Chahaya Malaysia welcomes you to their establishment. Explore a menu featuring our renowned spring rolls, satay with homemade peanut sauce, noodles, curries, and much more. We also feature an extensive vegetarian menu, and our food is halal. Our dishes range from completely mild to very hot, all marked on our menu for your convenience. We have takeout and 56 seats for dining in Chahaya Malaysia.more...See more text
My family, friends and I have been dining at Chahaya Malaysia for years now. The service is excellent, the food is excellent and the atmosphere is pleasant.
I am a fan of extremely spicy food therefore whenever I go there I always get the 3 star dishes. I am warning you though, if you think that tabasco sauce is hot, don't even try 3 star. 3 star would probably give you a third degree burn....but boy it feels good!
There are a number of delicious items on the menu. I highly recommend the spring rolls. Chahaya Malaysia is known for these tasty treats. They taste really good with the chili sauce provided (except the sauce is 2 star so beware!)Beef Rendang is also very good. Its best to get it at 3 star. The Fried Broad Noodles are so delicious. If you want a real challenge, ask them to make it 3 star and you will have a fire in your mouth. They staff will be at your table frequently filling your glass with water.
The owner is awesome, always have a good conversation with him. He will tell you what degree of spicyness each dish should be. His wife is an excellent waitress, very friendly, very knowledgeable.
We have been to Chahaya Malaysia many times and...
We have been to Chahaya Malaysia many times and have always had wonderful experiences. I am vegetarian and greatly appreciate the wide range of delicious vegetarian options on the menu (especially the V9 dish). The staff possess a great deal of knowledge about the dishes and are always pleasant and engaging. Our favourite restaurant in Ottawa!!!
We have visited many times and always enjoy it......
We have visited many times and always enjoy it.
This time we took a group of 9 and everyone enjoyed the experience, although not all were prepared for the heat of some of the dishes! We converted many of them to Tiger beer!
Everything was exceptional.
Our spice fanatics thoroughly enjoyed the 3-star shrimp and the beef rendang.
We also had shrimp in tamarind sauce, lamb in a grey sauce (no spice), chef's special chicken (two-star - fantastic), malaysian rice, vegetable and tofu stir fry and other dishes. Everything was spectacular. Even the spicy dishes are fragrant and tasty.
The meal came to $26/each including beer and wine.
It is true that the owner's wife was not cut out for customer service - she is rather intense - but they are both wonderful people and she gives very good advice. She also makes great special Malaysian coffee!
Overall - always a wonderful experience!
Seating along outside walls can be cold in the winter, so wear a sweater or two.
Well okay I dont remember the date when my husband and I went to the restaurant so I just put May 14th as our first time. We went there for a couple of times and of course because we missed Indonesian foods and just moved to Ottawa and found this resto thru internet. For everyone's info they are Indonesians (the guy and the cook) not Malay. To be exact they are Javanese from Semarang, Central Java. I asked one time why did they call the restaurant C Malaysia not C Indonesia and the owner (the nice friendly Indonesian guy) told me in Javanese (as I am one) that in early age of the restaurant, they could hardly find Canadians familiar with Indonesia. Canadians are more familiar with Malaysia thus they named the resto as Chahaya Malaysia. I told him it was kinda dissapointing because it would be something to all Indonesians if it was called C Indonesia instead (to my eyes) but ah well it's not my restaurant. Anyways, YES the wife is not friendly at all. She does seem to be friendly to White customers next to our table ALWAYS (well a couple of times we went there is enough to say always because we alone witnessed it) but never to us. How sad. A couple of times being treated badly with the wife (which is famous around Indo community in Ottawa as an unfriendly person -BINGO-) I must say I agree to the rest who have said she isnt a nice lady.
The lamb curry was just so-so yet I love the sweet and sour fish. My husband finished my fish even because he also found the lamb curry was not his tastebud turned out.
I cant give rating 10 for the food in that case then
I cant give rating 10 for the service remembering the wife
If anyone has a good review over the wife, I am glad. Means you didnt have to feel neglected as we did when we went there :)
