14, Jalan 19/3,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 03-7932 5558
Business hours: 7.00am to 8.00pm (daily),
7.00am to 6.00pm (Sunday).
FOR those living in the vicinity of SS2 and Section 19 in Petaling Jaya, Appu Uncle Curry House is an ideal destination for a banana leaf meal.
This South Indian restaurant in Section 19 is a family-run business, founded by brothers Arvin and Ravin Rengaraju.
“Our grandfather used to operate a banana leaf restaurant for more than 20 years at our hometown in Temerloh, Pahang.
“Now, our uncle operates his restaurant there and this is why we decided to open one in the Klang Valley.
“All the recipes used at our restaurant are from our Uncle Appu, and we named our restaurant after him,” said Arvin.
Healthy yoghurt drinks: Sweet Lassi (left) and Mango Lassi.
The brothers name the Fresh Fish Head Curry as the dish that makes them stand out from other banana leaf restaurants.
“We prepare fish head curry using red snapper, kurau or jenahak.
“But most of the time, red snapper is used,” he said.
“Banana leaf restaurants are quite common nowadays but a lot of them do not serve fish head curry, which is our speciality.
“The fish head curry is made fresh as we prepare it when there is an order. That way the fish stays fresh.
“We also have other specialities such as Mutton Dalcha every Sunday. The dalcha is prepread by our mother at home,” said Arvin.
Their standard banana leaf set rice is priced at RM5 and this comes with rice, papadum and three vegetarian dishes together with garlic and ginger achar as well as a cup of spiced-filled rasam.
Unique: Deep-fried shrimp is a specialty at the restaurant.
“We rotate our vegetable dishes every day so that our customers can have a variety,” said Arvin.
The restaurant also offers a variety of different deep-fried items including chicken, fish, squid, fish eggs and their deep-fried specialities are deep-fried shrimps and deep- fried bittergourd.
“These items are also prepared only when the customer places an order to ensure the ingredients are fresh.
“The shrimps are one of our specialities as not many other banana leaf restaurant have it,” he said.
The restaurant also offers varuval and peratal dishes aside from the usual curries served at Indian restaurants.
“The varuval dish is the dry curried version of a meat dish and while the peratal has a slight amount of gravy.
“Both of these types of preparations are best made with chicken or mutton.
Fruits of the sea: Squid deep-fried in batter.
“Our curries are also slightly different from other banana leaf restaurants as most buy the spice mix from the factories that produce the curry powder.
“We prepare our own masala and spices,” added Arvin.
For drinks, the restaurant serves a variety of lassi and fresh made mooru aside from coffee and tea.
The restaurant serves banana leaf meals from 11.30am onwards, and serves a variety of local favourite such as roti canai, tosai, capati and poori.
This is an observation by the writer and not an endorsement by StarMetro.