Review: At Mahar Moe, dancing to Hong Kong bangers and Malaysian funk

Mild-mannered-looking Tonawanda spot has chef who’s a multi-cuisine threat

Hong Kong Typhoon Shelter style shrimp at Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine

Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine blended in with other pan-Asian restaurants that I drove by in the Northtowns, until a reader dimed them out to me.

Remember, folks: here at Four Bites, tipsters get fed. If you put a place on my radar screen, and I decide to eat there, you’re getting an invitation to dinner on me, and a plus-one, meaning you can choose a co-pilot.

So that’s how I ended up at Mahar Moe, a table-service restaurant with a robust takeout business run through its website, maharmoeasiancuisine.com. If you’re sitting down for dinner, lazy susan rotating dish platforms center larger tables, and fried noodles with duck sauce arrive as a greeting.

Tipsters getting fed at Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine

Chef-owner Ping Fa Li, born in Burma, learned restaurant cooking in Thai and Malaysian kitchens. He opened Mahar Moe in Tonawanda a year ago. In Burmese, mahar means grand or significant, while moe literally means rain. Together, the term mahar moe means “raining gold,” he said. It suggests a place where people are cared for like family, showered with abundance in a memorable way.

Mission accomplished, I’d say. When the lazy susan finally came to a complete stop, we weren’t just abundantly fed, but memorably so.

Cabbage-filled egg rolls ($1.95) and crab rangoon ($7.95) sweet enough for dessert you can get lots of places. Malaysian style kam heong fish (A25, $18.95), not so much.

The kam heong treatment turns battered-and-fried fish, chicken, or shrimp into a funk powerhouse. Kam heong is “golden fragrance” in Cantonese, and once you catch its aroma, you can guess why.

Belacan, fermented shrimp paste, lays down a sea-powered backbeat accented with ginger, garlic, soy, curry leaves, onions, and oyster sauce. Guests who were trying kam heong for the first time were favorably impressed.

Kam heong fish at Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine

Another rare dish found at Mahar Moe is salted egg sliced fish or shrimp (A23, 32, $18.95), which uses salt-cured yolks as the base of a sauce that thrums with umami.

Then there’s Hong Kong Typhoon Shelter Style. This preparation gets its name from the places where fisherpeople hid, boats docked, to outwait storms. On the Mahar Moe menu in fish or shrimp (A24, 33, $21.95), its distinguishing characteristic is a drift of savory golden breadcrumbs over the entire proceedings.

Hong Kong Typhoon Shelter Style close-up at Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine

Singapore-style chili prawn (A35, $21.95) come with deep-fried bao buns, so you can tuck into chili shrimp finger sandwiches with sweet tomato gravy. Pig hock in brown sauce (A51, $17.95) will supply enough tender braised pork for several people, under a thick quilt of fat and skin.

Chicken with fresh spicy pepper (A1, $15.95) is an excellent reason to opt for bone-in chicken, for once. You can order it boneless, but this is a dish that rewards patience.

Chicken with fresh spicy pepper at Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine

The numbing effect of Sichuan peppercorn against chile heat, the mala effect, is one reason to slow your roll and enjoy the ride. The other is extracting bone fragments to the debris plate. Your reward for bravery is an introduction to better chicken nuggets, addictively crunchy nugs that make you reach for more.

Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce at Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine

Here, Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce (A49, $11.95) shows the custardy character of properly cooked aubergine, lush vegetal pudding savory with soy caramel.

Another skilled vegetable move that lands is hand-shredded cabbage (A46, $11.95). This is straight-up cabbage, no meat or other fortification.

Hand-shredded cabbage, Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine

What’s remarkable about it is the way it makes cabbage interesting. Stir-frying cabbage leaves pulled apart and torn instead of chopped to bits produces juicy-crunchy results. Any dish that can show me another way to appreciate a cheap, ubiquitous local vegetable is a star in my book.

Pickled mustard with shredded pork soup (A42, $12.95) was a placid heartwarmer, with clouds of egg and tangy greens.

Pickled mustard with shredded pork soup, Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine.

Lunch specials, offered 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, are a low-risk way to check out what Mahar Moe could add to your eating life. At $8.50-$9.50, American Chinese classic canon is within reach at half-sub prices, with soup or egg roll, white or fried rice. Options include ordering through the restaurant’s website for pickup

At Mahar Moe Asian Cuisine, a restaurateur with an international resume is dishing up tickets to Hong Kong, Chengdu, and Kuala Lumpur, alongside rock-solid bargains in General Tso and the usual suspects.

Ping Fa Li is a legitimate multi-cuisine threat. Which means that at Mahar Moe, you have an excellent chance of striking gold.