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    Sambal Chef

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

    Order Sambal Chef Takeout or Delivery

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    SAMBAL CHEF ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Dogs allowed
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Sambal Chef

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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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    Photo of Ken J.
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    2 years ago

    Great place, it is new at this location, and I think it is the best Malaysian food in the area!

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    Page 3 of 3

    Ask the Community - Sambal Chef

    Do they take reservations?

    Yes

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    Uncle Chin's Kitchen

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

    Nut allergy friendly: There's a peanut sauce for the satay skewers, but I was fine with everything…read moreelse. The employees are fluent in English so no problems in ordering! Time to Order: 20-45 minutes? We were in a group so maybe that's not accurate, but we also ordered a lot. Roti Canai (5/5): One of the best roti Canai I've ever had. The curry is thick with potato and super tender chicken and the roti canai bread is chewy but somehow still flaky and flavorful at the same time. It was so good that I ordered another one for myself to go to let my partner try it at home. Malaysian Chicken Satay (5/5): You will read "tender chicken" in my review several times. It's not a joke. The chicken nearly melts in your mouth. The last time I had meat this tender it was a filet mignon that was 6x the price of this dish. Char Kuey Tow (4.5/5) and Mee Goreng (4.5/5): Yeah we got both the flat noodle and the mee goreng. Because both are awesome. Noodles stayed chewy, beansprout and veggies were great, proteins were great. Not too saucy. Solid. Uncle Chen's Sizzling Tofu (4.5/5): We got this seafood style and it comes loaded with shrimp, calamari.. fantastic. Great by itself or on rice. The middle gets a little soggy if you let it sit too long, so chow down on this whole it's hot! Roasted Hainanese Chicken (4/5): Nothing against the dish itself, I just don't like all the bones. Yes, the chicken was beautifully tender. Chicken rice, also fantastic. Curry Chicken Puff (4.5/5): So this was way more filling than I expected. It's like an intense Asian empanada? Totally worth it. Comes out really hot. Lastly, we got a serenade from the man himself. Yes, he pulls out a mic and sings. It's his break from cooking during the dinner rush. So, you might indeed get dinner and a show! It's beautiful to see someone who enjoys what he's doing - and his voice is such that some people think it's a song over the intercom instead of live music, take that how you will :) TL;DR: Absolutely contends for Best in Katy. Yes, it lived up to the hype. Come and eat family style and you won't be disappointed!

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    Malaysian Roti Telur (roti coated with eggs)
    Malaysian Roti Telur (roti coated with eggs)
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    Banana Leaf

    Banana Leaf

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    0.2 mi
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    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.

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    Mamak Malaysian Restaurant

    Mamak Malaysian Restaurant

    4.1
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    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.

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    G10. Hainan Chicken & Rice Set (rice not shown)
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    From the moment you sit down at those fun, nostalgic purple 90s-style tabletops, you're transported…read moreinto what can only be described as an authentic Thai market experience. The atmosphere feels lively, casual, and packed with personality--exactly the kind of place you hope to stumble upon but rarely do. The menu is enormous, featuring dishes from different regions of Thailand, with everything from soups and stir-fried noodles to rice dishes, curries, seafood, and grilled meats. Looking around the dining room, it seemed like nobody ordered the same thing because there is just so much to try. Best of all, the prices are incredibly reasonable for a place with this much hype. I had some of the best noodles of my life here. The Pad Kee Mao was phenomenal (best I've ever had and I eat thai food OFTEN) the noodles were chewy, bouncy, fresh, and perfectly coated in sauce. Everything tasted made-to-order and arrived piping hot. We also ordered the Beef Noodle Soup, which was rich, comforting, and packed with flavor, along with the Green Papaya Salad, which was easily one of the best versions I've ever had. The heat, acidity, and freshness was incredible and so well balanced. Many of the dishes are served on banana leaves, which adds to the entire experience and makes everything feel even more authentic and special. As someone who loves spice, I also appreciated the range of spice levels available. They don't hold back, which I always consider a good sign. One of the coolest surprises is that there's an attached market selling imported products from Thailand and Vietnam--lots of fun snacks, drinks, sauces, and ingredients you won't find at a typical grocery store. A few things to know: parking can be a little challenging, and while it's a sit-down restaurant, you'll need to head to the cashier to pay. They also accept cards, so don't worry about bringing cash. If I lived nearby, I would honestly come here every week just to work my way through the menu. This is the kind of restaurant that's worth planning a trip around. I would come back to Houston just for this meal. When people say Houston has some of the best Asian food in the country, this is exactly the type of place they're talking about!!

    Half restaurant and half little market. Gives me the vibes that it's a little family run…read morerestaurant/market and just feels authentic. Overall portions are kinda large in my opinion and pretty affordable. I'm usually able to make one dish into meals. We've gone multiple times and are pretty satisfy and happy with the food. Ordered: - Pad Thai - Panang Curry - Khao Soi Only complaint is their parking spots feel extremely tight/narrow, especially the ones right in front of the restaurant.

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    Sambal Chef - malaysian - Updated July 2026

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