Malatang was the food I ate the most in Korea, by FAR. There was a point in the semester where I was eating it 2-3 times of week, although the rate of consumption did slow significantly towards the end. Junggyeong Malatang in Sinchon was my favorite place that I went to 13 times and brought all my visiting friends to. The total bowls of malatang consumed in the past four months comes out to a whopping 25.
Malatang is a soup dish that originated from China, with the broth not just being spicy but a special type of spice called mala (麻辣), which is numbing spice. It’s become quite trendy here in Korea and restaurants will allow you to add any toppings of your choice, along with customizing the spice level. I typically like to add beef, cheese tteokbokki, king oyster and enoki mushrooms, bok choy, tofu, quail eggs, noodles (sometimes) and shrimp.
Although most of the malatangs I had were Korean style, one of them was very traditional Chinese style. It's the image right in the middle below. The broth for this one was less creamy and also came as ordered, with no customizations. It was also not too spicy.
Throughout the semester, I would always drag my friends with me to eat malatang. A lot of them got pretty tired of it but for me it never got old. It was the best, most reliable Chinese-ish food I could always eat on short notice. In Hawaii, there is only one malatang place called Yipin Malatang, which is fortunately pretty close to where I live.
Cheap malatang is one of the top 5 things I will miss about living in Korea. If you ever get the chance to travel there, I absolutely recommend giving this dish a try <3
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