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    Sambal Chef

    4.1 (87 reviews)
    Open 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

    Order Sambal Chef Takeout or Delivery

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    SAMBAL CHEF ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Good for groups
    Dogs allowed

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    Reviews With Photos - Sambal Chef

    Linh T.

    I recently tried Sambal Chef after hearing so many good things about them. The store is a bit hidden, but it was not hard to find. I stopped by for a late lunch on a Saturday after lunch hours, so it was not busy at all. The store is small but clean. The workers were nice, and it did not take long for the food to come out. We got the 1/2 Haianese chicken and the roti canai with beef rendang. The chicken was super tender and nicely flavored, but it had mostly bones and very little meats. The roti canai and the beef rendang were very tasty.

    beef rendang
    Ann L.

    This place was a bit tucked away, next to the Dun Huang plaza. Plenty of parking. We came here for dinner and it didn't disappoint. Plenty of tables with a homey vibe. We were seated right away. Their menu was pretty extensive with plenty of options to choose from. We ordered some of their Malaysian specialties to share as a group: - Hainanese chicken - Roti canai - Water spinach with sambal sauce - Mee goreng - Beef rendang - Beef satay Everything we tried was delish. My favorite was the beef rendang. Beef was very tender and packed with flavors. Hainanese chicken was also cooked to perfection. We wanted to see the difference between their mee goreng versus the instant noodle. It was more like a stir fried noodle. This was plenty of food to share among 4 people. We didn't have to wait too long for the food to come out. Service was friendly. This was a good spot to grab a family-style meal.

    Diana J.

    Good service. Plenty of tables. Great food served quick. Everything was packed with flavor so much so that the buttered soft shell crabs I could only taste the crab and not the sauce. Sadly they're closing end of this month but will be relocating! New location is TBD but they said they're looking at Katy or Pearland. So yay, they will be back!

    Rendang beef
    Alex N.

    I wanted to try another spot for Hainanese chicken with my girlfriend and found this place. It was pretty quiet for a Saturday afternoon. The staff looked bored just waiting around. We shared a roti with beef rendang and the Hainanese chicken. The sauce that came with the beef was delightful and reminded me of Vietnamese style curry. Roti was nice and crispy and great for dipping into that sauce. The chicken was the main course and was good but not extraordinary. The texture was very much like an average chicken anywhere. The appeal of this kind of chicken for me is usually the tenderness with a slight bite to it. The flavors went well with the traditional ginger oil and hot sauce paired with it. The portion looked big at first, but there were a lot of bones taking up space. Overall, I enjoyed the experience.

    A2. Roti Canai with Curry Chicken (2 Pieces)
    Amita K.

    Awesome food!! Must visit if you like Malaysian and Singaporean food. Service was great. We ordered roti canai , pineapple fried rice, chicken, curry, laksa, Ikan bakar ( fried flounder) . Everything was excellent and delicious. The chicken, curry laksa could have done with a little less oil to maintain the original coconut curry flavor but everything else was just perfect. Not spicy but flavorful. Ambience is what you would expect of restaurant in a strip mall. We enjoyed the food and we will be back again to try other dishes on the menu!

    NS1. Curry Laksa (Chicken)
    Judy C.

    Honestly everything was delicious! Ordered a good amount of food for a group of 5 and got: - Curry Laksa (With yellow noodle and chicken. Broth was super flavorful) - Salted Egg Shrimp (shrimps were HUGE and crispy) - Ikan Bakar (Whole flounder thats fried and crispy/nicely seasoned) - Salted Egg Fried Chicken Wings (same seasoning as the shrimp and tender/crispy) - Roti with curry sauces - Malaysia Style Sizzling Tofu (this was really yummy and flavorful as well) - Salt Pepper Spare Ribs (not too salty and tender) - Water spinach - Singapore Chilli Crab (tasted like the taiwanese egg and tomato dish sauce. Crab was pretty meaty) Staff were attentive and nice. Parking - within the plaza as denny's Restroom - kinda clean

    B1. Beef Rendang
    Jennifer N.

    The restaurant is in the building next to Denny's and can be easily ignored since it isn't in the main Chinatown plaza. Sambal chef needs more recognition for delicious authentic Malaysian food. Ordered their house fried rice, salted yolk fried chicken, salted yolk calamari and beef rendang. I didn't get the chance to take any photos of the other dishes since I was hungry.

    Chili crab
    Brandon D.

