Restaurant: Devi’s Corner
Cuisine: Indian/Mamak/Indo-Malaysian
Last visited: April 23, 2010
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Address:
69 Jalan Telawi 2, Kuala Lumpur,
Bangsar Baru
Wilayah Persekutuan
Tel: + 03-2282-7591
Price Range: CHEAP! RM 2-8 about $0.66 -2.50CAD/per person
1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!
Food: 5 (based on few items I tried)
Service: 5
Ambiance: 4 (for what it is)
Overall: 4.5
Additional comments:
- Authentic, traditional Indian food
- Indo-Malaysian “Mamak” specialties
- Specializes in Mamak cuisine/Mamak stall
- South Indian Muslim food
- Popular to Bangsarians and expats
- Popular (late night) hangout
- Cheap eats, budget friendly
- Very casual
- Ample indoor/”patio” seating
- Owners South Indian (Bangladesh)
- Friendly service
- Arrive early for lunch
- Busy all the time, crowded
- Open all day, open late
- Closes only 5am-6am (1 hour)
- Dirty-ish
- Vegetarian options
- No English Menu
**Recommendations: Roti Cannai (see video of making), Roti Tisu, Sweet Roti Tisu (see video of making)
Haven’t tried but also recommended and popular for: Lime-leaf scented rice, beef rendang, banana leaf rice, Nasi Lemak, Teh Tarik
This is a photo taken at 10:30pm.
Devi’s Corner is a modern Hawker (street food) stall located in the posh area of Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It’s a large restaurant with ample seating but you must arrive early in order to get a seat during lunch. It’s pretty busy throughout the day and it attracts locals and expats alike.
It is a popular hang out spot that attracts a younger demographic because it’s opened 24 hours, surrounded by night life, and serves cheap food and drinks. It’s one of the most popular Indian Hawker stalls in Malaysia serving Mamak food (South Indian/Muslim/Malaysian food in Malaysia).
Photo taken at about 11:30pm – still pretty busy.
Devi’s Corner is pretty much a giant street food stall made into a restaurant. It’s cheap eats, good food and a guaranteed good time with such a casual atmosphere.
I came here after 10:30pm AFTER one of the best dinner buffets at the Lemon Garden Cafe at the Shangri-La hotel. (A post that shouldn’t be missed!) I still managed to eat a couple bites at Devi’s Corner… I had to try everything.
Dirt cheap menu… divide prices by 3 for Canadian dollars. It was my first time trying a lot of the dishes, so my rating may be biased.
This is the main guy! Not even sure if he’s the owner, but he’s super nice!
On the table:
See the video – Making ROTI CANNAI in Malaysia.
See my video of him making Roti Cannai. It’s seriously one of the coolest things I’ve seen someone make. It’s almost the Indian version of pizza dough tossing!
So stretchy and it never tares. Roti canai is made of folded dough so you get nice flaky and stretchy, chewy layers.
Hand made roti cannai, always fresh, hot and made upon order. So good!
**Roti Canai – 5.5/6
- Roti Canai served with 3 curry sauces for dipping about RM2.60 – $0.87CAD
- Roti Canai/Kanai is one of the most popular Mamak foods – i’ts a popular Malaysian flat bread made of folded dough. It’s served with vegetarian lentil based curries and a hot curry sauce.
- Roti Canai dough is made from flour, butter, sugar and eggs. It is a sweeter bread but it’s not sweet bread (as in a dessert).
- Fresh, hot, flaky and crispy outside with chewy and super soft stretchy inside and made upon order. Amazing. I thought it was already excellent at Good Luck Thai in Hong Kong too.
- It would have been a 6/6 if I didn’t try Mohamed Nazar Curry House (also in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).
- Seriously amazing roti canai at both places. They actually chop the cannai in 8 squares before serving it – but for some reason this one wasn’t.
See the video – Making ROTI TISU in Malaysia.
This is where they make all the Indian breads.
**Lime Dosai Tisu/Roti Tisu – 5/6
- Roti tisu served with 3 curry sauces for dipping RM 2.60 – about $0.86CAD
- Roti tisu is a thinner version of roti canai. It’s made from the same dough but it’s tossed until paper thin. It’s cooked on the griddle and then rolled up in a giant cone shape.
