Hungarian food is like Franz Liszt’s rhapsodies. The famous Hungarian composer (1811-1886) wrote 19 of them but only one stands out. This isn’t to say that Hungarian food isn’t good. All of Liszt’s rhapsodies are fantastic but his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C# minor is the most famous; everyone who loves classical music knows it. So it is with the Hungarian goulash. Even those who have never eaten it, have heard of it.
I was in the mood for some good Hungarian goulash, a spicy meat and vegetable stew, but just not too sure where I could get the best in Kota Kinabalu. By chance I parked my car just in front of Chilli Vanilla, next to the once great Nan Xing Restaurant (how times and fortune have changed) in Jalan Haji Saman. At 7 on a Saturday night, you can hardly find a parking lot. But I did.
Chilli Vanilla is a small nondescript café. The name doesn’t tell you much and neither does it spell Hungarian. The telltale is “Chilli” – paprika – a hot spice that is judiciously used in Hungarian cooking. Vanilla on the other hand originated from Mexico; yes indeed, and Vanilla is Spanish from the word “Vaina” meaning “pod”.
The only other Hungarian connection to Chilli Vanilla is its Hungarian chef, Szilvia Pinter who is one of its three partners.But I was disappointed. The Hungarian Goulash was sold out. At 7:30 pm? So dinner was a pumpkin soup (not in the picture), a grilled chicken tortilla with mango and a Moroccan inspired lamb stew with couscous. There is nothing Hungarian in this, except that the lamb stew is … well… goulash if you like. (Pumpkin soup signals the wintry season and you find lots of pumpkins at the start of autumn in Europe.)
The food was fantastic and for RM55, the dinner was a steal. Chilli Vanilla offers quite a good menu. There are more choices than El Centro, just two doors away, which offers mostly South American fare.Chilli Vanilla opened its doors a little more than four years ago. Pinter’s partners are Shirley Wong and Salome Sho. And with the likes of El Centro, it is gratifying to know that we can get some of the best European, Western, African and Mediterranean cuisine on the cheap in Kota Kinabalu.Bon appetite!
Sabah Insights 