SHOCKALINGAM Banana Leaf in my neighbourhood has caught my eye many times but I only ventured in for a takeaway lunch just two weeks ago. I have been back twice since.

For the first takeaway, I had a delicious meal of mutton cukka varuval with tamarind rice, fried eggplant and spiced potato. There was also pappadam and fried dried chillies in a packet, and a small tub of curry to complete the set. This was all for RM18.

The rich dark mutton cukka varuval, with the tender meat well-infused with fragrant spices was so good. It was a generous portion too. The tamarind rice, cooked with some dhal and peanuts was fluffy and had sour overtones which I like.

It was a perfect combo with the rich mutton. Fried spicy eggplant and potato were in the box too. There was too much rice for one person; I ate it for two meals.

I had chosen this mutton combo “Kotak” set from among four that included chicken combo (RM14), seafood combo (RM18) and vege combo (RM10). All the combo sets offer four flavours of rice – tamarind, lemon, mint and yoghurt. For rice eaters, it piques the palate, and the rice is flavourful enough to eat even on its own.

I bought the chicken maharaja varuval set with lemon rice next, for a friend who just had a vaccine jab and she raved about the chicken, the potatoes and vegetables, grumbled a bit about the huge portion of rice but still managed to finish everything within the day!

I didn’t fare so well with my curry fish in the seafood combo, which I paired with mint rice. The fish fillet was of a fair portion but the curry tasted raw and a little too tart. I liked the mint rice though. The snake gourd with dhal and the creamy spiced potatoes were a saving factor.

I enjoyed the lemon rice scattered with dhal and curry leaves in my next order of the mutton combo. The mutton varuval is still my No. 1 among the combo sets. Lemon rice and tamarind rice are my favourite too. The vegetables vary from day to day, but the potatoes seem to remain the same.

We added butter chicken (RM16) and the Shockalingam seafood mee goreng (RM16.80). I was pleased with the butter chicken which was neither too rich nor too sweet. It had balanced flavours and the curry was so aromatic.

I had expected a mamak, dry style of mee goreng. This one was more like our Hokkien noodles, dark and moist, fried with squid, prawn and bean curd, and topped with a fried egg. The more I ate, the more it tasted like Hokkien noodles, not that I minded.

I would have liked to try Shockalingam’s Banana Leaf set, but it should be the real thing where I could “turn over a new leaf” as its tagline says. The set comes with four types of vegetables, six choices of curries, rassam, chutney, pickles, pappadam, dried chillies and kessari dessert. All this will have to wait till dine-in is allowed.

There is also chicken, mutton and vegetarian briyani sets to order. For breakfast, there are Pizza Dosa, Rava Masala Dosa, Uttappam, Sambar Mini Idli and Vadai, among others.

Shockalingam Banana Leaf is at 26 Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. Call 011 3980 8492 to order. The food is usually ready for pickup within 15 minutes. – June 12, 2021.

* 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.