Malay Satay Hut

My dad’s side of the family is from Malaysia and this is pretty much the only PNW option we’ve found for Malaysian food other than home cooking. We order takeout from Malay Satay Hut every time we’re in Seattle and have done so since I can remember. My dad was pretty sad when their Portland location closed after a brief stint.
My favorite dish there is actually more of an appetizer: roti canai. Truth be told, that’s actually just my overall favorite Malaysian dish. It’s just how roti canai should taste, and I ordered a full meal’s worth of roti canai from here before because I like it so much. Malay Satay Hut offers a wide variety of authentic Malaysian dishes, including desserts like mango sticky rice and ABC (aka ais kacang). I have tried their mango shake before and liked it, while my dad enjoys their durian shake.
From what I hear from my relatives, the food there is very authentic and based on my own limited knowledge, it is very tasty. I don’t know much about the ambience because I have only dined in at the Portland location since we usually just get takeout from this one. I would recommend this to anyone who wants Malaysian food in the Northwest!

This review is LONG overdue. I’ve been coming to this restaurant for over 5 years… yup, you read that right.
I grew up in the Redmond area and then went to college up in Bellingham, WA and now I work at Microsoft and live ½ a block from Malay Satay.
My parents chat with the owner all the time and my grandma from Hong Kong demands to come to this restaurant when she’s in town.
I’ve likely eaten everything on this menu at least once but I’ll list some of my faves.
Roti Canai — There hasn’t been one time I’ve eaten here that I didn’t this. Flaky, buttery, and oh-​so-​drool worthy. Dip it into the curry with potatoes and hello, your night is already made.
Veggie Yam Pot — I love these yam pots. To be honest I could care less what’s inside but the yam pot is soooo deliciously tender and soft. The flaky crust on the outside makes me start salivating thinking about it again.
Eggplant Garlic Sauce — I love sauteed garlic. It’s got a tasty kick to it. Definitely not your regular blah eggplant dish. Pile this over rice and it’s dinner enough in itself if you so desired to go by yourself (don’t. GO WITH FRIENDS. ORDER MORE FOOD)
Belachan String Beans — I hope these are the string beans I’m talking about. I went on the online menu and this is the only string beans listed. To be honest I leave the ordering up to my parents/​grandma when I go just because they always know what to get. We never leave without ordering these beans. They are tasty as all hell. It’s a little spicy (I’m a ³⁄₅ star kind of girl) so I love it.
Décor here has always been cute. I like how colorful the interior is and the service has always been friendly and the food is fast.
My ONE complaint is it’s always pretty cold inside. But I’d rather be a little chilly than sweating into my food ya know?
Much love to this place that it never ever closes or moves!

Saw the newspaper they posted at the front door, seems that they have won couple of people’s choice awards. The food is good, but seems mixed with styles of different countries. I would rather they just stick with Malaysia cuisine only

Buddhist Yam Pot — ⁵⁄₅. Go ahead and read my last review on this. TLDR: Deep fried yam ring with chicken and veg inside.
Roti Canai — ⁵⁄₅. Again read my last review on this. TLDR: Flaky Indian pancake with potato curry dip.
Nasi Lemak — ³⁄₅. Coconut rice with anchovies, hard boiled egg, curry chicken and pickled veggies. Hard to go wrong with this, seems like a stand alone dish. I’d say that I think it was A-​OK.

Malay Satay hit is a solid choice and a great price. We really like the varied menu, there is something to satisfy anyone at the table. There are noodle soups, curries and entrees galore. You can’t visit Malay Satay without ordering a roti canai… so flaky and perfect! We both chose a hot noodle soup to warm up on a cold and rainy night. Service is great and food comes quickly.

This place is really good. Not to mention it has different kind of dishes that I have never seen before at others Malaysian restaurant but again this may be a bit hard for me to compare if it’s good or not. I have to say it’s different for me. My friend did say it’s not that authentic but to me like I said I have never tried this kind of Malay food.
I am only used to roti canal and curry etc. the food is yummy.
Décor is very Malay looking. Service is friendly and the owner speaks Cantonese .
Good good not like super oily. Will come back.

