Egg Noodle, Flat Noodle, Rice Noodle, or Mei Fun, you name it, the Red Bowl Noodle Shop will have it freshly made for you within fifteen minutes. This shop is owned by Mr. Li Qiang, for the past eighteen years.
I came across this peculiar noodle shop when I was walking down Main street looking for a place to eat. I saw a huge crowd of people gathered around a window just watching a man knead dough like he was born to do it. All while punching the dough, he had this wide smile of a performer putting on a show for his viewers.
“My father owned a noodle shop back at home in Taiwan, so even though I moved to a new country I wanted to keep the tradition going,” says Mr. Qiang when I asked him what made him start his own restaurant. The Red Bowl Noodle shop is a classic hole-in-the-wall Taiwanese restaurant with Peking duck decorating the restaurant. The interesting part of this restaurant is that Mr Qiang makes fresh noodles everyday, and he allows people to see him while he’s in his zone. He has a little glass screen so the customers can see the very strenuous process of making the noodles by hand everyday. I asked Mr. Qiang why he made it by hand and not use the industrial kitchen appliances and his response was, “I want the tradition of handmade noodles to still continue, no matter what new technology comes to make my life easier.”
Mr. Li Qiang came here back in 1993 as a newly wed with his wife, and he worked various jobs to start up a family. He started out as a dish washer at an Italian restaurant in New York City, then moved on to cleaning tables and various other jobs. A few years after being in America Mr.Qiang had a growing family, not only did he have to support his wife he had two little girls now. With the help of some family members that were living in Flushing at the time and a loan from the bank, Mr. Li Qiang became the owner of Red Bowl Noodle Shop.
I asked some of the regular customers, who Mr.Qiang, pointed out what they loved about the place that makes them come back once a week. The popular response was the freshness of noodles is what brings them back every time. Mr. Qiang said that his noodles were healthier when compared to other noodle shops, but wouldn’t tell me what the secret healthy ingredient is.
Mr. Qiang is currently 49 years old and, “He has the energy of a twenty year old,” customers say. He is very engaging with his customers and make sure they get the hospitality that they deserve. I asked Mr. Qiang if he was planning opening up in places other than Flushing and his response was, “No, I am happy with just this one place. I want to focus all my attention to this one place so I can perfect it.”
During my visit there I was able to acquaint with Mr. Qiang’s family and I spoke to his daughter, Cindy Qiang, who is about to go into her freshman year of college this Fall. I asked her what she was planning on pursuing during her undergraduate studies and she said business. Cindy wants to help out in her father’s business but in a way where she can expand the business to different locations.
I was very pleased to see that Mr. Qiang stayed true to his roots of cooking and brought a family business from Taiwan all the way to America. I highly recommend that everyone visit this restaurant the next time they are in Flushing, not just for the great food but for also a very engaging show put on by Mr. Qiang.
