Nola Restaurant, Palo, Alto, CA. July 2006.

This is a view of the courtyard in Nola, a Cajun restaurant in Downtown Palo Alto. Yesterday, my friend and I went there for dessert. It is a really nice restaurant decorated with outsider arts from the Southern region. The architecture reminded me a lot of the Nyonya Baba ancestral houses in Melaka, Malaysia. You will see a picture I took inside a restaurant in Melaka when I went home to visit early this year. The similarities of architecture: double storey, open sky courtyard area, classical European columns and intricately colorful tiles.

Coconut House Wood Firing Pizza restaurant in Melaka, Malaysia. Feb, 2006.

Melaka has various architectural, cultural and religious influences by early colonials such as Portuguese, Dutch and British. In the early 15th century, Chinese immigrants arrived from China and settled in various cities along the Strait of Melaka (Melaka, Singapore and Penang). Some of them intermarried with the local non Muslims or Chinese from China. The nyonyas and babas integrated Malay cultures into their life that ranges from costume, food and language. The females are called “nyonyas” and the men “babas”.

I remembered my grandma used to wear baju kabaya or sarong and spoke only Teochew mixed with Malay. She passed away when I was about five, so I did not get to know her very much.

To read more about Melaka. To read more about Baba-Nyonya.