Walk in the main entrance of WMU’s student center and you’ll see Hou Jia, a glass-walled restaurant with a bar at the front. It’s owned by Jim Chiang, who also owns local Chinese restaurant chain Hunan Gardens.
Chiang said the restaurant and bar boasts a Taiwanese-fusion inspired menu with dishes like noodle bowls, bento boxes and boba tea – as well as beer, wine, sake and a Korean alcoholic beverage called soju.
“Our family [is] from Taiwan and we kind of tried to bring the culture to the campus,” Chiang said. “And everybody enjoy the Taiwanese street food.”
The restaurant is the first of its kind at Western, and has restrictions on the type and amount of alcohol it can sell. Manager Marissa Wagner said customers have been surprised to see it being sold inside the student center…