Salima Specialties

Salima Specialties Brings Cham Cuisine to Skyway | Eater Seattle

"Opened in March 2022 by Nurhaliza “Liza” Mohamath with her parents Salima and Asari, the Skyway spot's menu bills itself Pan-Asian, listing items like Malaysian roti canai, Vietnamese banh mi, and Indian lassi, but I found the dishes really come from Cham cuisine — a mostly Muslim Indigenous tradition that crisscrosses Vietnam, Malaysia, and the wider Muslim world. There is clear intention behind the menu: affordable everyday items alongside pricier showpieces such as a tender oxtail soup, plus Salima’s famed peanut sauce and chicken satay skewers. Drinks include traditional Malaysian teh tarik and bandung as well as Liza’s inventive matcha cookie beverage. The banh mi and pho will look familiar to Vietnamese-food fans but are all halal (no pork), with the family making chicken ham, vegan ham, and beef meatballs in-house. The deli case features large stuffed steamed buns the family calls “Cham bao,” filled with shrimp, jicama, wood ear mushrooms, carrots, and a quail egg and cooked in the one ingredient Liza names as quintessentially Cham: toasted coconut milk, which gives the bao a sweet-smoky signature. The restaurant was consciously designed to serve children (mild dishes), teenagers (bright drinks and snacks), and elders (traditional Cham flavors), and about half the business is Cham people — a deliberate effort to revive access to Cham cuisine so community members can come, feel proud, and recommend the food." - Naomi Tomky