The best curry meals near KSL run from a heritage banana leaf lunch to JB’s legendary curry fish head — all a short walk or Grab ride from KSL D’Esplanade.
Johor Bahru does Indian and curry food exceptionally well, and staying above KSL City Mall puts you within a 5–20 minute Grab ride of most of the classics. None of the places below are run by Southern Homestay — they’re simply the well-reviewed spots our guests keep coming back for. Here’s where locals and Singaporean day-trippers actually eat.
Where do you get proper banana leaf rice near KSL?
Kerala Restaurant in the old downtown (Jalan Storey, Kim Teng Park) is one of JB’s oldest Indian kitchens — food writers date it back to 1949 — and it still serves a traditional South Indian rice meal on banana leaf. Johor Kaki, Peggy Loh’s My Johor Stories and Tripadvisor reviewers all praise its home-cooked, gently spiced curries. For a slicker, modern take, The Banana Leaf Kitchen in Taman Eko Botani is a Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice winner ranked among the very top restaurants in JB — expect crisp dosa, ghee rice and generous curries, though it’s a longer 15–20 minute drive out west. Both are worth the trip if a proper thali-style spread is what you’re after.
- Kerala Restaurant – heritage banana leaf, old downtown; typically a daytime kitchen, so go for lunch — check current hours.
- The Banana Leaf Kitchen – modern South Indian, Eco Botani; consistently one of JB’s highest-rated & usually open till around 10pm.
Which curry fish head is worth the queue?
JB’s signature curry dish is fish head curry, and two names come up again and again. Kam Long Ah Zai on Jalan Wong Ah Fook — roughly a five-minute walk from JB City Square and a short ride from KSL — has served one dish since the 1980s: a claypot of red snapper in a sweet-spicy-savoury broth that Eatbook, Miss Tam Chiak and Johor Kaki all rate highly. It draws long queues, so go early. Prefer to skip the wait? Century Curry Fish Head (stall #54 at Cedar Point Food Centre in Taman Century, walkable from KSL) is the reviewers’ pick for a well-balanced, less oily gravy without the crush — a claypot best shared over white rice. Both are Chinese-style curry fish head rather than Indian, but they’re the dish JB is famous for.
What about roti canai and late-night mamak?
For flaky roti canai with runny curry, JB’s mamak and Indian-Muslim shops deliver. SETHLUI’s JB roti canai guide singles out longtime favourites like Onn Kitchen in Kampung Bahru (a decades-old breakfast institution that sells out early) and Restoran Ameer, often dubbed one of JB’s legendary roti canai spots. Closer to the city centre, the mamak stalls around Jalan Wong Ah Fook and Taman Sentosa keep frying roti and pulling teh tarik late into the night — handy after a Causeway crossing. Hours vary and the best ones sell out, so treat roti canai as a morning or supper mission rather than a fixed plan.
How do you get to these from KSL D’Esplanade?
Grab is the easy answer: pickup is simplest at the hotel lobby entrance, and rides within the city are typically short and cheap. Kam Long and the downtown mamak strip are about 10 minutes away; Cedar Point in Taman Century is even closer; the Eco Botani and heritage spots are 15–20 minutes west. If you’d rather walk to dinner, the food courts and restaurants inside KSL City Mall itself cover the basics — see our guide to what’s downstairs at KSL City Mall, and our wider JB food guide for more local eats.
Staying at KSL D’Esplanade puts all of this within reach — drop your bags after a hot shower and you’re at a banana leaf lunch minutes later. See our Studio and 2-bedroom units, then message us on WhatsApp for availability and directions.