Disregard the Denny’s and delve deeper into San Mateo’s Marina Plaza to reach more interesting cuisine. The development next to the 101 freeway touted plenty of interesting international options, including a Korean spot called Myong Dong Tofu Cabin, a Japanese restaurant called Inshou that was selling seared venison and crispy chicken skin, and the reason for my visit, Langkawi Malaysian Island Restaurant, a welcome recommendation from Jess Dang during our lunch at Chaat Paradise.

The restaurant name translates to English as Eagle Island and refers to an island in the Andaman Sea, on the Thai border, that’s home to the no-doubt-noxious Durian Perangin Waterfall. Owner Calvin, who works the floor and in the kitchen, hails from Cameron Highlands, one of the only cool states in Malaysia. However, he always enjoyed visiting Langkawi. Thus the name. He lived with his parents in New York for eight years and got to know and like Silicon Valley while dating an ex-girlfriend in nearby Foster City, and ended up relocating west to open Langkawi.

Malaysian cuisine doesn’t exactly skimp on flavor, layering pungency, acidity and spice.

Langkawi Kangkung ($8.95) featured spinach-like leaves and hollow crunchy stems stir-fried with garlic, chile, salty dried shrimp and crunchy baby radish. The plate also supported a salad of purple cabbage, mango, red bell pepper and carrot, all raw.

Chicken Curry Mee ($8.95) was a rich spicy red coconut curry soup with yellow noodles, potato cubes, crunchy bean sprouts, boneless dark meat chicken rendang soaked in coconut milk and curry powder, and a crispy, deep-fried tofu skin sheet.

The intense flavor got to be a little cloying, but it was enjoyable for the first half of my experience. Fried tofu puffs were the only element that really bothered me, due to an unpleasantly chewy texture.

Nasi Lemak sounded ideal for a solo diner like me, featuring coconut rice, curry chicken, sambal anchovies, peanuts, hard-boiled egg and sweet and sour pickled vegetables similar to kimchi. Calvin talked me out of this dish since my soup also had chicken rendang.

I did order coconut rice ($1.75) cooked with cloves and topped with a fragrant pandan knot.

My stomach was damn near bursting at this point, but I would have gladly ordered Langkawi’s signature sticky rice with “blue flower.” Calvin imports naturally sweet blue flowers from Malaysia, which are apparently similar to orchids. Unfortunately, he was all out.