Enriched with pounded spice mixtures, fragrant herbs, blacan (fermented shrimp paste) and coconut milk, the cuisine Malaysia brings Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Thai and European influences together in a delicious melting pot.

I fell in love with the boldly spiced food years ago while living in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Peninsular Malaysia. My passion for it never faltered, so I rejoiced in finding a Chinese restaurant in Weston that offers Malaysian dishes.

Named after a Hong Kong restaurant, Parc 28 has been owned by the Chan family for 20 years. Manager Leeland Chan Leeland was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Brooklyn, where his family ran restaurants until moving south.

When he married Felicia Leow eight years ago, they began adding dishes from her homeland to the menu. Felicia is from Teluk Intan, a tin-producing town in northeast Malaysia. Her mother did catering and an aunt had a restaurant in Australia, but she started out in advertising. She visited friends in New York in 1989, liked it and returned, finding work as a waitress.

She moved to Plantation a year later, and a friend introduced her to Leeland. He sent her flowers for four years before she agreed to date him, but romance blossomed at last.

The kitchen prepares dishes adapted from Felicia's family recipes, and she makes the sambals (sauces). The food is fairly mild but you can ask for extra heat.

The juicy grilled chicken and beef satay come with creamy peanut sauce and chunks of cucumber and onion. Another good starter is the roti canai, a crispy griddle bread best torn into pieces to dunk in the complex dark curry with chunks of chicken and potato. Sotong goreng is fat curls of scored squid marinated in spices and deep-fried.

Buah mango brings shrimp sautéed with shredded mango in a spicy sauce served in mango shells. Kari ayam is a red coconut curry with chicken; kari sayur is a rich vegetable curry with eggplant, green beans, snow peas and carrots that can be had with an addition of fried tofu.

Malaysian shrimp brought a taste of my former home in a sauce made with roasted shrimp paste and tiny dried shrimp plus onions and peppers. Ditto for the banana fritters with lychee ice cream. Selamat makan! (Happy eating!)

Linda Bladholm's latest book is Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.

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