    One of my good friend's invited me to their birthday dinner at Sambal Chef in bellaire! They are a Malaysian restaurant that used to be located in pearland before moving to the Chinatown area. It's nice that their location is not in the main area because parking was so easy. We started off with the chicken and beef satay. I really liked the chicken skewer but the beef one was not as tender and juicy. The roti canai was flaky and I really enjoyed the darker red curry sauce. Idk what the yellow sauce was but the flavor was very light on that one. Garlic water spinach was a necessity to get my daily fiber in. I thought the sizzling tofu was just ok but it prob would've been better if the sauce wasn't on the side. The chili crab was sweet and spicy, and also messy and saucy. I'd say it's pretty good but I'm not sure if it's worth the value. They used to have a bogo deal for it back then. I recommend adding the sauce to the rice for a little kick and flavor. The char koay teow was solid but I really liked how pandan leaf have you done sambal sauce, it really is a game changer

    Samantha W.

    A good place to eat when I don't feel like making a drive out to Phat Eatery (prices definitely cheaper with great portion sizes). The restaurant is not that big inside but it's not small. We also came in large party and on a Friday night and there was no wait so take that for what it is. Ordered Hainan chicken, roti, beef rendang, a noodle dish, amongst others. I would literally come back just for the roti canal, it is so good. The meat for the beef rendang was pretty tender but I think the flavor is better at Phat Eatery. Overall, good service and a good place to get Malaysian food. Will come back to try more things!

    A3. Roti Canai with Beef Rendang (2 Pieces)
    Chris H.

    Best Malaysian food in town!! Prices are reasonable and much cheaper than phat eatery! Highly recommend the roti canai and chili prawns! Can't go wrong with any of their stir fried noodle dishes! Great service and plenty of parking!

    Soo L.

    Came for lunch in the middle of the week. Lunch menu special: Order three dishes, receive the fourth free! It also came with complimentary seaweed soup. We two ordered four dishes to use the special offer: Char Koay Teow, Hainanese Chicken, Black Pepper Fish Filet, Curry Chicken Laksa. I made the mistake of saying we didn't like it too spicy. I think they toned it down too much. Still, we'll be back to try other dishes!

    A3. Roti Canai with Beef Rendang (2 Pieces)
    A L.

    Roti is delicious - slightly crispy on the outside. Soft inside. Beef rendang served with the roti was meh - ok flavor, but overcooked meat. Hainan chicken also was so so. Decent portion of meat and veggies, but lacking in flavor. Stir fried vegetables are good - tender.

    Kacy M.

    My group ordered the Hainanese Chicken, Snow Pea Leaf, Salted Egg Golden Calamari, Salted Egg Fried Chicken, Malaysia Style Sizzling Tofu, Char Koay Teow, Hokkien Mee, and Seafood Noodles. The menu prices range from $5.95-$27.95. We did have a Malaysian born friend in the group who has dined here before so he knew what to get and got a couple things that he hasn't tried on his last visit. The workers were very kind and were speaking Cantonese which I loved (Malaysia is a melting pot so you don't know who you're gonna get). Standout dishes were the calamari (crunchy and addicting, could've ate half the dish myself), snow pea leaves (cooked perfectly with no fuss), and Hainanese chicken (presented beautifully and was fragrant). I wouldn't get any of the noodles next time (too saucy/salty). Can't wait to come back!

    8 Pieces Wonton Soup

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    Ask the Community - Sambal Chef

    Do they take reservations?

    Yes

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    Uncle Chin's Kitchen

    Uncle Chin's Kitchen

    4.8
    (260 reviews)
    12.4 mi
    $$

    The food at Uncle Chin's is amazing! Service was very good as well. It's a small place but well…read moreworth it!

