Restaurant Review: Matsulin

By April Gonzales

Zach Lazar, the writer, once told me that Matsulin in Hampton Bays was his favorite restaurant, and that he and his wife went there quite often. So I decided to take my foodie friend, Mara Siebert, whose dinner invitations we never turn down, and my husband along to give this Malaysian-influenced Asian restaurant a try.

The interior is a simple and elegant combination of dark green tea colored walls, dyed silk inspired tabletops and deep mahogany colored wood. The interlocking wooden beams suspended above the bar lower the ceiling of the converted bank the restaurant is in for a more intimate setting in that area. This creates an oasis in the restaurant, which makes it a great spot to stop in for a drink and an appetizer before the movies across the street. But I also liked the visual tension and excitement created by the wood's apparent weight floating above the bar as seen from our table. The restaurant is separated by glass panels supported by the same kind of wooden beams allowing a good partition of the large space.

We ordered the menu and kept the elegant owner Vivian busy answering questions as we tasted our way through an Eastern influenced array of her family's favorite recipes from their grandmother's repertoire. This is not Asian fusion or generic Japanese or Chinese cuisine by any stretch of the imagination, even though the sushi was great and I loved my fancy dragon roll, and Mara was impressed with her outstanding yellow tail sushi. Each dish that arrived had a distinct flavor of its own. To try to get a sense of the chef's range, I ordered an array of appetizers and my company ordered two main dishes.

Mara tried the Thai lemongrass soup, deeply lemony and spicy at the same time. I preferred the delicately flavored Emerald dumplings with plum sauce, a recipe originating from Hong Kong, and we all enjoyed the lettuce wraps of the same provenance. Equally outstanding was something I would normally not order, the Roti canal, a Malaysian version of the scallion pancake with a creamy coconut based curry dipping sauce. We could have licked the bowl the sauce came in.

The Thai crab cakes came with an equally delicious sauce that had us guessing at the ingredients, but by the time they arrived I realized that I was going to have to pace myself and only ate half of one. Vivian brought out a special appetizer for us to try that you might want to have as part of your party catering menu. The slightly seared scallops, served on a fried tomato with a topping of caviar, was an incredibly elegant offering not usually on the menu. All appetizers were within a $4 to $10 price range.

The two main dishes that we ordered, Malaysian Kari Ayam, Vivian's grandmother's favorite curry, and the miso orange Chilean sea bass, were accompanied by Kang Kung Belachan, an Asian water spinach that is in season now. All three were excellently prepared and presented and were by far the night's favorites in an already delicious line-up.

The miso orange bass was a delicately cooked $25 dinner special, perfectly flavored, served over bok choy and green beans with a sprinkling of red peppercorns. The water spinach, somewhat resembling a vegetable in spaghetti form, was served in a light garlicky broth, a $10 serving was more than ample and came adorned with a squid carved from a tomato. But perhaps it was the curry that showed the finesse of the night the most. This was a bold dry curry, with much less coconut milk than we had tasted in our Roti canal appetizer. The richness of the spices came through. It was strong, but not sweet, creamy or heavy and, again, left us guessing at the ingredients in this $19 menu mainstay.

We thought we were too full and satisfied for another bite, but Vivian sent over some corn pudding garnished with fresh spearmint as the perfect endnote. It was light, mildly sweet with a contrast in textures and tastes that does not fill you up.

Matsulin's cool green décor, wide ranging menu and reasonable prices make it worth the trip to Hampton Bays. It is not so exotic as to be a special night out, though, and would be a great place for special events. After tasting the menu, I can truly see why Zach Lazar told me it was one of his local favorites.

Matsulin is located at 131 West Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays, and can be reached at 631-728-8838. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and from noon until 10 p.m. on Sundays.

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