Marashogun

At Marashogun, you can customise your bowl of malatang from the start by choosing the soup, then picking your own ingredients. One first-time visitor said they were shown how to choose, while other diners enjoyed selecting favourites such as yuba, wood ear mushrooms and coriander. The self-service style is a good fit if you want to decide for yourself which ingredients, and how much of each, go into your bowl. Diners have reported being able to choose a heat level from 0 to 5; one found 1 pleasantly sweet and spicy. Even if you are not keen on very hot food, you can take the heat down or opt for the tomato soup and explore at your own pace.

The soups that get mentioned include classic mala, herbal bone broth and sunny tomato. One diner paired the classic mala with offal and celery water dumplings, adding ingredients that complemented the soup’s bold flavour. A visitor who chose the herbal bone broth found it reminiscent of tonkotsu ramen and enjoyed the texture of shihō bamboo shoots. The sunny tomato soup was described as light and easy to eat. With different soup styles to choose from, there is room to change things up on a return visit as well as vary the heat and ingredients.

Sichuan pepper oil and black vinegar are on the table for adjusting the flavour as you eat. One reported combination was to add both to the tomato soup for a sharper, more rounded taste. Diners have also praised the texture of the soup-free ma la ban: the glass noodles picked up the seasoning well without becoming soft. It offers a different way to enjoy the flavours from a bowl of soup.

Enjoy malatang that you can customise, from the ingredients to the heat, at lunch or dinner.