Banana Curry House @ Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur

Located in Block D of Plaza Mont Kiara is a South Indian Restaurant called Restaurant Banana Curry House. Fondly known as Banana among the locals here, this restaurant needs no further introduction among the people working in this locality. Having been here for a number of years now, they are well known for their good food, reasonable prices and excellent lunch time variety. 

Entrance to the Restaurant Banana Curry House

Seats Available Along the covered corridors too

This restaurant is situated just behind Mc Donalds in Plaza Mont Kiara. Anytime from 12 noon to 2 pm, it can be a great challenge finding seats at this restaurant and most often since I dine alone, I would end up joining other people at the tables and this is fairly common at this restaurant. If you are alone, it is impossible to get a table to yourself during these peak hours. Even at the cashier, there would be at least another 5 to 8 people ahead of you in line waiting to pay their bills. The reason for this is simply because of the good food that is available here both for vegetarians as well as non vegetarians. Many a time, people also do end up sitting outside the restaurant along the covered corridor where tables are being placed. That is how busy this place can end up being during lunch. They start their business at 7 am every morning and it goes up to 10 pm at night. During breakfast hours, there is a reasonable crowd too but not to this extent and after six, there are just a handful of people here at any given time. 

The Menu

The Menu

The items in the menu are available all day long. For those who do not prefer to have a heavy lunch, can also opt for these light food. Otherwise, the items seen in the menu are commonly ordered for either breakfast or dinner. Nevertheless, it is available all day long. Besides the Tamil dishes, their Nasi Goreng Kampung and Nasi Goreng Black Pepper are favourites too. 

Vegetarian Items for Lunch

They do have a good variety of Vegetarian items being offered during lunch. The top shelf is usually for fried items like Fried Brinjals, Fried Banana Fritters, Fried Cauliflower, Fried Tapioca Chips etc. and the lower shelf has a number of unique vegetable and curry preparations. Sometimes, the Vegetarian items are also displayed on the non vegetarian shelf when they run out of space here. What I like about this place is that you are able to get some specialty dishes that are not commonly available in other restaurants and here you are able to get them daily. These are like Sothi (a Sri Lankan gravy prepared from Coconut Milk), Venthayam Kulambu (another unique spiced gravy) and Pulicha Keerai (which is a sour vegetable curry). The others include Potato Perattal, Tauhu Sambal, Beetroot Perattal all of which are my favourites. 

Non Vegetarian Items

Their non vegetarian items too are equally good. For instance, they have three different varieties of Fried Fish on a daily basis. You are also able to get Fish Egg Curry, Egg Sambal, Fish Curry (with real fish in it and not just the gravy), Chicken Curry, Mutton Curry, Chicken Perattal, Mutton Perattal, Mutton Varuval, Chicken Kurma, Squid Perattal, Fried Eggs with Onions & Chili, Fried Chicken and a whole load of other items. Some of my all time favourites here are their Mutton Perattal which is super good, Chicken Perattal and their Fish Egg Curry. Besides this, you also get the common Sambar, Rasam and other curries. Occasionally you are also able to get Goat Intestine Perattal which is another Tamil delicacy.

Iced Tea @ RM 1.60

Their Iced Tea and Teh Tarik is one of the best that you can get in this area. If you are a fan of either, trying any one of these is a must. I would rate their above Iced Tea at 9.5/10 .

My Lunch @ RM 6.40

My lunch consists of Rice, Sambar, Cauliflower Perattal and a whole load of Chicken Perattal, all for just RM 6.40 which is very reasonable for Mont Kiara. Although they do not serve on Banana Leaves, they do have a small piece of Banana Leaf on each of the plates and the food is served over that as a symbolism to their name which is Banana Curry House. Besides the white rice, there are many who also opt for their Briyani's which seems to be quite famous but I have never tried it yet. But rest assured, their Rice and Curry offerings are very good.

Payasam @ RM 0.80

Payasam is also available daily. A small plate of the above Payasam comes at RM 0.80 which is very reasonable. Let me say that their Payasam is absolutely fantastic. It is thick....I mean really thick and is filled with Milk and nuts and is not too sweet. Definitely a must try dish here especially if you love this. I would rate their Payasam at 9.8/10 .

If you happen to be in the neighbourhood during lunch hours, this restaurant is definitely an excellent option. You get good food at reasonable prices and speedy service. The only setback would be finding a place to sit but if you are comfortable sharing a table with others, then you should be able to get a table within 10 minutes of collecting your food. Just have to stand for a while and scan around for a suitable place. For us here, we are quite used to this and willing to go through that for the sake of good food.

Address: D-0G-03B, Plaza Mont Kiara, No. 2, Jalan Kiara, 

                Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 0700 - 2200 Daily