Mainland Chinese cuisine wins fans in Malaysia with mee tarik and mala hotpot

From fewer than 20 in 2004, there are now over 12,000 restaurants serving up such cuisine

- Lu Wei Hoong

KUALA LUMPUR - Jalan Petaling, where Malaysia's centuries-old Chinatown is located in the capital city of Malaysia, was a favourite hang-out during my high school days 20 years ago.

Under the corrugated iron roofs of the hawker stalls on an afternoon, teenage me would devour a bowl of Cantonese pork offal congee. I loved soaking the crunchy youtiao pieces in the rice porridge mixed with fried intestine, dark-red liver and century egg. Add a little light soya sauce and white pepper, and I would get food to comfort my stomach, all for just RM5 (S$1.50).

Back then, the street was filled with the aromas of charcoal-fired Hokkien fried noodles and steam rising from freshly cooked trays of Cantonese dim sum.

Today, new aromas and flavours are wafting through Chinatown and other parts of Malaysia, fuelled by the influx of some 200,000 China expatriates, labourers, students and businessmen in 2024, double the figure from 2022.

From fewer than 20 in 2004, there are now more than 12,000 restaurants offering mainland Chinese cuisine, Malaysia Chinese Restaurant Association president Gao Haoyun noted.

In Jalan Petaling, there are at least three eateries selling "mee tarik", or beef noodles in Malay, from Lanzhou, replacing a provision shop and laundry business.

Come dinnertime, patrons spill out of the eateries onto the sidewalks, with young Malay diners enjoying the cumin-scented lamb skewers and beef noodles from Lanzhou, the capital city of northwest China's Gansu province known for its Hui Muslim population.

Here in Chinatown, romance blossomed for media executive Maizatul Amazila Mohd Ghazi over a bowl of mee tarik two years ago.

"I ate mee tarik for the first time while dating my husband. I had only half a bowl because I was feeling shy. He asked me, 'Not delicious?'" the 25-year-old from Kedah said with a laugh.