Sneak Peek East Passyunk's Next Malaysian Food Destination

A banana leaf pyramid that unfolds to a steamy mogul of rice, anchovies, sambal, peanuts and a hard boiled egg is a table mainstay, meant to be picked at throughout your meal.

Beef rendang, a staple in many of South Philly's Indonesian kitchens, is prepared a bit differently in the Malay cuisine. Silkier and almost stew-like, Branca's Malaysian rendang is slowly simmered for six hours with turmeric, ginger, and galangal.

Nasi Ulam is virtually a rice salad, its herbaceous zing serving as a quick palate cleanser between bites of bigger flavors. Blue rice, made with blue-pea flower grown for the restaurant (or in its absence, turmeric rice), is plated with a mix of fresh herbs and bean sprouts, dried fish, a puffed fish cracker, and a coconut cream-based sambal to bring it all home. The term "sambal" basically translates to sauce — anything that dresses, spices, or tops something else.

Japan has ramen, Vietnam has phở, and Malaysia has laksa. Saté Kampar will offer a laksa from the Sarawak region of Borneo, where only two families in Malaysia know the recipe to its curry paste. Branca will be recreating the curry paste, mixing it with a coconut milk broth, stirring in thin vermicelli, bean sprouts, shrimp, omelette strips, and fresh herbs.

There's a method to a Malaysian coffee house's madness. A certain vernacular is used when ordering. Saté Kampar will offer the many preparations of coffee and tea, from kopi-c-ais (coffee, evaporated milk, ice), to kopi-o (coffee, black). In addition, expect pulled teas (tea poured from a distance for some sweet frothiness), house sodas made with Ribena, a black current cordial, and even Milo, a chocolate drink masquerading in Malaysia as a nutritional energy drink, but more akin to something like a Yoohoo.