    BF hosted a major get-together for friends and chose this gem as the gathering spot. No regrets all…read morearound--everyone thought it was a great place to eat, catch up, and spend the afternoon. Malaysian Grilled Chicken Satay - Super tender with a sweet peanut sauce that really accentuated the flavors. Probably my favorite appetizer so far--had to be extra careful around my BF after this! Definitely my brother's personal favorite; I'm sure he ate 3 of them! Hainanese Chicken & Rice - Very tender and chewy with a mild flavor. The ginger-and-scallion sauce at the bottom was very refreshing, and the aromatic rice was among the most delicious I've had! I saw that the grains looked similar to Vietnamese broken rice because they weren't fully rounded. For some reason, this made the texture so much more appealing to me. Curry Chicken Puff - Love the curry flavor of this and the delicacy of the puff pastry. The shell isn't too thick, and the vegetables are very well infused with the curry, making them strong contributors to the overall flavor. Despite it being a pastry, I didn't feel overwhelmed by the carbs--indicating that the breading-to-stuffing ratio of this sat at the perfect pinnacle. Malaysian Roti Canai - One of my absolute favorite dishes here. I would come to this place just for this--the whole table compared the combo to crack. No joke. The chicken and potatoes are some of the most tender pieces in this dish, and you could slurp the broth like it's its own dish. I watched this go way too fast, and even two orders per table were not enough to satisfy the crowd. Malaysian Roti Canai (w. Egg) - Love the original much more, but this was still very delicious. They made the egg very thin, so it didn't overwhelm the roti. The egg took away from my favorite roti taste, but it was so well seasoned I wasn't even that angry about it. Malaysian Char Kuey Teow (Migoreng) - OOH. This has a unique flavor --much more savory than packaged ramen. The texture of the noodles is very inviting. It's much less salty compared to the pre-packaged Migoreng. The flavor was more umami. Rich, deep, and just the perfect amount to coat the noodles. Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetable (w. Tofu) - This is a very saucy vegetable dish, but I didn't mind it at all. I loved it, though it was the last dish I had and I was definitely stuffed by then. The sauce reminds me of a thinner Migoreng sauce--more viscous than a loose sauce, but not as thick as Migoreng. Very good, but my taste buds were definitely overwhelmed by then. Malaysian Milk Tea - Not as sweet as I expected. I was told the tea leaves were imported from Malaysia, and our table ended up ordering six of them. The lingering bitterness in the aftertaste is something I'm very fond of, and the tea flavor is exceptionally rich. The milk infusion in this is exceptional. Malaysian Lime "Calamansi" & Plum Drink - Tasted like a lime-tamarind drink to my BF, while my brother and I thought it tasted like Vietnamese chanh muối. Overall, Uncle Chin's lived up to the hype, just as I knew it would from the day my BF brought home leftover roti from his very first visit. The buzz of having 16 people definitely distracted me from paying close attention to every dish--I even missed taking a few photos--but one thing remained true: everyone was talking about the food. Every time a new dish came out, the table erupted with commentary about its flavor, uniqueness, and overall impact. Some dishes stole the show more than others (my lovely roti, hello), but every single one earned its place on the menu. Very sad we didn't get to see Uncle Chin sing, but with 16 people to serve during the lunch rush, I'm sure he was pretty overwhelmed.

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    Seating inside
    Seating inside
    Malaysian Roti Telur (roti coated with eggs)
    Malaysian Roti Telur (roti coated with eggs)
    Front counter and bar area

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    Front counter and bar area
    Banana Leaf

    Banana Leaf

    3.7
    (803 reviews)
    0.2 mi
    $$

    Food - 4/5 Service - 4/5…read moreAmbiance - 4/5 Overall - 4/5 Within this busy shopping center lies this small Malaysian restaurant. Parking here will forever and always be terrible, but besides that, this place was almost entirely empty, especially for a weekend lunch (we did come almost right at opening time, but there were only like a few other customers by the time we finished). I think the main issue with this restaurant is the menu. With a wide variety of options with different cuisines, I felt that the quality of dishes was lower than I wanted. That aside, I absolutely loved the roti canai, with it being almost perfectly crispy, buttery, and tasty. The fried rice was really flavorful with the salted fish, almost verging on too strong. The curry noodle soup we got was not very strong and was a little bit disappointing. The beef tripe was so incredibly tasty, though the spice was a little bit much for my family. The beef dry hot pot was nice, though I only really liked the beef and not much else on it (some of it was bitter, other parts were just too salty). I don't think this place is terrible. We did come as one of, if not the first, customers in the restaurant, so everything was made fresh and was hot as we ate it. I just think was so much competition surrounding it in this busy shopping center, I don't think it accomplishes enough to be a go-to place for my family.

    We saw this place on social media and decided to visit for Mother's Day…read more First things first - parking lot was insane. So come early or you might circle the lot for awhile. We were seated immediately but our server was giving us attitude the entire time. He would constantly check on the other tables but never us. We had to flag down the other server whenever we needed something. Food wise, everything was just okay. The best thing was probably the roti canai and the stir fried flat noodles with beef. The green beans were flavorless, the sizzling pepper chicken was not spicy (we requested spicy) and no pepper, and the beef rendang was really oily.

