Wee's Cozy Kitchen

"Editor's note: Wee's Cozy Kitchen has moved into a new space Downtown with a similar menu. We'll update this when we've had a chance to check it out. Most of the time that we’re “dining at a gas station,” we’re really just grabbing a hot dog and a bag of Doritos and convincing ourselves it was a real meal. But head into the Shell at 24th and Rio—right in the heart of West Campus—and you’ll find Wee’s Cozy Kitchen, a Malaysian restaurant operating out of a small open kitchen in the back. Wee’s has been in business for a little while now, but it wasn’t until late 2022 that the Malaysian dishes made their way onto the menu—first, as off-menu weekend specials, and eventually becoming mainstays that quickly stood out against a large menu of burgers, wings, and Chinese-American classics. But these days, instead of ordering off a hand-scribbled menu, you can just point to anything on the “Traditional Malaysian” section of the menu and know exactly what you’ll be getting. Grab an order of nasi lemak for a mound of rich coconut milk rice with a fiery anchovy sambal, fried peanuts, and cucumbers, then work your way through the menu of curry laksa, char kway teow, beef rendang, and kaya toast. The Malaysian menu is pretty small—basically a greatest hits list of Malaysian classics—so bring some friends and just order the whole thing. To call the dining area a “dining room” would be somewhat of a disservice to classic restaurants everywhere. At the same time, there’s nowhere we’d rather be sitting than on a metal folding chair next to the coffee machine in the back of a Shell when we’re enjoying Wee’s food. Because dining here feels like you’re part of a small, secret society made up mostly of Malaysian families and lucky college kids who didn’t know what they were getting into when they stumbled in for a beer run. And the next time we’re on a road trip reaching for a hot dog and a bag of Doritos, we’ll just be thinking about how much better things could be. " - Nicolai McCrary