During one of the last week of December last year, I visited Kerala Restaurant with fellow foodies for our JB food trail. I still remember during my younger days, my parents used to bring me here for their traditional Indian rice meal on banana leaf. Kerala Restaurant is one of the oldest Indian restaurants in Johor Bahru.


As you stepped into the restaurants, you can see families with at least 2 generations are dining in. The restaurant does not have fancy decoration and it is just simple design with air-conditioned dining place. You can see an Indian old uncle sitting at the counter to collect money.



We were served with banana leaf individually on the table. One of the ladies will come with a bowl of white rice followed by curry vegetables to spread on top of the banana leaf. Poppadoms were served as well to go with the meal. If you wish to enjoy the truly Indian taste, I would suggest you to eat with your hands. I used to do it when I was small. It was fun!


Mackerel Fish & Fish Cutlets

Then, come along another lady with fried Mackerel fish and cutlets for us to choose. Although the appearance looks dry, I still find it acceptable to go with the rice as it is all drenched with the curry sauce.

Curry Sotong

We also tried the curry sotong which is not too spicy for my level. Although the curry sauce is flavourful, the squid texture was too hard to chew and mostly overcooked.

Curry Chicken

Curry chicken is available as well. It has the flavourful spices taste.

Curry Fish Head

We paid RM40.00 for this pot of curry fish head. And of course the curry was fragrance and filled with spices which are not too spicy. We were told that it was seabass fish head used for this dish. If you want to try, do check if they have Ikan Merah for better taste experience.

The meal was a treat by Joanne and her husband. Thanks for the treat and I hope to be back soon with my parents to rekindle our memories here. I didn’t get to take picture of the shopfront as it was raining heavily that day. So, here’s the photo taken from Tony.

You can read more about it from Tony’s post here.

Kerala Restaurant
Address:
77 , Jalan Storey
Kim Teng Park
80300 Johor Bahru
Opening Hours: 6:30AM – 7:00PM (Closed on Sunday)
No pork but No Halal Certificate.