Jeeva's Banana Leaf @ Selayang, Selangor

Jeeva's Banana Leaf Restaurant is located in Taman Paragon Utama which is just off FRIM in Selayang, Selangor. This place is a relatively new restaurant that had opened it's doors sometime in October this year. As I was heading out from Selayang Hospital heading back to Kepong, I sighted this restaurant which was on the main road facing row of shops, just a few doors away from Canton Kitchen and decided on giving this place a try. 

Jeeva's Banana Leaf Restaurant in Taman Paragon Utama

Jeeva's Banana Leaf Restaurant in Taman Paragon Utama

Opening Hours

Entrance

Beautifully Designed Interior

Beautifully Designed Interior

This restaurant is all air conditioned and the place was very clean. The interior decoration too is worthy of mention, unlike the usual Tamil shops that we commonly see. They have definitely spent some serious money on the deco.

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

Water On The House

It was only 5.30 pm when we were here and of course at this hour, one should not expect a large crowd in a restaurant as it is neither lunch nor dinner hours. Nevertheless, even at this time, there were two tables that were occupied by around 8 people. The Chef here seems to be a Tamilian and the waiter a Bangladeshi. The waiter was quick with his feet and was attending speedily to customers. The menu here has a wide spread to offer and what caught my eyes were the Banana Leaf Meal sets. I checked with the waiter if it was still available and he confirmed 'yes'. With that I went for the Banana Leaf Meals and my dad went for another dish which I shall speak off shortly. The Banana Leaf Meals sets seemed quite reasonable in price but it was interesting to note that the Fish set was more expensive than the Chicken Set. Another thing that I would like to commend about the waiter would be his attitude in serving customers with warm water the moment they are seated even before taking the orders. This is a great practice. 

Vegetarian Banana Leaf Meal Set @ RM 4.90

Vegetarian Banana Leaf Meal Set @ RM 4.90

The Vegetarian Banana Leaf Meat Set comes with three vegetables, some Sambar (free top ups), Rasam and Papadam. No pickles were provided and there are no top ups for the vegetables. They also do not serve other curries unless you would like to buy them and that's an additional price. It took them a while to prepare this but the wait was not long, somewhere around 20 minutes which is an acceptable wait time. 

Cabbage Perattal

Long Beans Perattal

Fried Vegetable Pakkora

The vegetables served were decent but not great. The Cabbage Perattal was nice and I would rate it at 7.5/10 . The Long Beans Perattal was about the same as the previous dish and I would rate it at 7.5/10 too. The Vegetable Pakkora however was much better. It was crunchy and tasted good and therefore I shall rate this at 8.5/10 . Basic vegetables, there is much more room for improvement here.

Sambar

Their Sambar was thick and concentrated but lacked the zing factor. Taste wise, it was quite flat and I would say that it was above average only. For me, this scores just around 6.5/10 .

Rasam

Their Rasam was not good, it seriously lacked spices and tasted more like tamarind juice to me. Needs serious improvement here and I would rate this at 4/10 . Overall their Vegetarian Banana Leaf Meal Set was just average despite the price being quite cheap. The food however were served hot, just the way it should be.

Mixed Utappam Set @ RM 4.80

Mixed Utappam Set @ RM 4.80

On the menu, it mentioned that this would be an assortment of five different varieties of Utappam's but when it was served, it was just three different varieties. We only got 2 pieces of Mint Utappam's, 2 pieces of Carrot Utappam's and one Tomato Utappam. 

Mint Utappam

Mint Utappam

Tomato Utappam

Carrot Utappam

Carrot Utappam

The Utappam's were a little disappointment. The ingredients were very minimal and there was no taste besides that of the flour itself. By right, each of these Utappam's should have a distinct taste of it's own and the ingredients added should have a bold taste of their own which was clearly lacking here. I would rate this dish at 4/10 . Generally flat tasting and I regretted ordering this dish.

Coconut Chutney

This set was served with some Sambar and Coconut Chutney. The Sambar was the same as the earlier Banana Lead Meal and I would not want to go through that again. Their Coconut Chutney was a savior for this dish. If not for this Chutney, it would have been almost impossible to consume this. Their Chutney was much better, though not great. I would rate this at 7.5/10 .

Masala Coffee @ RM 3.00

After the meal, I ordered the above Masala Coffee which was priced at RM 3.00 . The Masala Coffee was very good. Made with cow's milk, this was simply awesome and I would rate this at 9.5/10 .

I was truly feeling sad for them as the place is beautifully decorated, the prices seemed very reasonably set, the service was very good but sadly the taste was just off. I hope that via this blog, the message get's across to them and hope that they take some remedial action to improve their food. It would be a waste to see this place fail as we definitely want more and more successful entrepreneurs out there. I truly hope that some serious action is taken to salvage this eatery. My best wishes goes out to them.

Address: No. 9G, Jalan Paragon Utama 1, Taman Paragon Utama, 

                68100 Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia.

Telephone: +6012 250 9468

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200 Daily

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeevas-Banana-Leaf/645725105546846?sk=timeline&ref=page_internal