Mention banana leaf rice and many will tell you that Raju Restaurant is the place to go to for a good fix. Mention roti canai, and people will also tell you to go to Raju’s — it is that famous.
On a weekend lunch, the place was crowded with families and friends tucking into their banana leaf rice (RM6) and/or roti canai (RM1.20 per piece). I was lucky to find at the back of the restaurant. My attempts in getting the staff’s attention were frustrating, nerve-wrecking and tiring.
Frustrating because they don’t care if you’re calling for them. Nerve-wrecking because I was very hungry. Painful because I had to wave my arms in the air for about 10mins, before our orders were taken.
The manner of serving customers was equally as bad. The waiter tossed two banana leaves on the table and plonked the rest of the BLR ingredients on it. We ordered a plate of fried squid (RM8) and a piece of fried chicken (RM5.50) to go with our rice.
There were more onion slices than squid rings on the plate; they might as well call it deep fried onion rings with squid. The squid was decent — crisp on the outside and nicely chewy on the inside. We didn’t care much for the fried chicken, which lacked spice and seasoning.
As for the banana leaf rice, I felt that it was nothing to shout about. The chicken curry was rather bland and the dhal was insipid. While the fish curry was decent, it wasn’t as spicy or fully flavoured as I would have liked it to be. The dried chilli was rather good — spicy, crispy and deliciously salty. It gave the banana leaf rice the much needed ‘oomph’.
The rasam (RM1 per glass) was thick, soothing and laden with spices. I enjoyed this. 
Out of curiosity, I ordered a piece of roti canai and found it rather disappointing. Portion was small as it didn’t taste as “awesome” as what people described. For RM1.20, I found it a tad expensive.
My teh ais (RM1.80) was horribly watered down, I thought I was drinking teh ais flavoured water.
Of course, this was our personal experience. You might be luckier than we were…if you go there before the lunch/dinner crowd. After this ordeal, I would think twice about coming back.Ambiance: 5/10
Price: 5/10
Food: 6/10 (pork free)
Verdict: The food was average and portions were small. Service was lousy, so visit at your own risk.
Raju Restaurant27, Jalan Chantek 5/13
Off Jalan Gasing
Petaling Jaya
20 comments
looks like 1 big piece of asam keping on top of ur rice there…. i think sri nirvana has better BLR than this.
I've to agree that their service is really bad. As for the food, I've got no comment as there's nothing to shout about. No idea why they are this famous.
the food and service is becoming very bad lately, overprice and I dont know whether u guys know it or not some of the reason this place become very famous is because of this ad: http://bit.ly/dTUjmk
Regards ^_^
Hahaaaa…. nice size comparison with the iPhone next to your roti!!!
:-)
pak9, sorry but u are wrong, that ad was to take a stab at Sri Paandis at Sec 11, PJ when the siblings opened a partner restaurant right beside the original Sri Paandis…the newer restaurant is now long gone…
the service here can be pretty shitty at times.
this is what ive been telling people for years now, i dunno wat about the place is so great,maybe he put chandu or some metaphysics at work, haha!
if u had cared to drive up a bit further btw, way past the other hyped out old place Lotus restaurant towards the jln gasing-okr roundabout, just before there is a traffic light and a turn left, take that turn and turn right , drive down and ul spot Restoran Kavita Curry House nxt to a 4D shop on ur right… myriad of dishes, considerate service and good prices. Food is 1001x better then these ridiculously hyped up places. Dont confuse this plc though with the gerai makanan kavita.
Standard of street food has deteriorated in general over the past few years. Is it because of inflation?
For banana leaf, try Kannah at section 19. it's overlook SS2 and is tucked in a hilllock adjacent to section 17.
For roti canai, try that at Ratha's at Gohtongjaya. the original is in Raub. Their roti has far less oil. Try the fish head curry, chicken rendang and chicken curry, the latter is not typical in kl.