Came in for lunch today. Ordered the Curry Laksa for the first time, came with tofu, fish balls and prawns. The soup was great, just spicy enough and flavorful; but the egg noodles weren’t impressive. Didn’t eat mine. The tofu is quite yummy, very silky on inside!
The service is not surprisingly typically bad as in many Asian restaurants around, but I’d definitely come here for food. Hard to find Singaporean food in Seattle area, so I’m happy to have this place to go to.

There aren’t that many Malaysian /​Singaporean restaurants in the Seattle area, so this cuisine has a unique position in my list of cuisines to crave. I like to think of this place as the place for Asian comfort food. The food is in some ways is a blend of a variety of Asian cuisines like Thai, Chinese, and a little bit of Indian, taking on the subtleties of each and not going too intense in any one direction in terms of flavor.
Because of the variation of styles and cuisines, Malay Satay Hut is best experienced in a group of four or more people. The more the merrier. Why so? So that you can order many types of dishes to explore and share. Variety is the spice of life. I come here once a year, but when I do, it’s usually good.
Our most recent dinner party with a group of 6 was great. The food was excellently cooked and flavorful. Started off with two roti appetizers. Then we had the stir fried lamb, chicken curry, spare ribs, Buddhist yam pot, Crab egg drop soup, Hainanese chicken, and a big bowl of rice. See all the variation? Love it.

Malaysian food on the eastside!
came here with a bunch of folks hungry for some grub. I actually tried the location in the International District location and didn’t care for it much. Perhaps I was there on an off night. The stuff we tried here was all pretty amazing! They feature all lot of Malaysian/​Singaporean staples and we had a good sampling.
Stuff tried:
Nyonya style chili crab: This is off menu but get it! Dungeness crab stir fried with an interesting mix of chili/​curry/​spices! its amazing! don’t forget all the tasty bits inside the head!
Fish head curry: this one was with halibut. a little disappointed that there wasn’t an actual fish head floating in that luxurious coconut milk/​curried broth but I think there was fish collar which is still a delicious. serious the broth is amazing! put it on everything!
Hainanese Chicken Rice: much better rendition than the last time I was at Malay Satay Hut. Most folks don’t like this as the chicken may seem a little less cooked than what americans are used to but it is cooked I assure you. the rice is extremely flavorful! you can even get additional chicken rice as a side!
Kang kung: or water spinach with fermented shrimp paste! healthy!
Char kway teow: nice stir fried rice noodle with egg and seafood stuff!
black pepper lamb stir fry: lamb was nice and juicy!
food was pretty affordable considering how much we ate and we were all pretty stuffed. Check them out!

After hearing the hype of the food from this place, I finally decided to stop by and check it out. It was confusing to drive into the plaza and see folks walking towards the entrance but the «open» sign above the door being off. Upon walking towards the door, found that it was open. It took a while to get seated and the waitress started speaking to us in a foreign language, assuming we understood her. It took another ten minutes before anyone approached us and offered water and several minutes more before anyone asked if we were ready to order. We ordered several dishes: the Singapore noodles were bland but we enjoyed the pork ribs, the chicken skewers and the roti canai. Service could be significantly improved; hence the three stars. Based on what we ordered, the food was decent.

Three strikes and you’re out, Malay Satay Hut! As much as I wanted to enjoy my first Malaysian foodie experience, I just couldn’t justify it based on the lack of food authenticity, service and cleanliness.
My mom & I shared the roti canai, curry laksa and buddha yam pot. The roti canai, served with potato curry for dipping, was decent. My guess is the roti canai is frozen. I was underwhelmed with the flavor of the curry laksa; it seemed as it was missing a crucial ingredient — salt, perhaps. The least disappointing part of the meal was the fried taro that made up the buddah yam pot. Otherwise, the meat and vegetables were bland.
There were two waitresses that seemed to be more interested in chatting between themselves rather than helping customers. It seemed they deliberately avoided eye contact with diners too. There were several tables filled with used dishes that were yet to be cleaned.
Assuming the ID location was similar, I’m not surprised their other location was abruptly closed.

