IT is hard to miss the colourful shopfront of Kadei by Manchula, the latest banana leaf rice restaurant to grace a Petaling Jaya suburb.

From the start, the serving of side dishes on banana leaf was unstoppable. We got dhal curry with snake gourd, snake gourd with dhal, sambal tofu, onion and cucumber pickle, potato masala, mango chutney and a smoky, deep-fried dry chilli. Eggplant with potato squeezed in beside the rice, together with a pile of crispy pappadams.

Then, I had to make a quick decision about chicken or fish curry, before my rice is doused with it. Diners can be forgiven for not ordering extra dishes after all this.

We were impressed; first by the clean banana leaf on which our meal rested (our wet wipe stayed white!), the bright interior of the restaurant and the speed with which our meal was served.

Our extras for this banana leaf lunch were fish curry with mango, cooked to a home recipe by Manchula, mother of the owner, Suresh, mutton varuval and spinach curry. I loved everything on my banana leaf. The snake gourd with dhal was excellent, the sambal tofu was hot and tasty, and I like anything with eggplant. I even enjoyed bites of the smoky, crispy chilli.

Mango gave a tangy, natural sourness to the delicious fish curry. A thick slice of the fruit peeked out of the curry cooked with a tenggiri fillet, which also had tomatoes and lady’s fingers in it.

We had a generous serving of yummy mutton varuval cooked with New Zealand bone-in mutton leg cubes. The meat was lush, juicy and tender, with spices soaked in every fibre of the meat.

Spinach curry was a late addition, and also had a dhal curry base, similar to two side dishes on our banana leaf.

I can never resist an appam when I see it on the menu, even though our banana leaf lunch was ample. I had it as a starter, shared with my friend who preferred to eat it with curry. It was a lovely appam, soft and fluffy in the centre, with a crispy edge all round. All it needed was a drizzling of the lightly sweet coconut sauce over it.

We paid RM43 for the two of us, with RM8.50 for the basic meal with the side dishes. There are other dishes on the menu, such as the roti special (RM4) torn and “banjir-ed” with dhal, mango fish curry, ikan bilis sambal and half-boiled eggs, the poori set (RM3) with potato masala and dhal, thosai, nasi lemak with prawn sambal (RM16) or mutton varuval, chicken masala (RM8.50), fried muttton (RM9), with NZ mutton cutlets marinated with ginger paste and spices and fried a la minute.

We had Kesari for dessert, one of the best I’ve had. I liked it for the ginger and cardamom flavours in the not-so-rich semolina, chopped almonds and ghee blend.

Kadei by Manchula is at 28, Jalan SS24/13, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, and can be reached at 03-7886 6780. It is open from 7am to 10pm. Kadei is the Tamil pronunciation of “shop”, which also sounds like kedai. – October 3, 2020.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.