TC88
best roti chanais are at Ravis 3-2 square sect 19 PJ…once eaten forever smitten…haha
if you want good banana leaf, try devi's in bangsar, grand city in pj or vishal's in brickfields
I’ve generally been very disappointed with the quality of BLR served in KL. First of all they all serve the same stuff and are similar in taste. Secondly none of them are authentically anywhere near a good South Indian BLR served in say Chennai, as the taste is quite South Asianised I guess over the years. For BLR, the rice needs to be boiled brown rice served with delicious sambar and a variety of dry (toran) and gravy based vegetables, papadoms which are fluffy (here you actually get appalams and not papadoms), curd rice, pickles, thick thakali rasam and the works. The nearest to good BLR (though not served on a BL) is Annalaksmi at Fine Arts, Brickfields
Raju basics are terrible compared with Nirvana and Devi’s, absolutely terrible. But their side dishes are good. As for Nirvana i would say that they their side dishes are comparable with Raju but Devi is definitely not as good.
The service at NIRVANA and DEVIs is excellent, you will be seated quickly and your order taken immediately. At Raju you may very well sit and wave your hand at the staff for a good 10 minutes before they bother to take your order. The service is totally unacceptable at Raju’s and i can’t believe they actually get returning customers.
The problem is probably that the business is too good and that people return there, especially expats who thinks that this kind of service is what you should expect in Malaysia. Therefor they don’t bother to improve, in fact the service has gotten worse and worse with apparently no impact at all on the business. It’s a shame.
If you like banana leaf, Please go try Kader @ Lebuh ampang, Masjid Jamek. Its very good.
i recently went to raju restaurant in petaling jaya and was very disappointed with the service. they keep promoting their fish, chicken and the extra payout items and forget abt you after that. we have to yell out for the curry, papadam, acar and etc which comes free with the food. disappointing. not sure if i wanna go there anymore but i must say that the food is good
for best, true Chettinad cuisine, try Betel Leaf in Leboh Ampang. Raju’s is just plain hopeless. The basic rule is, don’t eat Indian food at a restaurant which is not frequented by Indians, eg. Rajus, Ipoh Nasi Vanggey, Nirvana etc.
Sir you are absolutely CORRECT !!. When I was taken there by my Fiancee (at the time. Now happily Married) two years ago, I noticed young chinese and malays. Hardly any indians. The very few Indians I noticed were much older uncles from the neighbourhood and they were there sipping away at their teh tarik reading a newspaper they bought a few doors away. No food was ordered. That says it all.
Try Raju at your peril… thats my advice.
Sorry for my language but for heaven’s sake, Raju’s food sucks. The curry served basically tastes the same. They should just remove the signage that they have at the paying counter. It’s embarrassing.
I really do wonder why people still head there for BLF.
There is a “hidden jem” I just stumbled upon recently in PJ oldtown for BLF. Sri Ganapathi Mess. The food is good. A must try BLF.
I live just up from Raju’s… I think the local residents dun go to Raju’s… Their food is lousy, the waiters are always chatting amongst themselves, they sweep the grounds when we are eating…. Typically Indian food are outrageously expensive.. Vegetarian food by default is RM4.00-RM5.00, then the chicken or fish or mutton, squid dishes you pay an extra RM6.00 to RM9.00.. So your meal, excluding drinks will be around RM14.00 (getting the prawns will make you alot poorer!)…
A new South Indian banana leaf restaurant recently openened in Damansara Uptown. Restaurant is called ‘Pappadom’. We’re on the same row as Satay Kajang Hj Samuri, next to Kaffa Espresso Bar . As we’re new, any suggestions and comments are very much appreciated. Thank you
Been to this lousy place once. Like you the staff were not bothered and rude. After 10 mins of trying to get some service, I got up and walked away. I will NOT spend my ringgit on such a shite place.
The problem I find with indian places like this is the general population themselves. Many with NO IDEA of what a good decent Indian meal should be, flock to RIP-OFF places like this by word of mouth. This creates an artificial “rave” about the place. They accept the atrocious service thinking the food trumps such slack service. WRONG!!!
There are many better places than this Raju. If I was Raju, I would close shop or get new staff. Maybe 2 generations ago, they were something. Today, I rather go to pelita bangsar than to be taken for a ride by the staff and attitude at Raja. That says a lot about what I think of Raja.