Malaysia

This weekend took the passport to the opposite side of the globe from the Irish but just a short jaunt to Charlotte for me.  Malaya Kitchen was the stop this weekend.  It’s on Providence Rd in south Charlotte and in a strip center that’s like the UN of restaurants.  There are 9 restaurants sharing a parking lot and I wrote them down because Wow; Pizza Hut, Cherry Blossom Chinese, Acropolis Café, Charlotte Café, Sushiya Japanese, Malaya Kitchen, Bella Fresco Italian Mediterranean, Qdoba Mexican, & Chile’s.

Back to Malaya Kitchen.  The place is a restaurant and lounge and they have pretty subdued lighting suitable for a lounge so it wasn’t surprising most people were asking to be seated in a brighter area near the front window.  The bar part of the main seating area rather than a separate section but the whole thing seems to work.

The menu has a lot of things you find on most southeast Asian fusion restaurants but they did have a few things identified as being Malaysian so I went with the popiah appetizer and beef rendang from the lunch menu.  The rendang came with a salad, the first of 3 surprises, so I basically had a small 3 course lunch.

The salad was unremarkable but the popiah was interesting.  It was a shrimp spring roll with a plum chili sauce over it.  I got mine steamed but they also offer it fried.  Oh yeah there was shredded lettuce and carrots on the plate too like some mini salad, surprise #2.  It was still there the waiter took the plate away.  The beef rendang was next.

Surprise #3, the rendang came with broccoli too.  I know you’re thinking “look at all that broccoli” and shuddering kind of like I did but I have to say it wasn’t that bad.  They were pretty tasteless but they were firm and a little crunchy so they had texture going for them.  I got white rice but brown rice is an option as well in case you were wondering.

OK so the rendang is basically like a really really thick beef stew.  This one had some potatoes in it and big chunks of beef that had been simmered in what the menu called exotic spices and coconut milk.  It was a bit sweet and a little savory with no heat from spices.  Personally I think it should have had some and based on the research for the recipe on the Tell Me More page it traditionally does bring the heat.  In spite of that lack it was quite tasty.  That pineapple slice was a fine garnish as well.  It served to drive out the taste the broccoli did have plus was a nice palette cleanser at the end of the meal.

This is a decent place and the staff was very professional and the food tasted good.  If I lived in the area I could see dropping by fairly often to dine or lounge.