Spice trader from Malaysia

A dinner set at Beijing's Raya includes chicken hotpot with wine. Photo provided to China Daily

It's hard to imagine a Malaysian meal without curry, for example, and the traditional version with chicken (48 yuan, or $7.70) was pure savory delight. It's not the fiery stuff of Indian restaurants, though we felt the influence of that country in some dishes and condiments－thanks no doubt to centuries of sea-traders' visits to southern India's spice-rich ports. (Tan says his kitchen has tamed the level of pepper a bit, to cater to Beijing tastes, though a group of guests from his homeland would be served a somewhat spicier version.)

While the fried noodles we enjoyed earlier were underpinned with garlic, the chicken hotpot with wine sang a completely different tune: Its rich broth was redolent with ginger as well as the lingering taste of rice wine, and the bite-size chunks of meat were gloriously tender.

So was the well-marinated meat in an appetizer of savory chicken morsels wrapped in pandan (screwpine) leaves. After the chicken is allowed to sit and absorb flavors including white pepper and plenty of ginger, the chef wraps each piece tightly with a leaf, stabbing the package with a toothpick to keep it together. Then the batch gets deep-fried until golden brown.

To keep the feast from being totally carnivorous, we ordered another Malaysian classic, sambal long beans. Sambal belacan is prawn paste, a popular condiment in this cuisine that's also perfect for stir fries with vegetables like asparagus or these bright-green long beans. The resulting aroma is so rich that it's pure pleasure to simply inhale－it's almost a shame to eat those beans and make that sensory delight go away.