    Photos
    Inside
    Inside
    Sizzling Bean Curd
    Sizzling Bean Curd
    Indian Pancake

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    Mamak Malaysian Restaurant

    Mamak Malaysian Restaurant

    4.1
    (107 reviews)
    8.3 mi
    $$

    As one of the only full fledged restaurants in JusGo, Mamak holds the distinction for being the…read moreonly Malaysian establishment in Sugar Land (#1) and more importantly, is one of the best options for Malaysian fare in all of the Houston area. The combination of Malay Bahasa and accented Mandarin is often spoken by the staff, along with a few Teochew words thrown in between. They're warm, friendly, and make solid recommendations depending on preference. The interior is spacious, airy, primed with lots of open seating but is often empty. Almost each time I've dined here I was the only customer or among the only people dining at all. The roti canai is among the better versions I've had since being in Texas. The bread is perfectly flakey and is a lethal combo with their nicely spiced chicken curry. Equally impressive was the laksa, which featured a heavy dose of coconut milk and a broth that could cure any winter blues. Their generic chicken curry was everything but as it packed heat, flavor, and plenty of soft potatoes to go with the texture bomb of the white rice. Both the beef and chicken satay impressed, as did the char kway two which was only a tinge only with plenty of 'essence" in the wok char (#2). The only dish that didn't hit was also the most expensive one, which was beef rendang, one of my all time favorite dishes. While the curry was pungeant and flavorful, the meat was tough all the around. The chewiness is a turn off, especially when it comes to sauce heavy dishes. Mamak is the kind of place where good food and good company thrive. JusGo doesn't get a lot of kudos for featuring quality options but trust when Mamak is the real (Malaysian) deal. ___________ (#1) For now. (#2) Wok hei.

    We revisited Mamak on a weekend for lunch. It was fairly slow foot traffic around noon. The owner…read more(?) was a bit rude. After we ordered, he said they had no noodles for the char kway teow; this is fairly ridiculous for Malaysian cuisine. The dish is literally made with flat rice noodles (kway teow). This is like saying Popyes is out of fried chicken. He suggested to replace it with different egg noodles and we obliged; it wasn't very good. Our food was ready extremely quickly and when he served the food, he almost slammed the dishes on the table. Really freaking odd and unprofessional. Based on the two visits, the experience was very inconsistent and we will be going somewhere else to dine in the Sugar Land area going forward.

    Photos
    Mamak Malaysian Restaurant
    G10. Hainan Chicken & Rice Set (rice not shown)
    G10. Hainan Chicken & Rice Set (rice not shown)
    Mamak Malaysian Restaurant

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    Loro Asian Smokehouse & Bar

    Loro Asian Smokehouse & Bar

    4.2
    (723 reviews)
    10.8 mi
    $$
    Large group friendly
    Outdoor seating

    I can't say enough good things about this place! The service is consistently excellent, even during…read morebusy times. The food has been amazing every visit, and everyone I've brought here has loved it so much they've come back on their own. One thing I really appreciate is that every server, no matter who we have, always asks about food allergies. It's a thoughtful touch that helps ensure everyone can enjoy their meal without worry. The drinks are always delicious, and their Happy Hour menu is easily one of the best in the Heights. This spot has become one of my favorites, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for great food, drinks, and outstanding service.

    Pretty decent happy hour on Tuesday. I met a girl friend here for Tuesday Tiny Tini's which are $3…read moreper glass. I tried her crispy veggie cauliflower which are pretty good. I also order the pull pork sliders which were great, and the queso with chips. The chips weren't the best to my liking. They were pretty thick and hard, verses the light and crispy what I prefer. I wish that the tiny tini could be frozen. The Lecci tini was the sweetest and really great. The $5 frozen martini's were okay. I wish the watermelon wasn't a spicy one or at least had the option to get it non spicy. Good thing I was allow to get it blended, with a non spicy. The chip that comes with the dip had a spicy on them as well. Theirs no option to get chips without spicy seasoning; it's all a mix, you just have to pick out the ones you want without spice. I would bring my son back to try their smash burger on the happy hour menu for $6.

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    Loro Asian Smokehouse & Bar
    Smoked Brisket
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    Sambal Chef - malaysian - Updated July 2026

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