Prasad Chetty Nadu Mess

The stairway leading up to what could be KL’s best banana leaf restaurant is an ominous one. There are signs of abandoned life all around; large pieces of unclaimed cardboard are strewn on the cement ground below the stairway, and the paint on the walls are the garish neon hues of a parrot. One floor up, there is more hope. The 15-year-old restaurant comes to view and it’s right out of a set-up in Tamil Nadu – ’80s Tamil hits from a suspended TV, whirring fans and very little elbow room.

If you’re opting for a thick curry like crab or chicken, we suggest par-boiled rice over white (ask for puzhungal arisi if the waiter doesn’t understand you). Sides-wise, the stir-fried eggplant is cooked to a creamy mush, the chunky crab curry is the kind you can drink, the dry chicken varuval is unapologetically burnt and crisp on the skin, the mango pickle is lip-puckeringly sour and the mutton kuzhambu comes in a pale ochre shade – the way they have it in Chennai. It’s all like a dream until you step out into the searing chaos of impatient drivers along Lebuh Ampang.