It's taken us a while to get to Malatang, we've been busy and the stall is often closed, but finally the planets align and boy-oh-boy, we've been missing out.
In fact, we're not even sure this stall is called Malatang, the characters are close and it's one of the only English language words on their signs. It's the style of hot pot they serve so its the name we will use.
The drill is to grab a big bowl, some tongs and pick out your treasures. The beauty of this style of soup is you can fill up on what you like.
The selection is wide and can be a little daunting. Along the top rows are fresh greens, mushrooms and cabbage, we chose some leafy greens like kangkong and some shimeji mushrooms to add. Along the bottom rows are lotus root (in), wood ear fungus (in) and tofu skins (in).
Next the trays are filled with fish balls, tofu, kelp and more meaty treasures. We threw in some fish balls with roe mixed in, and a few blood cubes.
Finally, pick your noodles, there's a choice of dried instant style noodle, small blocks of egg noodles or knots of vermicelli (in).
Fill your bowl to your hearts content then give it to the nice lady. The bowl of goodness is weighed and your price is set by the weight. The price is set at 250g increments.
When your number is called you get this kick arse soup which tastes like a cross between dan dan noodles and laksa. It has a medium chilli heat and plenty of tongue numbing Sichuan pepper, we guess the laksa-like thick texture comes from sesame paste. It's a fantastic soup and excellent value, we half filled our bowl with ingredients and it come to ten bucks.
The stall is often closed at lunch time, we went on a Saturday night and it was in full swing.
Malatang is in the Dixon House Food Court, corner of Dixon and Little Hay Street's Chinatown.
Aahhh, Dixon House, the gift that keeps on giving!
ReplyDeleteLove the concept. I ate there when they first opened. Soup made to order, especially when you pick the ingredients yourself.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea on pick what you want! In HK, they call it cart noodle =)
ReplyDeleteLucy
www.lucylovestoeat.com
this stall is taking off ... not uncommon now to wait over 30 minutes! The soup has great depth!
ReplyDeleteNo wonder - it's worth the wait and the soup is indeed great. There's another one now in Eating World we will be trying soon.
DeleteHi Alison, the one in Eating World is a different stock so a bit of a contrast ... and it's nowhere near as busy so some of the ingredients look a little tired!
ReplyDelete