Developing Dishes Without Borders

The neon glow of 888 Chinese Seafood dominates the Empire Commercial Center in Rosemead. You might never notice tiny Singapore & Malaysian Restaurant, a plain room decorated with Malaysian tourism posters and seemingly unrelated sentimental tchotchkes.

The customers don’t mind the humble setting. Many of them grew up knowing that the richest-tasting Hainan chicken or coconut curry in the world could come from an outdoor food hawker’s stall.

Part of the charm of this place is its family ambience. Families often tote babies along. The school-aged waitresses are pretty good at explaining unfamiliar dishes--in fine San Gabriel Valley Girl-ese.

The menu rambles all over the map, offering the whole spectrum of Asian food: curries, Indo-Malay chile sambals, Chinese hot pots and regional noodle specialties. This selection may seem a hodgepodge, but it typifies the Straits cuisine, in which Chinese, Indian and Indonesian influences blend with intricate and spectacular results. You can taste the mix in curry laksa (No. 24 on the menu): eggy Chinese noodles submerged in a bowl of rich South Indian lemon grass and coconut milk curry, topped with fresh herbs and finished off with a spicy sambal unknown in China.

Curry-Stuffed Bean Curd Is a Singapore Favorite

You’d never guess from its name that curry-stuffed bean curd (No. 52), a Singaporean hawker stall favorite, is such a baroque creation. Stuffed tofu squares merely top the list of ingredients. Little surprise packets of stuffed vegetables, including eggplant and okra, also bob around in the curry broth. Topping it off are mysterious fresh herbs and a thatch of fried shallots.

In what seems a Herculean feat for a family restaurant, the kitchen actually makes its own soft tofu for “house special home-made bean curd.” The large, pudding-like square, encased in an ultra-thin, crackly fried coating, luxuriates in a thoroughly Chinese gravy thick with tree-ear mushrooms. For a splash of color, there are also some frozen peas and carrots.

Nothing illustrates this kitchen’s precision timing and generous use of herbs better than the huge platter of Malaysian butter shrimp. Great clumps of herbs, fried along with the shrimp, are bound with a lacy starch coating of some kind. You eat the shrimp shell and all, and don’t be squeamish about pulling off the heads. The shrimp is particularly good if you order some coconut rice on the side.

The satays need a hotter grill and a livelier peanut sauce, which is disappointing--Singapore is known for its satays. But you can get great satays at plenty of places; it’s harder to find curry puffs as light and flaky as the ones offered here. I can also recommend the fresh egg roll (poh piah), a Mandarin pancake lightly smeared with hoisin sauce and rolled around neatly minced vegetables.

Fresh Fish Where You’d Expect Frozen

On one visit, I ordered Teo Chew (otherwise called chiu chao) steamed fish, a regional Chinese dish that would challenge any kitchen. The fish was absolutely fresh, unusual for restaurants at this price point, where frozen fish is the norm. Tiny sour plums and flecks of preserved cabbage enliven this delicate--some might even say a little too delicate--dish.

On the other hand, strong tastes play a big part in Malaysian food, since dried and fermented fish has long been a mainstay. If you’re not prepared for powerfully fishy tastes, avoid sotong salad (dried, rehydrated squid), the salted fish dishes and, although I personally love it, nasi lemak, a wonderful combo plate of several meat and vegetable curries and a mound of coconut rice garnished with fried mackerel and tiny dried fish. In Singapore, many such combos come wrapped in a banana leaf.

If you’re lucky, the owners will offer you a small complimentary dish of bubor cha char for dessert. It’s pronounced more like “bo bo cha cha” in Malaysia, where everyone seems to be wild about the creamy sweet coconut sauce studded with cooked sweet potato and barley. For $2, you can order a large bowl of it.

With this sort of cooking, I’m hoping that Singapore & Malaysian Restaurant will emerge from the obscurity of its location and find a permanent place on the restaurant map.

* Singapore & Malaysian Restaurant, 8450 E. Valley Blvd., Rosemead. (626) 288-9299. Open Monday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. No alcohol. Parking lot. Mastercard and Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $10-$26.

What to Get: curry stuffed tofu, curry laksa, curry puffs, butter shrimp with side of coconut rice, homemade bean curd, nasi lemak.