Kelang is the newest restaurant from the family behind Sunset Park Malaysian restaurant Hainan Chicken House. It’s in Greenpoint, where owner Chris Low and the team expound on Malaysian cuisine by way of a New York City childhood growing up on Brooklyn dining. Caribbean, Italian, and American fare threads throughout the flavorful menu at the fashionable convivial table-service spot right on Manhattan Avenue.
At the time we dined, Kelang just recently secured its liquor license but didn’t have alcoholic drinks yet. But still, the non-boozy kalamansi limeade ($7) was gingery bright and sweet.
Pay attention to the intentional spelling of the restaurant: Kelang is the old spelling of the Malaysian port city Klang, where Low’s parents are from. The word “restoran” is the Malay word for restaurant. And then written underneath are its name written out Chinese and Jawi, the latter an Arabic-based script used for Southeast Asian languages.