The rain poured in torrents as I pulled up near Palm Court in Brickfields. School buses lined up both sides of the road preventing me from finding a suitable parking lot.

I was desperate. I spied a parking lot reserved for school buses on the opposite side of the road. In one sweep that would have made Lewis Hamilton proud of me, I was safely parked in that lot with another car following close behind me thinking that I had found a way out of the hellhole. After much cursing, both on her part as well as mine, I managed to turn off my engine only to find that my umbrella refused to open.

The rain made my precious Hogan handbag look like a drenched puppy. Ah well, all in the pursuit of food…

It wasn’t just any food. Located within the apartment premises with a rather dingy exterior was an indian vegetarian restaurant. I absolutely love indian vegetarian food. It is not so much for health reasons that I eat vegetarian food (because it is easy enough to pile on the carbohydrates with the unlimited serving of white rice), but more for the variety of vegetarian dishes that are offered. I am not an avid fan of mock meat (although the occasional serving is acceptable) simply because I am not a vegetarian and when I do eat vegetarian food, it is not because I am looking for a meat replacement. What I do look for are the creatively prepared vegetarian dishes and the use of a multitude of spices to flavour the dishes.

My lunch, served on a banana leaf, comprised white rice, pepper rice, six different types of vegetables, pickled lime, fried chilli, papadum, several types of curries, dhal and rasam, moru (yoghurt drink) and desert. I loved the deep fried bittergourd (above, bottom left) which was crispy and had the right amount of spiciness. The mashed pumpkin was rather interesting; it was naturally sweet and was spiced with something that tasted of cardamoms. However, it would have tasted better as a dessert (and maybe it was!) rather than as a condiment to be eaten with the rice.

The pepper rice (second picture from the top of the post) was fluffy and the taste of pepper was rather distinct. It was flavourful enough to be eaten on its own. My favourite for the day was, without a doubt, the yoghurt curry. When I first saw it, I thought it was another popular curry known as “sothi”, essentially a thin curry made of coconut milk, tomatoes and turmeric. However, after tasting it, I found that it clearly tasted of yoghurt. The yoghurt made the curry extremely creamy while providing it with a naturally sour taste which went so well with the white rice. I must qualify this by saying that it may be an acquired taste for those who are not used to the tart taste of homemade yoghurt.

I washed down the food with a tumbler full of moru, a drink made by diluting yoghurt with water and adding a pinch of salt. It is refreshing and doesn’t have the cloying feeling that fresh milk sometimes gives. At home, I would sometimes chop raw onions and chillies and throw them into the moru for some added crunchiness and flavour. The complimentary dessert was payasam, a drink with a thick, soupy consistency made of milk, cardamoms, cashewnuts and vermicelli.

All these, with unlimited servings of rice and vegetables, for just RM5 (US$1.50) per person!

Other sweetmeats are also available for sale, including ladoo (picture above) and pal kova.

South Indian Aiyer Restaurant
B1 Block B, Palm Courts Condo
Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur.Tel: 03-2272 1009

Opens 6.30am to 12.30am daily.

Note: This restaurant uses alliums in the preparation of food.

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that the allure of Brickfields is its people. Beaming, chipper faces. People who recognise you because you haunt the indian stall while pigging out on nasi lemak and tea with gusto. And if you don’t turn up to work for a week, they notice your absence. These are the newspaper vendors, the malay mixed rice stall owner, the parking meter attendant, the driver to the boss of the company two doors away……and they’re all friends. People with faces and lives. You can tell that I miss them a lot, and sometimes, I sneak away to be alone in Brickfields and in my solitude because I miss them and the environment so much, and despite having been away for so long, they still recognise me and chat with me and ask if my family’s okay.I have been procrastinating about writing this post for a very long time. Among all the indian food places I have been to, this little stall nestled in a lane off Scott Road in Brickfields serves, in my opinion, the best south indian food. When I used to be in Brickfields, I frequented this food stall at least twice a week over several years. My hesitation in writing about this place stems from the fact that I am somewhat unconfident that my writing may not do justice to the delectable food that can be found at this tiny little stall.

Set up in 1984, Mrs Chellam has been running this stall for 24 years. Her husband pops by sometimes, but most of the time she singlehandedly manages this stall. Business must have certainly been good as she also operates a food catering business which was formed in 1992. Sometimes, on weekends, I see her and her assistants laboriously peeling onions and garlic and chopping up huge amounts of ingredients in kaleidoscopic hues in preparation for a wedding or a similarly grandiose event.

Every stall has its speciality. At this place, it is the chicken varuval that makes people return in throngs. The chicken pieces are fried with an assortment of condiments and spices until the sauce is dry and thick. The secret to getting the lovely flavour is the use of evaporated milk instead of coconut milk to thicken the sauce. The sensation of eating these delectable pieces of chicken is like an explosion of flavours from the different ingredients, from the caramelised onions to the aromatic cumin to the fiery chilli.

