"Little Penang Pastas" on Ren’ai Road in Hualien City is operated by Malaysian overseas Chinese, Huang Yong-Jian. A red bicycle is parked by the wall in front of the restaurant, while the figure of two children is painted on the wall, creating an extremely interesting scene because the children look like they are riding the bicycle.
Huang originally lived in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and ran a cafeteria with his good cooking skills. In 2000, he joined a tour group to travel to Tokyo, Japan, and met Miss Liu who was also on a visit to Tokyo. After a seven-year relationship, they got married in Malaysia.
Liu’s grandmother, whom she loves very much, is from Xincheng Township, Hualien County. Back when she was a child, she often visited her grandmother’s house in Hualien. In 2016, due to her grandmother's age, she and her husband returned to Taiwan to accompany her grandmother who had moved to Taipei. In their leisure time, the couple traveled to Hualien, where Huang was amazed by the extraordinary scenery of mountains and ocean. After Liu’s grandmother passed away, the couple moved to Hualien City and open "Little Penang Pastas".
Huang made some modifications to the flavors of his Malaysian hometown cuisines and developed a variety of unique Southeastern pastas including curry dry noodles, special barbecue pork dry noodles, and Singaporean laksa noodles, etc. He is very particular about taste. For example, the signature Penang white curry noodles are very chewy, and come with a plate of special hot sauce. The barbecued pork is quite thick-cut and retains its original flavor in the white curry soup. The oily tofu in the soup is full of hot broth, and must be eaten carefully.
Over the past four years, the couple have become deeply impressed by the courtesy of the people of Hualien as well as their hospitality. Liu says that she sometimes delivers the wrong meal due to rush hour, but most customers don’t really mind. This is why Huang decided to live in Hualien.
It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the restaurant to Tungtamen Night Market; about 8 minutes by locomotive to Pacific Park; and about 20 minutes by car to Qixingtan Beach. Huang and his wife often drive to see the seascape when their restaurant is closed on Tuesdays or to Guangfu Sugar Refinery to eat ice and enjoy Hualien's abundance of tourism resources.
Little Penang Pastas from Southeast Asia
Address: 94-1, Ren’ai St., Hualien City, Hualien County 970, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Tel: (03)836–1686