Love noodles? Learn how to make them yourself

For the last 27 years, the owners of the Ruby Palace Chinese restaurant have ushered in the Chinese New Year with the ancient art of Chinese noodle-making. This year — the Year of the Boar — will be no different.

Owned by brothers Domingo and Jeff Hsu, the restaurant will offer the public another free opportunity to witness demonstrations of ancient art that has been passed down through the Hsu family for three generations.

On Friday and Saturday, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., noodle lovers can stop by to watch Jeff Hsu take 5 pounds of dough made from nothing more than flour, water and salt, and transform it into elongated noodles, no thicker than angel hair pasta, Domingo Hsu said.

“My father did it for 35 years, then my brother took it over nine years ago. He’ll make thousands of layers of noodles,” Hsu said. “It takes a long time to learn how to do. I am still learning.”

The tradition of making noodles is a dying skill. Not many people make noodles by hand because of the use of machines, Hsu said.

“But with Chinese New Years, we show them how to do it without any equipment,” he said.

The longer the noodles, the longer one can expect to live, as told by Chinese custom, Hsu said.

Customers can enjoy the noodles with a choice of egg noodle soup, spicy seafood noodle soup or noodles in black bean sauce, Hsu said. One noodle stretching makes up to six servings, but the noodle can never be cut — it must naturally fall apart in boiling water.

“When you cut the noodle you cut the life of noodle,” Hsu said.

So, hungry for some Chinese cuisine or not, stop by the Ruby Palace at 18330 Beach Blvd. in Huntington Beach for a step back in time and a touch of Chinese culture. It does not cost anything to watch, but you will most likely want to order some good old handmade noodles after seeing the demonstration.