A group of 6 adults and 3 kiddos came for lunch.
Food was good, Indian bread with the curry dip was awesome. Hubby and I got a noodle soup. He got the curry laksa, I got a seafood soup both with rice noodle and we got a side of beef chow fun.
Hubby curry noodle soup was good, flavorful broth. Mine of the other hand was a bit boring compared to his but nonetheless still good.
As my friend asked/​stated. She was surprised that I didn’t get something spicy. I do regret that shortly after receiving my meal.
Kids enjoyed the beef chow fun, minus the bean sprout, which was a no go for them.
Everyone else appear to have enjoyed their meal.
Sad that the one in Chinatown location no longer exist. Maybe we’ll be back if we’re around.

This place is ok, but not the best. Came here with a group of 7 and ordered 6 dishes and 1 appetizers. Here’s the list of what we ordered rating it from best to worst of what we thought was good.
Top best
1) Pineapple Fried Rice
2) Roti Canai (Indian Fried Bread)
3) Malay Hokkien Mee
4) Coconut Fried Rice
Bottom worst
5) Black Pepper Chicken
6) Curry Laksa
7) Hainanese Chicken (Half)
#1−4 was tasty and delicious, nothing went wrong with these
#5 from the name of it I was expecting the taste of black pepper but it lack the taste of it
#6 was just ok, was expecting more of a curry taste but it taste bland
#7 maybe it’s the cut/​part that we had, but the chicken tasted horrible
The price was decent and staff was attentive but didn’t really understand what we asked for. They brought over 3 small bowls to the table and we thought that they were going to bring the other 4 bowls since we’re a group of 7. Anyways, since they never brought the additional bowls we asked if we could get 4 more bowls. We even point it to the bowls so that she could understand what we was asking for but she mistaken it for «we want 4 more milk tea». We saw her instead of getting the bowls, she was going to make the milk tea (since it was just us ordering, everybody else was leaving) so one of us went and told her that it’s not milk tea but bowls is what we wanted and got mad. Overall, food was good but not something I would drive a far distance to have again.

Friendly service and tasty food a good restaurant make. The roti chennai is delicious, and we also got the pepper chicken, pineapple fried rice and laksa.
The laksa was really good, with lots of fish balls and tofu in it. There was plenty of it as well so all four of us could have some. The pineapple fried rice was quite tasty although it could have done with more pork floss.
There were a few things we wanted that weren’t available even if they were on the menu: the coconut drink was out, and some of the boba options weren’t there either. Also, I find the atmosphere in there a little weird; some of the décor is in what looks like glow in the dark paint so I don’t know, maybe they have raves there on the weekend or something.
Overall the food was good, but I don’t think we would drive all the way out there again. If we were in the area though, I would probably still drop in for a laksa.

I write this review from the perspective of a Singaporean. We tried the nasi lemak and chicken rice as our first meal here ever as we just moved into Seattle. It was pretty close but really not quite. The chicken could be more tender, our chicken didn’t fall off the bone easily and the rice wasn’t the same as back in Asia. The presentation was very good and almost similar. The soup was msg and you could taste it. The nasi lemak — wished the dish came out warmer and the taste could be improved on to make it more authentic.
Service was very good and the staff were friendly. Not bad for Singapore and Malaysia food– would definitely be back to try the other dishes and see how authentic tasting those would be. Also even though their hours indicate they close at three pm, we were still seating people at 3.23pm

We have been coming here for years because of their great Roti Canai — the best. I haven’t written them up because we haven’t found anything else on the menu that was comment-​worthy. Now we have found a solid, praiseworthy dish.
The Buddhist Yam Pot is outstanding. Its origins seem to be Chinese restaurateurs in Malaysia. Why its called Buddhist is a mystery because it usually signifies a vegetarian dish. The «pot» is made of deep fried taro, which is delicious to eat with the great stir fry of shrimp, chicken breast, and vegetables that fill the pot.
They have a chili sauce on the table that has a deliciously citrus flavor.

We’ve been here several times and haven’t been too impressed. I like the roti canai best. Everything else we’ve tried hasn’t been great, just okay. Is it because I just don’t love Malaysian cuisine or because of this particular restaurant? Hard to say.
The restaurant seems to be run by Cantonese speaking Chinese, at least that’s the language we heard. The menu is mostly Chinese style Malaysian food with a few signature Malay dishes.
The poor family seated nearby informed us that they had been waiting an entire hour for their food to arrive. They ended up leaving before their food ever arrived. I felt bad eating my food in front of them as ours arrived in 10 minutes. That’s just unacceptable and bad service. How disappointing.

