Locals looking for a food-themed staycation might want to start their world tour with a trip to Malaysia. Heavily influenced by Thai, Chinese, Indonesian, and Indian cuisine, among other global flavours, the fragrant food of the Malay Peninsula is colourful, diverse, and intensely delicious. With several restaurants to choose from, Vancouverites don’t need to travel far to get a taste of what they might find at hawker centres in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

Banana Leaf

(various locations)

The winner of a Georgia Straight 2016 Golden Plates award and many others, Banana Leaf is all about sharing dishes like caramelized-ginger bone-in black cod; rich rendang beef curry; mango kerabu, a sweet-and-sour shredded-fruit salad with cucumber, carrots, jicama, crushed peanuts, and sesame seeds; and ipoh char hor fun—the restaurant’s most popular dish, consisting of flat wok-fried noodles with fish cakes, squid, pork, shrimp, and vegetables.

Vegetarians have much to choose from, including green beans, okra, and eggplant tossed in sambal. A defining ingredient of Malaysian food, sambal is a relishlike condiment—made with garlic, chili, and dried fermented shrimp paste, known as belacan in Malay—that is spicy, tart, and pungently fishy all at once.

Seasonal items, such as fresh asparagus atop a bed of sambal chicken and seafood, are on offer, and so are extravagant ones—take kum heong lobster, the entire crustacean breaded and wok-fried in Malay, Indian, and Chinese spices with dried shrimp, oyster sauce, chili, and lemongrass.

The restaurant offers a happy-hour menu and daily drink specials: try the Red Lotus, a litchi slush with vodka, litchi liqueur, and cranberry juice.

Hawkers Delight Deli

(4127 Main Street)

Easy to miss, this is budget dining at its best. You can’t go wrong when most of the dishes cost $6.50. The soothing and filling laksa noodle dish has dried shrimp, shredded chicken, fish cake, egg, prawns, and sprouts in a mild coconut-curry sauce and is topped with tofu puff. The menu ranges from vegetable fritters (two for $1) to lamb-curry rice ($12.40).

Kaya Malay Bistro

(1063 West Broadway)

Named after coconut jam, this bright spot opened in 2012. One way to experience its West Coast twists on traditional fare is to splurge on the 10-course deluxe menu for six or more people ($28 per person). You’ll get to sample satay chicken, roti canai (a hand-rolled flatbread with curry sauce), Nyonya-style lettuce wrap (with chicken, bamboo shoots, and jicama), and grilled rack of lamb in golden kim heong sauce, among other dishes.

Alternatively, consider the steamed B.C. mussels in a broth of coconut, fennel, cumin, ginger, and garlic, or tiger prawns in a spicy tomato sauce with litchi. Deep-fried durian ice cream is a must-try.

To add even more liveliness to the Malaysian dining experience, Kaya has just launched a summer music series, with live performances every Friday evening. Everything from folk to jazz to Celtic music will be on offer.

The bistro’s owners are also hosting a fundraiser on July 15 featuring complimentary Southeast Asian tapas and live pop jazz. Admission is by donation, with net proceeds going toward the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS), in honour of their late, dear pet.

Penang Delight Cafe

(Various locations)

You’ll find terrific value and tasty food here, with standout dishes including jumbo prawns stir-fried in Marmite extract, honey, and garlic; spicy clay-pot red-curried fish; gado-gado, an Indonesian-style salad with bean sprouts, yam beans, and cucumbers; and bak kut teh, a sinus-clearing traditional herbal soup with pork ribs.

Tamarind Hill

(628 Sixth Avenue, New Westminster; 1440 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver)

Fresh snapper grilled in banana leaf, soft-shell crab with Indian black peppercorn and garlic butter, and sablefish with caramelized sweet ginger are some of the seafood offerings here, but you can also bring in your own freshly caught fish and have the chefs prepare it for you in one of four Malaysian flavours (sambal, kim heong, Singapore chili, or that aforementioned Indian black peppercorn). An extensive selection of soups and rice, noodle, meat, and vegetable dishes is also available.

Tropika

(various locations)

Billed as a Malaysian and Thai restaurant, Tropika has the ideal menu section for people who never seem to be able to make up their minds when dining out. It’s called “combinations” and features plates like the Rasa Sayang Seafood Bonanza, which has spicy sole that’s deep-fried, then topped with sambal ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and served with sayur kari (vegetables cooked in coconut milk and curry) plus your choice of coconut rice, yellow-ginger rice, Hainanese chicken rice, or steamed rice.

Indecisive meat lovers, meanwhile, will love the D. Daulat Tuanku Special, which has the house-style sweet fried chicken, kari lembu (Malay beef curry), and sambal prawns.