Malaysian Noodle Festival Ongoing in the Meatpacking District

Eight restaurants participated under red paper lanterns.

The promotional website MalaysiaKitchenNYC.com staged a noodle-themed event this afternoon on the north end of the Meatpacking District, in the square formed by the confluence of Ninth Avenue, Greenwich Street, and West 14th Street.

Beware the chili pepper!

Colorful pavilions sheltered tables from eight different restaurants, including high-end places like Spice Market and Todd London’s Embers, as well as such lower-end places as Nyona and the Upper West Side Penang. In the middle was Fatty Crab.

Servings were $5 each, and consisted mainly of noodles and soups in portions running from meager to quite large. There was even a restaurant from New Haven in on the action — Bentara. Ben Fishner from Serious Eats passed along the rumor that the chef of Bentara may be thinking about opening a restaurant here.

A tired-looking Jeffrey Steingarten makes a personal appearance.

A masak from New Haven’s Bentara proved one of the best noodle dishes.

The food was generally excellent, though notably missing from the festival were the Chinatown-based restaurants (like Canal Street’s Overseas) that peddle the majority of Malaysian eats in town.

The festival continues today till 3 p.m., so get on over there!

A pair of noodle enthusiasts