packs of muruku and laddoos! But one of these days, I'm definitely asking my husband to accompany me eat some banana leaf rice... lol... in case I cannot finish,I got ppl to help me finish the rice... :-P

Anonymous said...

cleffairy: Here is a tip to eating banana leaf rice: You CAN control the amount of rice & curry gravy - haiyaa!! Just tell them how much or how little to ladle onto your banana leaf la. As for the gravy, start with the dhall curry which is never spicy! Then slowly add a bit of other curry gravies until you're comfortable with whichever. So... make that trip to Brickfields soon ya!

minchow said...

Goodness!! I was recently at the Bangsar branch and my meal pales in comparison to yours! I didn't dare pile on the sides coz I know it'd make me zzzzzz.... oh and yeah, those fried bitter gourd, the best!! ;-)

PureGlutton said...

550ml jar of faith: Ahh... so u like them bittergourds too eh? *thumbs up*

anonymous said...

hey but i love their fried ladies finger! :D