If you want to go all out, try the rendang made with slow-cooked wagyu beef cheek ($44). It is served in a curry-meets-demi-glace sauce, coconut milk, and other aromatics, including lemongrass ...

Food in the country amalgamates different influences, including Indigenous populations, communities from China and India, and a colonial legacy from Portugal, Holland, and Britain.

"This is a family-owned restaurant and five of my family members are involved in this. So it's my aunt, my mother, my father, my sister and myself," said Chris Low, the owner.

Its aim: to bring Malaysian food into mainstream Los Angeles cuisine. Lee, who was born in China but grew up in Lincoln Heights, is considered one of the premier Asian chefs in Los Angeles.