The restaurant's banana leaf rice offers a range of vegetables that are off-the-beaten track. — AZMAN GHANI/The Star
Tucked on a first floor shoplot in Petaling Jaya’s densely-populated Sea Park area is Achi Ayahdorai.
On a Wednesday afternoon, just minutes into opening its doors, a few tables are already occupied. By 12pm, the eatery is bursting at the seams, swelling with corporate types and neighbourhood stalwarts – all clamouring for some good old-fashioned home-cooked Indian food.
Overheard conversations include the like of, “The rasam tastes just like the one my grandmother used to make” and “The mutton varuval is amazing here!”. I even bump into an acquaintance who tells me that this has become his go-to banana leaf spot.
The restaurant opened a few months ago and is the brainchild of filmmaker Kavi Nanthan who has directed and produced Malaysian Tamil language films like Venpa and Kalapadam.
So why would a film director open a restaurant? It turns out Kavi’s ties to food run deep and can largely be attributed to his grandmother, whom he named the restaurant after.
“I grew up in Kulim, Kedah and so did my grandmother, so I saw her very often. When I was 17, the rest of my family moved to Kuala Lumpur but I needed to complete my final year of secondary school, so I stayed with my grandmother.
“She ran a popular restaurant but every day, she would make me something special like a squid curry or chicken varuval or mutton curry, so I got used to her food,” he says.
Kavi started the restaurant in homage to his grandmother’s cherished recipes. Pictured with him is his mother Vijayalakshmi (centre) and his wife Navaamsini Boopalan. — Photos: AZMAN GHANI/The Star
Kavi eventually moved to KL and became an accountant. On the side, he ran a small, successful catering business that utilised the skills and talents of his mother Vijayalakshmi Shanmugam, also a talented cook whose food reminded Kavi of his grandmother’s phenomenal fare.
When Kavi decided to pivot from accounting to filmmaking, the struggle of maintaining two jobs became too much and he gave up the catering business. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the creative industry was hard-hit and Kavi realised he needed to look into having another source of income.
“I wanted to start a business. At first I thought any business would do, so long as it could feed me and my family. But then I realised I could actually leverage on my mum’s cooking talent,” he says.
And so Achi Ayahdorai was born, in homage to his grandmother and the food of Kavi’s childhood.
Interestingly, despite its name, Kavi initially intended for the restaurant to be a café and space for fusion fare. But when he was renovating the lot, people kept asking if he was going to be serving banana leaf rice. So he started doing just that and the restaurant took off big time.
The eatery has gained an ardent following since it first opened and is packed to the rafters even for weekday lunch. — AZMAN GHANI/The Star
These days, Achi’s signature banana leaf is served all day. The restaurant also has a large variety of side dishes on offer and everything that comes out of the kitchen is made to Vijaya-lakshmi’s exacting standards, as she is always there to supervise.
One of Achi’s main points is that every dish at the restaurant – barring four mutton and chicken options – are made to order, so you will never be eating anything left out for hours. The eatery’s range of dishes are also more aligned with home-cooked Indian fare, something that Kavi was determined to have placed on a restaurant table.
“Normally the food in restaurants has a more commercialised taste. So my idea was to bring the kind of Malaysian Indian food you might get at home or at a small stall. That’s why we have dishes like sardine sambal or kirai curry (dhal-and-spinach infused gravy) – which you would normally only find in homes,” he says.
To begin a meal here, look at indulging in the house-favourite Banana Leaf Set (RM12.90) that catapulted the restaurant to fame. Here, you will have the option of normal white rice or Indian parboiled rice, served alongside four types of vegetables – deep-fried cabbage, a cucumber raita, pineapple pachadi and another vegetable option, which changes daily.
This is served with a chutney, pickle, dried chilli, papadam, rasam and the option of six different curries, like mutton curry, fish curry, chicken curry and sambar, to name a few.
The restaurant's banana leaf rice offers a range of vegetables that are off-the-beaten track. — AZMAN GHANI/The Star
Everything on the banana leaf has been curated with care and the stand-outs are the vegetable dishes, like the battered, fried cabbage, which differs from the usual fried bittergourd so ubiquitous in BLR restaurants everywhere.
Here, the shredded cabbage is smothered in a fiery red batter and is deep-fried to perfection so each piece retains a crispy, crackly countenance with traces of spice and heat laced throughout.
The cucumber raita meanwhile is another creature of beauty. In the restaurant’s iteration, this standard fare is enhanced with pomegranate which speckle this offering with both textural contrast as well as sweetness.
The pineapple pachadi offers both sweetness and an acerbic energy that pairs well with the fluffy parboiled rice.
The mud crab curry is a fiery, riotous affair packed with flavour.
You can also opt to pimp up your meal with a litany of side dishes. Of what’s on offer, the Mud Crab Curry (RM60 per crab) is a must-try. Here, mud crabs are coated in a rich, thick, mop-worthy gravy that is just bursting with fire and flavour.
There is also a strong veneer of nostalgia and home-cooked goodness suffusing every fibre and molecule of this offering and its fundamental value is in how much it will remind you of home and hearth.
Another home-style dish is the Fried Ikan Bilis with Onion (RM7.90), which celebrates the crispness and briny underpinnings of ikan bilis, jostled alongside the dynamic duo of dried chillies and caramelised onions. It’s a simple, uncomplicated dish done exceedingly well.
The fried ikan bilis with onions is a simple, no-frills dish that delivers satisfaction on every count.
Up next, try the Fish Cutlets (RM9.90). Fish cutlets are de rigueur in most Malaysian Indian households and each family’s recipe will differ based on preference and individual style. In this incarnation, each crisp cutlet is filled to the brim with fish and an intoxicating array of spices. Consequently, every mouthful elicits an incredible sensory experience that will leave you feeling elated and euphoric.
From the vegetarian persuasion, try the Lion’s Mane Mushroom Rendang (RM12.90). Here, voluptuous chunks of mushroom co-mingle with a coconut-laced underbelly. It doesn’t taste exactly like a conventional rendang, probably because it has traces of the Indian sub-continent in its structural DNA, but even in its own right, this is an extremely satisfying, tasty dish.
The fish cutlet is crispy and filled to the brim with fish.
Given how successful Achi Ayahdorai has become, the idea of expansion has naturally come up. But for Kavi, staying true to the reason he started the restaurant in the first place is paramount. Which is why he is putting expansion plans on hold for the moment.
“There is an idea for expansion but not anytime soon. I believe in going deeper rather than broader. So I have to make sure my brand stands out first and I build it well. So I cannot be jumping the gun, starting a new branch and increasing my overheads just because everything is going good so far.
“In five years’ time, I’ll look at starting at least two additional branches in the Klang Valley and if all goes well, in 10 years, I plan to expand to other states,” he says.
Achi Ayahdorai1st floor, Jalan 21/22
Sea Park
46300 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 011 5919 2020
Open Tuesday to Sunday: 11.30am to 10pm