- It’s another very popular Mamak snack/food. It’s light, thin “tissue bread” and it was my 1st time trying it.
- It tastes like a crispy paper thin crepe. It’s not crunchy though and it still has some chewy texture (at least this one did). It’s still pliable so you do tear/peel away at it rather than break/chip away at it. The thinner edges are nice and crispy though.
- The curry sauces are vegetarian, lentil based and heavy in spices but not really spicy. There was also a coconut and mint chutney.
- It’s not the best tasting thing ever, but it is good and a must try if you travel to Malaysia.
- Sweet Roti Tisu RM 2.60 – about $0.86CAD (or less…not on menu)
- This is the sweet/dessert version of roti tisu.
- I think they used rice flour to make this one because it was much crispier than the savoury/regular roti tisu. Either that or it’s the added salt and sugar mix they put on top that makes it even crispier.
- There’s only a pinch of salt and lots more sugar so it is a sweet, but not too sweet. It’s topped with condensed milk or sometimes Kaya jam (Malaysian coconut jam). This one didn’t have kaya, but kaya is one of the best jams ever invented.
Chappati – 3/6
- Chappati RM 1.40 – about $0.50CAD
- I think it’s extra for the dipping sauces.
- Chappati is a traditional Indian flat bread made of whole wheat flour. It’s healthier than the roti cannai but it also doesn’t taste as good 😉
- It’s almost like a whole wheat tortilla.
- It’s served with (left to right) tomato and onion based vegetarian curry, vegetarian potato curry, vegetarian lentil curry.
- The vegetarian lentil curry sauce they served with every Indian bread. It was the standard curry sauce. It was quite watered down and bland though – for Indian standards.
Satay Sticks – 5/6
- Chicken, beef or lamb. It’s “Mamak food” South Indian/Muslim/Malaysian food so there’s no pork.
- It’s served with this crunchy peanut sauce that was almost like a curry too. It was Indian people making peanut sauce so there’s some Indian spices in it.
- This may get you excited or gross you out… but authentic Malaysian satay sticks have a piece of fat skewered in between the pieces of meat. In this case it was chicken. So chicken meat, chicken fat, and then chicken meat again. Same for the beef and lamb.
- The chicken fat is not chewy, but almost like bacon but not crispy – it’s really indulgent and super greasy. It’s simply barbecued fat.
- The satay meats are all pre-marinaded in a curry rub prior to grilling.
Ketupat or Nasi Impit – 3/6
- That’s the white cubes you see on the plate behind the satay sticks.
- Ketupat/Nasi Imprit is traditional Malaysian street food/snack. Ketupat is made of compressed rice so they’re chewy rice cubes. They are a side or appetizer and you eat them with sauces and dips.
- The most common way to eat ketupat is with peanut satay sauce.
- It’s good, but it’s exactly what it sounds like. Chewy compressed rice – almost like a mochi but much more firm – not hard though. You can’t see or taste the separate rice grains.
Mee Goreng – n/a
- With chicken or beef. Probably RM 4 – about $1.30CAD
- Mee Goreng is pretty much spicy Indian fried noodles.
- It’s a popular Indonesian dish, but it’s actual very traditional in Malaysia.
- It’s spicy, sweet and sour noodles fried with soy sauce, chili sauce and spices.
- I didn’t try this one, but I like mee goreng to have more ingredients like bean sprouts, egg, and cabbage… but for $1.30CAD it’s does the job fine. It’s greasy stir-fried noodles “street food” style.
- No complaints coming from the person who always orders this either.
Maggie Goreng – 2.5/6
- With chicken or beef. Probably RM 4 – about $1.30CAD
- This was another type of Malaysian and also Singaporean fried noodle.
- It was almost the same as the mee goreng but they use thin yellow egg noodles.
- It’s fried with dark soy sauce or Maggie sauce and it tastes just like that. Quite ordinary and very greasy.
Mango Lassi – 5/6
- RM 5 – $1.60CAD
- The cost of a plate of noodles! This was actually excellent. It was nice and cold, thick and creamy with a fresh mango taste. I downed it.
