Is PJ Sea Park's Achi Ayahdorai's banana leaf rice worth the hype?

PETALING JAYA, June 24 — Social media has been buzzing about Achi Ayahdorai.

Like all hyped-up places, it's been packed and it got me wondering whether it lived up to what TikTok or Instagram promised.

Finding this place is not hard, It's on the iconic myBurgerLab stretch and just above The Ice Cream Bar.

Banana leaf rice followed by ice cream... sounds like a great weekend plan!

Be warned though. Your head may explode when trying to get parking in this ultra busy Sea Park area, especially on weekends at lunch time.

Maybe the trick is to be early, get there just before Achi Ayahdorai opens its doors around 11.30am as we ended up being the second table seated for lunch.

The place may be small but it's cosy with the purple pink hues and artwork featuring the couple who run this eatery

There's biryani rice, nasi lemak served in a claypot but what everyone is enamoured with is their Banana Leaf Set for RM11.90.

Previously available only for lunch, due to high demand the set is now served the whole day. Hopefully this eases the overwhelming crowd size during lunch.

Once you place your order, it's showtime, where the opening act unfolds the moment they lay a banana leaf on the table.

Like a parade, you have different servers bringing out the food one by one.

Split into two sections, this side features a mural and neon signage for a more modern feel

The sequence for your banana leaf rice starts with four types of vegetables.

It may sound like what is usually served at any Indian banana leaf rice place, as there's cucumber raita, snake gourd kottu, pineapple pachadi and cabbage poriyal.

Keen eyes, however, can spot differences. That's one of the clues to why this place is totally worth the hype.

The food is cooked by the family matriarch who infuses an unmistakable home cooked flavour into the dishes. It seems the recipes were passed down by her mother. In honour of that lady, the eatery was named after her.

It's very much a family business here, as the children and her husband run the front of the house. Tamil movie buffs would have spotted Venpa movie director K Kavi Nanthan on their TikTok too, as he is also part of the family.

Cucumber 'raita' is done differently here with pomegranate seeds and a creamier yoghurt (left). Creamy snake gourd 'kottu' with 'dal' will have you eating all your vegetables (right)

Back to the vegetables. Take for instance, the raita. It isn't just crunchy diced cucumbers. Here, it's slightly softer and you get red bursts of colour, thanks to pomegranate seeds.

Even the yoghurt isn't your usual watery type with a pristine white hue, which always threatens to drip out of the banana leaf "plate". This version uses slightly thicker yoghurt with a creamy hue.

Now snake gourd kottu is quite a common dish. The difference here is, the sliced vegetables are mixed with a generous portion of yellow dal cooked to a creamy consistency. It's a good change from the norm as that ultra creamy texture makes you want to eat all of the vegetables.

Next is their pineapple pachadi, not usually found at banana leaf rice places. The shredded pineapple imparts a slightly sweet and tangy taste, making it a nice refresher for the tongue.

Lastly, there's the glorious cabbage poriyal. Usually just cooked shredded cabbage with spices, they elevate it with an ingenious touch here.

Pineapple 'pachadi' is a good refresher for the tongue with its tangy and slightly sweet taste (left). Cabbage 'poriyal' is reinvented as a crispy vegetable with spices (right)

It feels like they took a page from the Chinese restaurants, where they transform boring kailan leaves into addictive seaweed-like crispy shreds. Their version uses shredded cabbage, delicately coated in the same reddish batter used for frying their proteins. This gives it a light crispiness with a hint of spices, making it so enjoyable to eat that one won't even think it is just part of the vegetable offerings!

Next comes the rice. It's a choice of normal or Indian rice, which is parboiled for better health. Indian rice is my default choice and their version has fluffier grains compared to the denser ones I have tried before.

There's a total of seven curries for you to drench your rice with, especially if you love to "banjir". There's the usual chicken, fish, mutton, sambar, keerai curry (spinach), chana curry (chickpea) and peanut curry.

There's also crunchy pappadums, a prerequisite of any banana leaf rice lunch. Some like eating it on its own while others prefer to crush it and add to your rice drenched with curry.

The final flourish is served by the owner's father.

You get mor milagai or chilli marinated in yoghurt and sun dried. I often avoid this but I was told it's not spicy here (which it wasn't) and it gave a nice salty kick to my rice. There's also urukkai or mango pickle and thuvaiyal too.

Remember to also add pickles to your meal, like the 'mor miligai', mango pickle and 'thuvaiyal' (left). It's a complete meal with dessert in the form of 'kesari' (right)

The set is a complete meal with dessert in the form of kesari. Pop this in your mouth to temper the burning tongue.

Flip through the menu for add-ons to bulk up your meal. I opted for old faithfuls like Chicken Perattal (RM8.90) and Mutton Varuval (RM14.90).

Here it's not small pieces of chicken but decent sized pieces with soft potatoes, liberally coated in a mildly spicy curry. The mutton is also tender pieces coated in the fragrant spiced gravy.

Chicken Peratal is creamy, mildly spicy with decent sized pieces of chicken and soft potatoes (left). Mutton Varuval is tender and flavourful with spices (right)

For those who want a more decadent meal, there's Mud Crab Curry, Lamb Shank and Fish Head Curry.

I was really keen to try the Rendang Lion Mane Mushroom (RM12.90) from the vegetarian selection. This is prepped only upon order so you need to be patient.

The mushrooms have a meat-like texture with its fibrous body, making one not miss meat. What elevates it further is that creamy sauce fragrant with kaffir lime leaves. Definitely my dish of the day and marked in my brain as a must-eat when next I visit here.

Cooked upon order, the Rendang Lion Mane Mushrooms was fragrant with kaffir lime leaves and the texture was on point

I also spy other tables ordering various fried items, ranging from chicken, sotong, fish, vegetables and mushrooms.

Finish up your meal with a hot cup of Bru coffee with fresh cow's milk (RM5.90). It'll help keep you awake after the meal.

Other eats include roti canai, chapati, idli and thosai for tea time. There's also Achi Chicken Rice, a signature dish, cooked using their grandmother's recipe. Sweet fiends can also indulge in a slice of their homemade cakes too.

Space-wise, the eatery is split into two sections. One side faces the window looking out while there's a smaller area near the kitchen.

Achi Ayahdorai is right smack in the busy Sea Park area near the wet market

Achi Ayahdorai, 18, First Floor, Jalan 21/22 Seapark, Petaling Jaya. Open: 11.30am to 10pm (Tuesday to Sunday). Closed on Monday. Instagram: @achi_ayahdorai

* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

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