It's rare to find Malaysian food in the Chicago area.
There are only one or two options in the city. That's why NBC Chicago Food Guy Steve Dolinsky was pleasantly surprised to find a Malaysian family running a small restaurant in Wheeling.
Dolinsky recently visited HD Cuisine, HD Cuisine (HD stands for Hawker's Delight), in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Its menu is based on the tradition of hawker stalls scattered across Malaysia, especially Singapore, which he visited a few years ago.
Hawker stalls are everywhere in Singapore. In the US we call them food courts, but in Malaysia they are basically street food stalls that have been moved indoors and are regulated by the government. Dumplings, laksa curry, and Hainanese chicken rice are popular.
In Wheeling, that elusive restaurant is more a kitchen than a dining room, but the family behind it is cooking deliciously as if they were back home.
“It's a mix of Chinese and Malay. It's a combination of South Indian cuisine, a little bit of Thai influence, and Chinese cuisine,” owner Lynn Randazzo said.
Rendang, or stew, is the basis of a dish of nasi lemak.
“Nasi lemak is the national food of Malaysia. The word 'rendang' means stew…”
You can have chicken or fish, but here we serve chicken.
“…It has five spices in it: lemongrass, onion, fresh turmeric and star anise,” she said.
Butterfly pea flowers or blue tea leaves dye rice in gorgeous colors. Then add peanuts and anchovies.
Although satay skewers are well known, they are different from the Thai version you have probably eaten due to the marinade.
“Malaysian satay is different. Our peanut sauce is also different from Thailand,” she said.
Noodles are clearly prevalent here. Drink Hokkien Mee.
“Hokkien Mee is a creation of Penang indigenous people. When you put it in your mouth, you can feel the texture of two types of noodles.
This is the result of soaking both the egg and rice noodles in a flavorful shrimp stock. A relative of the Thai version, char kway teow, uses wide rice noodles but is cooked with eggs, shrimp and pork.
“These rice noodles are very smoky, not sweet, savory and salty,” Randazzo said.
For dessert, try the colorful kueh. It can be steamed or baked, sweetened with coconut milk and sometimes served with fragrant pandan. Pandan is a type of Asian floral vanilla that is difficult to describe.
“I used to see my grandma always steaming kueh. The rainbow layers we call kueh lapis. It looks delicious,” she said.
HD Cuisine is quite spacious considering the small space with only two tables. However, the chef is constantly adding new items, so you'll never have the same thing twice.
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