Chahaya Malaysia
1690 Montreal Rd., 613-742-0242, facebook.com/chahayamalaysia
Open: Tuesday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: main dishes up to $18
Access: one step at entrance, washrooms downstairs
On the other side of the window, the temperature was close to -20 C. The wind gusted. Yet somehow, the six of us were happily digging into a big bowl of ice kacang, the Malaysian shaved-ice dessert, its frigid main ingredient sweetly mitigated by condensed milk, red beans, peanuts and more.
To do otherwise would have broken the spell cast by the previous, delicious courses at Chahaya Malaysia. The 33-year-old restaurant, Ottawa’s only Malaysian eatery, left us feeling tropical, not quite sweltering, but notably warmed by spices, and definitely well-fed.
I’m embarrassed that during nearly six years of restaurant reviewing, I hadn’t had a proper meal at Chahaya Malaysia (which my predecessor last reviewed in 2006) until earlier this month. Maybe it fell off my radar because of its low-key nature or its out-of-my-way Montreal Road location. Maybe I took it for granted because of its longevity. Fortunately, I recalled the eatery when my first cousin once removed and his new wife, Grace, who is Malaysian, recent visited Ottawa.
It could only help to have a Malaysian expat eating shotgun, bolstering my take on Chahaya Malaysia, I thought. That said, a complete newcomer to Malaysian food, which fuses Malay, Chinese and Indian influences, would do just fine at Chahaya Malaysia. The restaurant is run by chef Subut Abdullah and wife Margaret, who proudly provides guidance regarding the menu as she takes orders. The food has scarcely changed since the Abdullahs opened their first location in the Glebe in 1985.
Subut Abdullah, chef-owner and his wife Margaret Abdullah of Chahaya Malaysia on Montreal Road with (clockwise from left) shrimp chips, Javanese beef rendang, rice, mee goreng, chef’s special chicken, house-made chili sauce, chili shrimp, chicken in coconut sauce
Margaret also gave us a primer on the spice levels of dishes that we would share, family-style. Chili-emboldened eating is a point of pride at Chahaya Malaysia, evident in the sizeable containers on each table of house-made chili sauce — “two-star” heat, said Margaret — and in the menu’s three-star dishes. That said, of 70-odd dishes on the menu, just three are designated with three stars.
We snacked on some on-the-house shrimp chips until our only appetizer, six superior skewers of satay chicken, beef and lamb ($13.70) with some savoury house-made peanut sauce, arrived. Soon after, a first wave of dishes, and then a second, landed to complete a multi-protein run of the menu.
Satay skewers at Chahaya Malaysia
Jumbo shrimp curry ($18) was blessed with plump, tender seafood and an uncommonly savoury gravy. Given a pre-meal mini-lesson from Margaret, I suspect the umami delights of that and other dishes were due to the kitchen’s skillful use of belacan, Malaysia’s version of fermented shrimp paste, which like fish sauce or anchovies can be pungent when dormant but which amps up the deliciousness when properly deployed.
Shrimp in coconut sauce at Chahaya Malaysia
Chicken kurma ($14.75) was more mild of flavour, but still tasty. Like all of Chahaya Malaysia’s chicken dishes, it exclusively used boneless white meat, nodding to Canadian preferences rather than serving chunks of bone-in bird as Grace grew up eating.
Chicken kurma at Chahaya Malaysia
Pepper lamb ($18), a creation of Subut’s rather than a typical Malaysian or Indonesian dish, Margaret said, was our only stir-fry and a fine one at that.
Pepper lamb at Chahaya Malaysia
At the request of the spice-averse at our table, we knocked a star off of the chili fish ($17.50), which featured haddock filets in a thick, deep red sauce. Everyone appreciated the complexity of flavours here, which were sweet and savoury and not just incendiary. The leftover sauce would be lovely the next day at home on an omelette, Margaret advised.
Chili fish at Chahaya Malaysia
Javanese beef rendang ($16), a milder, but still teeming-with-flavour cousin of the more mouth-searing Malaysian beef rendang, was a long-simmered dry curry of fall-apart meat.
Javanese beef rendang at Chahaya Malaysia
We finished everything with lots of basmati rice and not even a quibble. Then, gluttony drove me to order Malaysian “mee goreng” fried noodles ($14). Grace told me that back home, the street-food version of that dish would be made with instant noodles, and she was pleasantly surprised to see Chahaya Malaysia’s fancier version, which she quipped included “premium noodles.”
Subut Abdullah, chef-owner and his wife Margaret Abdullah of Chahaya Malaysia on Montreal Rd with a selection of food for Peter Hum review. Photo by Wayne Cuddington/ Postmedia
For dessert, in addition to the ice kacang ($5), we had chunks of deep-fried plantain ($4). “Pulled” tea ($4.50) — Malaysian tea with condensed milk, dramatically aerated by Margaret with an arms-outstretched pour between teapot and glass — was a sweet meal-ender.
Ice kacang at Chahaya Malaysia
Pulled tea at Chahaya Malaysia
I can think of only a few caveats about Chahaya Malaysia to share. First, the food tastes amazing, but looks more homey. But then, Subut told me he is more or less self-taught as a chef, having acquired his kitchen skills as a young domestic worker cooking for a Malaysian diplomat in Ottawa. For him, cooking is about taste, and even love, and less about any spatters on a plate. “You put your heart into your cooking. Everything will be good,” he said.
I’ll also mention that the lunch buffet at Chahaya Malaysia, which I tried last year, was good, but nothing like the full-tour dinner that knocked us all out.
The front half of the dining room that seats 60 or so is my preference over the darker back half. Over all, the restaurant is cosy and old-fashioned in a quaint, charming way. It’s decorated with Malaysian artwork on its walls and batik on its tables, but its layout reflects the building’s past as a Chinese-Canadian restaurant.
For some, it will matter that there are nearly 20 vegetarian dishes available here, or that the meat dishes are halal. The restaurant a few years ago gave up its liquor licence, even if it slightly hurt its business, which Subut later told me was “up and down, like a roller coaster.” Non-alcoholic beers are available, which pair well with the food, Subut said.
When we left, Grace told Subut “Terima Kasih” — “thank you” in Malay. He replied “Sama-sama” — meaning “same to you” or “you’re welcome.”
She told Subut that his food was not only authentic in its flavours, but also better than what she had eaten on recent trips home to Malaysia.
Subut, who is 56, told us that younger generations of Malaysians don’t cook as well as he and his elders do. That prompted Grace to reiterate her gratitude, as aptly expressed for Ottawa’s restaurant-goers as for her countryfolk.
“Thanks for not changing,” she said.
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Peter Hum’s restaurant reviews