They also have an Indian buffet set up if you prefer to make your own plate. The price depends on what you have on your plate. It’s traditional Indian curries (chicken, beef, lamb) and deep fried Indian spiced seafood.
These were found at the buffet but I didn’t get to try them. It was the size of a hockey puck and it was deep fried with a mix of Indian spices like cumin, coriander, and clove seeds. It looked like a savoury donut and I’m pretty sure it’s called vada.[geotag]
Mijune,
How the hell do you stay so slim ?!!! Perhaps you should patent your secret and make billions !!!
After that fabulous buffet you still had room for this ?…and you ate MORE desserts ?!!!
6 turns with his wrist and it’s flat as can be, amazing!
Bow – I was soooo full after this! But when you’re a foodie in another country that’s so far away you’ll find room to try everything…no matter how painful it is LOL…funny now but not at the time! Oh and desserts… MAJOR weakness of mine…there’s not only always room for it but I have 3 stomachs for it.
Ethan – I know! I’ve never seen them make roti like that anywhere! I don’t even know how…
Wow I am impressed. All that eating. Hmmm wait I am jealous all that great food. Must have reached culinary comatosse after all this eating.
Bow I agree. Dunno how mijune does it. Why are u blogging about food. Patent ur amazing ability to stay slim. U can live royally off that income.
Bangsar mamak is popular with the locals too. They come at ALL hours. There are people there at 6am who haven’t gone home intermingling with folks having their morning coffee before work. It is true bangsar is popular with the expat and families that work in the embassies and kids that go the international school. Though I imagine that is changing.
Ok I am gonna play m’sian foodie cop. Just let me know if I am out of line, Mijune.
For most malaysian’s, normally say ketupat with their satay. I am not familiar with Nasi(rice) imprit. Did a google on it ur site was the first site listed. I suppose that means ur doing a great job.
The roti tisu(savoury) looks more lime dosai tisu. Hence the coconut chutney was served with it. The fried noodles look weak especially the hokkien mee that looks nothing nor taste nothing like hokkein mee. Hokkien mee has crispy deep fried pork rind sauteed together in a the dark slightly sweet dark soy sauce mix of thick egg noodles with meat seafood and veggies. The egg noodle is similar to shanghai noodles with a little bite, chewy. I had that deep fried India savoury thingy. Don’t remember what it is called. I believe it is either dahl or chickpea based. I don’t think it is crusted, I think they are hand-formed and the crust occurs during the deep-frying process. Ok I am being really Nick-picky-ish.
TimeToChow – lol thanks guys! I’m not that slim though…I know my camera angles ;)…but my “ability to stay slim” is eating 3 desserts minimum a day and not exercising..and not drinking water so that I have more room to eat more :S…..it’s really bad…I’m trying to change things…I try to limit myself to 1 dessert a day.
Ok THANK YOU for clarifying things! Since I’m not Malaysian or that familiar with the authenticity of the food I can learn a lot from you! I am going to change the names of those things on my post. I can’t wait for you to read my Saturday post b/c there are 2 noodle dishes that I don’t know the name of…I definitely think one is Hokkien Mee because it sounds like what you described. Thanks for giving me your tips… it helps and I like to learn… after all – I am a foodie! 🙂
okay this post is making me crave Indian food at 12am! haha wow the food is so cheap! I love it and wish we had places like that here. I’ve tried a mango lassi at a place on Davie St. that was really good. I love mi goreng noodles. I buy the Indomie ones at T&T and was addicted to those for awhile haha. Those satay sticks look like bacon on a stick! It looks yummy though. And the roti canai looks good too. I think I may have to get Indian food for lunch tmrw at work 😛
lol they do look like bacon on a stick!
TimeToChow n Mijune : nasi impit is just another name for ketupat.
nasi impit usually use by ‘malay’ people
what is the different between the ketupat and nasi impit is…
the ketupat is wrap in coconut leaf while the nasi impit wrap in plastic where we can easily find the instant nasi impit at the supermarket.
i agree with timetochow. the hokkien mee does not look like that. the ‘hokkien mee’ we call it ‘maggie goreng’
Simon Foo – aaahhhh thank you for the info! And I think you’re right… the hokkien mee is probably maggie goreng…. I must have gotten it mixed up. I’m such a tourist :S I really appreciate your comments.