Vishalatchi Food Catering @ Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur

Located along Scott Road in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur is this famous Indian restaurant called Vishalatchi Food Catering that specialises in Chettinad Cuisine. Often being mistaken with Vishal Food Catering which is just three doors away, both restaurants are rivals and compete with one another. Both restaurants have their fair amount of supporters. Being a food enthusiasts myself and having tried Vishal Food Caterers on two separate occasions before, I decided to try this place today just to get a feel of their food. I am going here today with an open mind and would be posting reviews based on my opinion which can differ to others out there.

Restaurant Vishalatchi Food Catering along Scott Road

It is more of a mess concept

Sharing of tables is common

Being in a pre-war building, there is a limitation of space in this restaurant. It is designed like a typical mess and during peak hours like today, we had to share tables with others in the restaurant. I am okay with this concept but this also means that you loose your privacy and I could very much hear most people's personal conversations. I am going to compare this restaurant apple to apple with Vishal Food Catering in this review. In my opinion, the cleanliness of this restaurant is a little less compared to Vishal's. Also, the service level is not quite up to the mark. Here you would have to shout to the waiters who are very busy attending to customers needs just to get their attention and to serve you. In contrary, this is not the case at Vishal where very personal attention is given and meals are served promptly with customer satisfaction in mind. Here the staffs were just wanting to serve you and walk away to the next customer. There is no up selling taking place whereby I have had to call the waiters numerous times just to add some meat dishes. 

Banana Leaf Meal @ RM 5.00

A typical banana leaf vegetarian meal here comes with four different vegetables and it is charged at RM 5.00 each. This of course comes with unlimited rice top ups and vegetable refills. They also have the variety of both par boil rice and the usual rice. Here once again after serving the rice, the waiters disappeared. I had to call them numerous times just for some Papadam. Well, the banana leaf meal is priced the same as Vishal Food Catering but the quality of the curry here is not up to the mark. I tried both their chicken curry and Sambar and both were just mediocre. I would only rate their curry at 7/10 . It was good but not great. I will mention more on their vegetables shortly.

Their Vegetables

Their Vegetables

There was nothing great about their vegetables. It is the common vegetables found in most Indian restaurants. The only good one was their Potato Perattal. I would rate their vegetables generally at 5/10 . In comparison, Vishal does serve some good vegetables and there are some other places that serve great vegetables. Once again, I am not satisfied with the vegetables here. 

Fried Fish @ RM 5.00

Their Fried Fish was disappointing. With all the positive reviews out there, I was seriously expecting more from this restaurant. Firstly, I have never seen fried fish that is that small. The above one was the largest one I could find. And secondly, the marination was only average. If you do check my reviews on Vishal, I did mention that that was the best Fried Fish that I have ever tried and that statement is still valid. I would only rate this at 8/10 . Taste wise it was average but price vs size, it's a scam. 

Fish Cutlet @ RM 4.00

Their Fish Cutlets was nice. I have tried the cutlets at Vishal and I find that this is equally good. I would give this a rating of 8.5/10 . Definitely worth trying at this restaurant and at RM 4.00 , it is truly worth it. 

Mutton Varuval @ RM 5.00

I find that their Mutton Varuval to be tasting good. Vishal prices this dish at RM 8.00 and here it is only RM 5.00 . The setback here is that it is not purely meat and there is a lot of bones in this dish. Nevertheless, it is still quite a good dish and the mutton is well prepared and marinated. It is also not spicy like Vishal's and that again can be a matter of personal preference. I would rate this dish at 8.4/10 .

Cuttlefish Sambal @ RM 5.00

The Cuttlefish Sambal here is priced at RM 5.00 and in Vishal it is priced at RM 6.00 . The portion here too is double that of Vishals. I think this dish tastes better here. It is not spicy but surely delicious. The gravy is extremely good. I would rate this dish at 9.5/10 .This dish surely beats Vishal is quality, volume and price. 

Rasam Complimentary With The Banana Leaf Meals

The above Rasam is another story to tell. When we finished our meals, I called upon one of the waitress to serve us some Rasam and she gave me a very fierce stare as if why must I ask for Rasam when I have finished my meal. Hey guys....if you are reading this, you should correct this with that particular waitress and then, reluctantly she brought it to our table and just placed it without even looking at us. I feel that is bad customer service. I am a paying customer and not someone who is eating there out of charity. Now coming to the taste of this. It was very average and nowhere in comparison to Vishal's. I would only rate this at 6.2/10 .

Generally, this restaurant served cheaper food compared to Vishal but not all their items are better though some are good. Most importantly with any Tamil meals is the curry and I feel that these guys are only scoring average. Service is also pretty bad and this is based on my experience today which may differ to your experiences on any other day. The Mutton Varuval and Cuttlefish Perattel was better than that of Vishal but the rest of the dishes were way below the mark. The total bill for the day came to RM 29.00 which is very cheap but the quality was also low. I was not satisfied after the meal here for the many reasons mentioned above. Would I return here again, I highly doubt that. For those who are keen to explore other good Banana Leaf meal restaurants, I would like to recommend the following based on my visits. They are Vishal Food Catering which can be visited via http://venoth.blogspot.com/2013/02/restoran-vishal-food-catering_15.html & http://venoth.blogspot.com/2013/02/restoran-vishal-food-catering.html and the other would be Sri Ganapathy Mess which you could view via http://venoth.blogspot.com/2013/02/sri-ganapathi-mess-petaling-jaya.html . Based on my score card, the best Tamil Banana Leaf meal in the Klang Valley is still Vishal Food Catering!!!

Address: No. 18, Jalan Scott, Off Jalan Tun Sambanthan, 

                50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Telephone: +603 2274 4755

Opening Hours: 0730 - 2245 Daily

Email: vishalatchicatering@gmail.com