KK Banana Leaf & Mastermind Bar @ TTDI - Oddly satisfying

This was an accidental find. I had a meeting in this side of TTDI, specifically at Chequers, located along Jalan Aminuddin Baki. It concluded by the time lunch hour arrived. My friend needed to purchase some items from MyNEWS and since it was located along the same row of shops as where we currently were, we decided to simply walk over. Once we were done with that, we stood outside and took a moment to discuss where to head to for lunch. It was then that we came across KK Banana Leaf.

KK Banana Leaf is located above MyNEWS, on the first floor. We were all in for Indian food but as we looked up the stairway headed to this restaurant, we noticed disco lights as well as bar music playing in the background....so, was this a bar that serves indian food? We completely overlooked the Menu displayed downstairs,lol. Just the words ‘KK Banana Leaf’ caught our attention and the rest was forgotten.

That question was answered as soon as we arrived at the entrance. We noticed other customer having lunch and all of them had banana leaf rice on their tables. It also is a bar. A bar that serves banana leaf rice. Interesting enough. The last bar we visited that served this particular Indian food was Aunty T’s and food was really good. Unfortunately, after MCO, the bar reopened but they removed the banana leaf offering from their Menu. Bummer! I’ve always liked these sort of settings … it provides a nice mix between something modern and something traditional. So yea, I was looking forward to having lunch here.

The bar is small and depending on where you sit, it may be dimly lit, which I liked. It kindda exuded a chill and relaxed vibe. They had music playing, mostly instrumental Pop/RnB a.k.a ‘Elevator music’. For a small space, they have quite a bit of entertainment available. As you can see, there is a pool/snooker table, shisha bongs, liquor. So yea, whatever rocks your boat.

Indian food is available from 12 pm – 3 pm. Western and Fusion food available from 3 pm – 12 am.

Banana Leaf Chicken Set, RM 8 + Banana Leaf Fish Set, RM 9.50 + Chicken Peratal, RM 8

Immediately after we were served, the first thought in our minds were ‘is this it’? Lets just say that the amount of the items on our banana leafs were significantly lesser than any other banana leaf meals I’ve had elsewhere. The second thought was ‘maybe we should order extra items‘ because we were use to a lot of food when having this particular meal.

After you get over all that thoughts and actually get down to tasting it, the banana leaf was pretty delicious. The Set Lunches came with fried meat. Both the fried chicken and the fish was well seasoned. You’d get a nice taste of the ‘rempah‘ that coats the meat. Flavorful indeed.

The curry we opted for was Chicken Curry. It was real good. I loved it. It was very flavorful and texture-wise, it was slightly thick, which is the way I like it. It wasn’t diluted at all. I kept requesting for more, that was how much I enjoyed it.

The vegetables, you’d get coleslaw and cucumber. Yup, only two choices instead of three,four options available when eating elsewhere. Besides that, unlike other banana leafs, free flow of vegetables isn’t available here. Any additional request for top ups of vegetables will cost you RM 2 each.

Despite the smaller than average amount of the items served here, I’d say that the set meals here are affordably priced. If you actually think about it, a basic banana leaf meal elsewhere which includes rice + 3 vegetables + papadum would cost you RM8 and if you are not a vegetarian and intend to add on meat, it would cost you another RM 8. All in all, you’d end up paying 16 ringgit atleast but it comes with free flow of vegetables, papadum and rice. Here, you pay half the price – RM 8 and already comes with a meat of choice. However, there is no free top up for any items. If you intend to have more of anything, you have to pay for it.

For a small eater, the set lunch here is no problem at all. I usually eat a quarter of the rice and spend most of my time on the meat and vegetables. The amount served was small but I was okay with it. My friend on the other hand is one of those that ‘hantam’ during a banana leaf session and spends the rest of the week on diet. So for him, this was a wasted opportunity, lol. So, he ended up ordering an extra serving of the coleslaw which cost him RM 2 and a serving of Chicken Paratal which added another RM 8. The paratal was apparently a serving for 2 pax but just like everything else here which is ‘downsized’, it was meant for 1, lol. It tasted good though. The chicken was tender and juicy, flavorful. You’d be able to taste the spices. It came with a nice mix of potatoes and onions. Yummy it was.

Overall, I’d say my experience here was oddly satisfying. There were several things that did not coincide with my vision/idea of a banana leaf meal but it was tasty and flavorful.