Not long ago, this city's only claim to culinary fame was its pizza. Thin-crust pies were introduced here by Neapolitan immigrants nearly a century ago, as I learned from Robin Goldstein, coauthor of a new dining guide to New Haven. A century later, much has changed. The Neapolitan pizzas are still worth writing about, but less than half a mile away, an upscale Southeast Asian restaurant is sharply redefining the city's dining scene.

Malaysian chef Jeff Ghazali presides over the kitchen at Bentara ("bentara" was the title given to the king's highest-ranking servant in Malaysia's pre-republic days). Those unfamiliar with Malaysian cuisine may be surprised at how recognizable it is. Spread on an equatorial curve along the old trade routes of the South China Sea, Malaysia has always been a natural site for the explosive mingling of Eastern and Western cultures. Traces of Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Thai, Portuguese, Dutch, and British influence inform the work of Malay chefs, making theirs one of the most ancient colonial-fusion cuisines in the world.

As a university town, New Haven has long had a concentration of ethnic restaurants but we can't think of any as stylish as Bentara. The space is wharehouse large, with high ceiling and well-spaced tables in several dining areas. A cavernous look as avoided by extremely sophisticated decoratingshadow puppets projected from three screens in the rear, Malaysian baskets stacked in a corner near the large front windows, a bamboo screen separating the bar area, niches displaying subtle, well-chosen handcrafts.

Malaysian is one of the lesser known Asian cuisines, but diners with a hankering for Chinese, Indonesian, Indian and Thai cooking wil find certain compatible ingredients and culinary styles.

Each dish is carefully described to avoid confusion. As a safe haven of familiarity, Beef satay was one of our starters - marinated, grilled and skewered beef, prettily served with red onions, cucumber slices and coconut-peanut sauce - deeply flavored but predictable. We opted also for the less familiar roti murtabak: small squares of unleavened ghee bread filled with a mixture of ground beef, onions and eggs, jazzed up by two zesty dips, curry and chopped sweet-sour red onions.

Other worthy appetizers were curry mussels (with slivered onions, green peppers and tomatoes in a delicate curry sauce). Manila clams (with onions and piementoes in a clear broth redolent of lemongrass, garlic and scallions) and pechal (a warm salad with blanched water spinach, bean sprouts, green beans, hard boiled egg slices and a sassy shrimp paste-peanut sauce)

Many of our entrees were standouts. Especially notable we Rendang (chicken sprinkled with black sesame seeds, tofu, Chinese eggplant chunks and green beans in a lemongrass-spiked coconut curry) and Asam pedas seafood (a fish/shrimp/calamari stew with Chinese eggplant, green beans and tomatoes in a subtle hot-sour tamarind broth). Also worth one's attention was udang goreng pedas, which consisted of hot and spicy shrimp with slivered onions and green beans.

The menu is attractive to vegetarians, with many noodle dishes and soups. We were keen on goreng kang kong - stir-fried water spinach (kang kong) with onions, garlic, roasted red pepper strips, and hot chilies, with a shower of black sesame seeds on top. We ordered it with a piquant shrimp paste, but it is available without.

One of the hottest new dining trends has come to Greater New haven disguised in an old barbecue rib joint on a street populated with fast food and pizza places. And we mean hot in both senses of the word

A spicy cross between Indian, Chinese and Thai food is on the menu at the newly opened Bentara, Connecticut's first Malaysian restaurant.

Chris Yeo, author of "The Cooking of Singapore" (Harlow & Ratner, $24.95) and chef at the acclaimed Straits Cafe in San Francisco, says Bentara is one of only a handful of Malaysian restaurants in the country, and the only one he's heard of outside of a major metropolitan city.

Malaysian cuisine is among the lesser known and more cutting edge of a group of Southeast Asian cuin=sines that is "very much in vogue right now," says Gwenda L Hyman, author of "Cuisines of Southeast Asia" (John Wiley & Sons, $14.95)

At Bentara, our waiter tells us, is the Malaysian word for the title bestowed on a king's servant. "He takes care of the king's needs," we are told. But does he cook, too? No, the waiter replies, shaking his head.

Well, then the Malaysian word for the royal chef, whatever that is, would be a better name for this exalted East Haven restaurant. Especially since chef Hasni Ghazali's Malaysian cooking is exquisite, even rgal. This is food truly fir for a king.

Billed as the state only Malaysian restaurant, Bentara is hardly a palace. A few travel posters serve as abrupt decoration for the bare-bones structure (a former barbecue joint) that seats fewer than 40 people, No tablecloth, Paper napkins. A wine list composed on a legal pad.

Bentara places all its efforts in the kithen, where Ghazali plays fairy godmother with lowly roots and simple herbs. The Cinderella story each dish tells is poetry for the sences. Flavors freewheel aqcross the tongue, scents spiral up the nose. The eyes lock on vivid colors. Textures collide: hot spells cool, silk meets snap.