[Pork-free] Happy New Year! It is our tradition to eat Banana Leaf Rice (BLR) for the first meal of the year! For 2023, we decided to check out Maya Bangsar.
Maya Bangsar on New Year’s Day
Located in the Telawi area of Bangsar, Maya Bangsar is one of the more popular banana leaf rice restaurants in the area.
Opened since Sept 2021, Maya Bangsar has garnered quite a following, and we’ve heard great things about this restaurant from fellow foodies.
Maya Bangsar – banana leaf rice and more
We arrived here on New Year’s Day just after it opened at 11.30am and managed to snag one of the last unoccupied tables.
By noon, the place was packed with a queue already forming at the front of the restaurant.
Hence, we recommend coming early on weekends to beat the crowd.
Patience is also needed here as the restaurant is operating with limited manpower. We had to wait for about 15-20 minutes before we were served. However, one of the Indian uncles were super-friendly and even explained to us after we took our seats that they would eventually come round.
Delicious curries and vegetables
Maya Bangsar’s main draw is its Vegetarian Set Meals. The restaurant is known for their delicious curries and wide range of Indian dishes.
Some of the popular curries here include the Crab Curry, Dhal and Local Goat Peratal.
Ghee Rice set meal
Since it was our first time here, we decided to get the Ghee Rice set meal (RM14.90) which comes with a hard-boiled egg and an unlimited top-up of veggies and side dishes.
Compared to our usual order of Indian rice, we found the ghee rice to be fluffy and very fragrant due to the addition of clarified butter.
As you can tell from the pictures, there were plenty of veggies that came with the set meal. All of them were fresh and tasty but here were the standouts:
The dhal was like a warm hug as we enjoyed the generous amount of lentils in the curry, with lovely fragrance from coconut.
We also enjoyed the Coconut Thogayal – which is a form of chutney. It had a lot of coconut sweetness with an interesting hint of peanut butter taste at the end.
Among the complimentary curries we tried, the Crab Curry and Fish Curry were standouts. The former was thick with a noticeable taste of crab essence infused, while the latter had a good hit of tanginess. Both went well with the ghee rice.
Chicken Briyani set
While not the best we’ve eaten, the Chicken Briyani (RM19.90) here was still enjoyable as the rice was fluffy and well-seasoned with spices. In terms of spice level, the Briyani here is on the milder side but goes very well with the dhal.
Our set came with a hard-boiled egg and a huge chicken rib, as well as the usual complimentary veggies and side dishes.
Delicious mutton bone marrow dalcha
We were excited that Mutton bone marrow dalcha (RM20) is served here as the curry at Sri Vishalatchi’s in Brickfields (see our post here) is one of our favourites.
The bone marrow dalcha here is thick and umami-rich, thanks to the infusion of bone marrow in the gravy. We loved the hint of coconut sweetness in the dhal as well.
Besides eating the dalcha with rice, we enjoy sucking the marrow with a straw. However, we thought the dalcha was a bit pricey at RM20 for the portion and meat given.
Local Goat Peratal and prawns
We also ordered the Local Goat Peratal (RM25). The mutton was tender and we enjoyed the natural sweetness of the meat. The peratal was surprisingly not very spicy, and we liked the blend of spices in the gravy.
We also enjoyed the Prawn Perattal (RM18). The prawns were fresh and bouncy, as we loved how the briny flavour was infused into the gravy.
Summary
Overall, we enjoyed our lunch here at Maya with the dhal, crab and fish curries, and Local Goat Peratal as the standout dishes.
If you’re planning to come here, be prepared to wait as it can get quite busy and hectic during peak hours and weekends.
RECOMMENDED!
Maya Bangsar Banana Leaf Rice
Address: 9, Jalan Telawi 5, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
Hours: 11am-10pm Weekdays
11.30am-10pm Weekends
Phone: 03-2389 5305
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