Damansara

If you need a slightly nice sit-down dinner that’s also easy to walk into, Damansara will do the trick. The Malaysian spot in Noe Valley has sake, beer, wine, and soju cocktails on deck, plus a no-stress ambiance that makes you want to stay a while. The menu of shareable small plates and mains is all-around solid, but dishes like the laksa and fried chicken lack the punchy flavor we want. Though, if we could only have one condiment for the rest of our lives, their thick, intensely nutty housemade peanut sauce would be what we put on everything. It’s one of the highlights of a meal here. Another is the palate-cleansing dessert flight, which comes with colorful cassava, pandan, ube, and rose cakes that are dense and just the right amount of sweetness.