Fair amount of parking. Came here with 8 other friends, and was seated promptly at one of the large circular tables. The table had a turn table, but it was a little small, which was a bit of a challenge to fit all the plates on it at once. The portions are on the larger size, enough for one person and sometimes even more. Service is decent, interestingly the servers spoke Cantonese.
UNIQUE
* Buddhist Yam Pot — This is a deep fried bowl made of taro filled with vegetables, nuts, mushrooms, and sauce covered in a light gravy sauce. The bowl is crunchy and delicious and the sauce, which softens the bowl slightly with the accompanying insides complement it well.
EXCELLENT
* Curry Lamb — The curry sauce looks really spicy, but it isn’t actually that spicy. The sauce is packed with flavor, you can taste all sorts of spices in there.
* Curry Laksa With Yellow Noodle — Pretty good noodles with an interesting seafood curry broth with shrimp, fish balls, and tofu. Quite tasty! Definitely should try!
GREAT
* Seafood Scramble Egg Chow Fun — Great mix of pan fried chow fun noodles with vegetables, shrimp, scallops, and squid topped with a light egg gravy sauce. Could use a little more meat, but was still delicious!
* Roti Canai — Crispy Indian Style Pancake With Curry Potato Dipping Sauce. Like the fried pancake, kind of reminds me of Chinese fried green onion pancakes. Great with the curry sauce.
* Roti Telur — Indian Style Pancake With Eggs, Onions, Red & Green Pepper With Curry Dipping Sauce. Basically the Canai but with more ingredients inside. I personally prefer the Telur version.
GOOD
* Curry Beef Brisket — Wasn’t a lot of meat in there, mostly skin and potatoes. Curry is good but I would prefer a thicker curry for this dish.
* Pineapple Fried Rice — Decent fried rice, with a few bits of pineapple.
* Hainanese Chicken (Whole) — Not quite the best I’ve had. Might be something with the texture, but felt slightly lacking.
* Belachan String Beans — Solid greens. Oily like typical Chinese cooked vegetables, but tasty.
* Malaysian Chinese Pork Chops — Good tangy sauce on deep fried pork chops
* Salted Peppered Pork Chops — Good slightly salted and peppered crispy deep fried pork chops
* Curry Veggie Tofu Pot — Braised tofu and vegetables

We stopped by for some takeout, and the place was pretty full. There isn’t much of a waiting area, so be prepared to stand outside to wait when it is crowded. We ordered:
Roti canai: this was decent.
Hainan chicken with rice: this dish was good. I liked that the rice had some decent chicken flavor to it. It came with a spicy and a soy dipping sauce.
Vegetables in oyster sauce: this wasn’t bad (cooked with garlic).
The place looked a little old inside, but had a mix of small and big, round tables for larger parties.

Oh wow, I don’t even know how to describe Malaysian food. In many ways, it is like Chinese food, which is very familiar to me. But I find Malaysian food to be strangely exotic, wonderful, and delicious! One of my family friends used to invite us to this restaurant quite often, and I would love it. That was years ago. Now that I’ve paid a recent visit, I can quite safely say that the charm is still there.
My family of four ordered four dishes and a dessert. I feel like there was a surprise to most of them. Like with the veggie yam pot, we thought it was just a bowl of vegetables and cashews, when in fact it turned out that the bowl itself was edible and made of fried taro! The curry fish head in pot was inordinately expensive, but it turned out to be totally worth it when the curry made white rice taste a million times better. And then we got treats like the mango chicken which was also expensive but a good way to combine a tropical fruit with a yummy bird.
I’ve always had a soft spot for their peanut pancake desserts, and they’re still really good. It’s a sweet pancake sliced into six and with peanut sauce to spread over it. Highly recommended if you don’t have allergies. The same goes for the rest of this place as well. Just bear in mind that while the food is spectacular, it also carries with it a higher price tag.