Almost as good is the mutton curry with its thick sauce made of a blend of ginger, onions and garlic. The meat is tender and imbued with the flavour of all the spices.

Fried fish is an option for those who don’t care much for mutton or chicken. In addition to the meats, there is also a good selection of vegetables, from stir-fried mixed vegetables to deep-fried crunchy bittergourd.

This place is open for breakfast and lunch on weekdays only.Lawanya
No. 4, Lorong Scott, Brickfields, 50470 KL.
Tel: 03-2274 9234
HP: 016-221 8074

The beauty about being of mixed parentage is that I have been exposed to a variety of cuisines from an early age. Mum learnt how to cook Indian food only after she got married, but she quickly picked it up to please my dad who enjoys a good curry. On her part, she taught my dad how to enjoy sambal belacan and kuay teow t’ng. It was a match made in heaven, and I am a by-product of their romp in their bedroom many many many many…..m a n y years ago after a dance in the rain (together with music and change of costumes) around the coconut trees in Penang.

Vishal, a chettinad restaurant, has been operating in Brickfields for the last four years. Dining at Vishal used to be an interesting experience. There was no signboard outside the restaurant when it first started operating. We were just told to look for the end shoplot next to Woo Lan. After locating it, we had to walk through the dark dusty room filled with cobwebs at the ground floor of the shophouse that seemed to be a store of some kind. We would then climb up the rickety wooden stairs to the first floor where we removed our shoes and walked barefoot to the tables that were lined up in rows along the length of the room. We would sit in a row, not facing each other, as Indian workers promptly placed banana leaves before us followed by the various types of food. It did feel like our little secret then. A little hideyhole which housed treasures meant for us alone. Of course, it was only a matter of time before word spread about the good food on the first floor of that dilapidated shophouse and people thronged the place to eat the freshly prepared meals at Vishal.

Barbie and I recently visited Vishal after an absence of almost 10 months. During that period, Vishal underwent massive renovations and is currently a very presentable looking restaurant located at the ground floor of the building which doesn’t look as dilapidated as before and now sports a new coat of paint.

There is only one similarity between the old and the new Vishal. Tables are still placed in rows where people sit on one side. If you are seeking a romantic meal where you wish to gaze deeply into your partner’s eyes as you sip your payasam, this is not the place for you.

Service was excellent. Before our butts touched our seats, banana leaves were immediately placed in front of us as one of the waiters quickly rattled off the menu for the day. We were overwhelmed with the selection of food and felt rather intimidated and obliged to take whatever was recommended by the affable waiter.

“Briyani rice is very good. You must try it”, the man said.

Eager to try as many dishes as possible, I turned him down. “No, that’s okay. I’ll have white rice, please.”

“No, no, no, the briyani rice is very good. You try”, he said with a dancing movement of his head.

At that point, I gave in. Within seconds, the briyani appeared before me. Having tasted victory, the man backed off Barbie, so she got to enjoy her white rice.

The briyani rice with chicken was very good as the rice was infused with the flavours of the spices. The serving, unfortunately, was rather big and two could have easily shared that portion.

The banana leaf rice is served with a standard selection of vegetables. The vegetables that day were nondescript and uncreative. I hardly touched them after consuming the bare minimum for my daily intake.

The meat and fish dishes, on the other hand, were wonderful. The chicken varuval, a typical South Indian dish, had a dry, almost paste-like sauce that was spicy and extremely delicious.

There were several types of fish, marinated in a turmeric and chilli paste, that were deep fried to the point of crunchiness and brought to the customer immediately.

An interesting dish which we tried that afternoon was the lamb chop. The lamb was presumably slow cooked until very tender and then fried in an egg batter. The resultant dish was surprisingly delicious with the meat literally falling off the bone and the fried egg creating a custardy sweet flavour to the spiciness of the lamb.

Rasam, a spicy soup tasting very much like mulligatawny (perhaps they are the same), is served together with the meal. We are both big fans of rasam, and I always maintain that rasam either makes or breaks a meal. In this case, the rasam was sufficiently sour without overpowering the rest of the flavours.

For refreshments, we ordered two types of lassi. Barbie ordered the mango lassi which the waiter claimed was made with Indian mangoes, while I had my favourite salty lassi, which is essentially a diluted yoghurt drink with salt.

For dessert, we were served payasam, a thick soup-like drink (like tong sui) made of milk, cardamoms, cashew nuts and vermicelli. There are several varieties of payasam, but the payasam served here is the traditional South Indian variant. I wasn’t too impressed with the payasam as it had a rather strong flavour of oil. The very sweet dessert, nevertheless, acted as a good foil for the spicy meal.

Vishal Food & Catering
No. 15, Jalan Scott
Off Jalan Tun Sambanthan, 50470 KL

Tel: 03-2274 0502/012-287 1995/012-311 2837/ 016-679 3374