Tips:
- Staff speak Mandarin only, but use a translator on their phone.
- Malatang consists of select a broth, choosing your ingredients, having them weighed, and then cooked. You get your food in broth in a large bowl.
- Make your own sauce for your malatang.
My friend had a credit at Zha Zha Beef. He asked me if I was free to join him for an early dinner. I said yes.
We decided to do a 5 pm dinner. I came here after work on Monday. This eatery is in New Kennedy Square, on the south side, near Ajisen Ramen.
It was nice to effortlessly find a parking spot. There were so many at 5 pm. I parked and walked in.
My friend was already there. It was interesting seeing colanders and buckets used as makeshift lampshades. There were also white boxes in which you could store your personal items, such as a purse or backpack.
The female staffer there was nice, but she only spoke Mandarin. We were able to communicate with her through her translation app on her phone.
We were here for malatang, which consists of these steps:
1. Select a soup base.
2. Select your proteins, veggies, and more, and place them in a clear bowl that's by the food stand. Use tongs to grab what you want.
3. Have your ingredients weighed.
4. Make your own sauce to go with your malatang.
5. Staff cooks your food and brings it to your table in a bowl.
6. Dig in!
There were a lot of ingredients to choose from. My eyes were bigger than my stomach! It's one lesson that I learned. Don't get too carried away with selecting the food that you want cooked!
If I were to do things differently, they would be as follows:
- Skip the coloured noodles. They look pretty, but getting udon, potato noodles, and konjac noodles would have been perfect.
- There were two types of potato noodles, which were chewy and fun to eat. I'd rather get the longer, wider version. The shorter, thinner version stuck to other noodles and wasn't as fun to eat.
- This place weighs your food, so it does add up if you're loading up your bowl.
Thoughts about what I ate:
- The crayfish tofu was so good. It made eating the regular tofu and tofu rolls boring in comparison.
- The fish, shrimp dumplings and sea urchin that looks like a Hershey's kiss were delicious. The sea urchin had filling that was a pleasant surprise and enjoyable.
- I got the fresh herbal beef bone soup. I enjoyed it. It was subtle in taste and hot temperature-wise.
- The mushroom varieties were amazing here.
- There are some exotic foods. I passed on the blood. I did enjoy the pork ear.
- I put a lot of garlic, soy, green onions, and sesame paste in my sauce. The garlic lingered for a while. So good!
- I got fish and shrimp. Despite these items sitting in broth for a while, they didn't break apart or become rubbery, respectively. It was impressive!
- The quail eggs and beef balls were delicious.
- I got spinach. So good!
We got parmesan wings as our appetizer. Parmesan was generously sprinkled on our wings. They were flats and were yummy. This place separates each flat so that it's a bone that constitutes a wing. I'm not sure if it's to stretch their wing supply.
The wings were yummy. They were obviously much smaller because each flat became two with the one-bone-per-wing policy.
My friend got a Coke zero and I got a Diet Coke at the end of our meals. It hit the spot being cold and yummy.
I managed to eat everything, except for a few noodle strands. I did well!
We did use up my friend's credit. We pooled our cash to tip.
We were so stuffed afterwards. My friend walked around the mall after we parted ways. I drove home (it's roughly a ten-minute drive) and took a nap when I got there.
We had a nice experience at this eatery. There is a language barrier, so be patient. Staff are friendly and helpful.
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