Growing up, my family always had hot pot in the winter. But the stock for the Chinese-style fondue was plain chicken broth, unlike the kind served at Mala Tang. Their regular is a chicken stock with ginger, a touch of egg, and dried red dates (jujube) and goji berries sprinkled on top. The soup ordered spicy or mala tang (numbing hot soup) has a layer of hot pepper oil, and citrusy Sichuan peppercorns. The combination of veg in the vegetable stock is the chef’s secret, but features the same toppers.
On my visit, I was accompanied by a vegetarian friend, who fortunately was not very strict. While the menu provides plenty of options for non-meat eaters, steering clear of creatures is not always straight-forward. The surprising twist was the touch of egg that is added to the top of the stock before serving, which you can request not be added. As our stock cooked down, the pots were readily refilled from the same kettle — but we weren’t sure if the refill kettles were split between regular and vegetarian. Finally, sha cha, one of the dipping sauces for hot pot, contains brill fish and shrimp, but one of the runners told us it was sesame oil. If you are a strict vegetarian, be sure to ask questions and be clear about your dietary preferences.
On your first visit, the best way to get the lay of the land is to go with the prix fixe. Thirty dollars will get you an appetizer, choice of protein (sirloin, chicken, shrimp, lamb, pork or tofu) and two vegetables for your hot pot, and a dessert (sesame balls or pumpkin pie).
We started with the wood ear mushroom salad and the spicy cold noodles instead of the spicy cucumber salad and pork dumplings in a spicy sauce offered with the prix fixe. Wood or cloud ear mushrooms are a fungus that grows on trees. When cooked, they retain a slightly crunchy texture, and easily absorb the flavor of other ingredients. (You may have encountered them in smaller quantities in your moo shu take out order.) This flavorful preparation is served cold with slices of red pepper, strands of cilantro, a touch of garlic, soy sauce and copious amounts of fragrant sesame oil. It provides a cool counterpoint to the spicier dishes.
The spicy cold egg noodles with bean sprouts are served in a sauce of garlic, red chili oil, sesame and soy. The noodles are pleasantly spicy with cracked shards of Sichuan peppercorn providing a tinge of grassy flavor — though they are fairly limited in their numbing mala power.
For our hot pots, we selected sirloin, tofu, napa cabbage and bamboo shoots. Platters of raw items will be brought out along with tongs to help you deposit and retrieve your morsels. I’m not sure if it was a result of an assumption that, as a Chinese person, I knew what I was doing, but our food was brought out with little commentary or instruction. While the cooking methods are fairly straight forward, I would suggest cooking the more flavorful portions of your selections first to intensify the flavors of your stock as seasoning for blander items such as tofu. And be careful to not let your proteins overcook.
Despite appearances, the stock lacked the incendiary heat we were expecting from the floating bright red chili oil. Nonetheless, we were pleased with the flavor that the stock provided to our meat and vegetable selections. But as with nearly anything worth eating, the true key to flavor is dipping sauce. Mix the aforementioned sha cha, fresh chopped chilies and/or spicy fermented soy bean paste to the house made soy sauce, and go at it to your heart’s content. (Though I suggest asking for additional small bowls for better control over proportions.) The portions were enormous, leaving us with half a platter per person when we were done. Fortunately, the kitchen staff will cook the remainder for you to take home.
For dessert, we naturally opted to try both the pumpkin pie and sesame balls. The pumpkin pie is nothing to write home about — a somewhat bland mush of pumpkin covered in a thin, slightly chewy pastry. But the sesame balls are some of the best I’ve encountered in recent years. From external appearances, they aren’t very greasy, but seem no different from the usual fried ball of chewy glutinous rice dough coated with sesame seeds. But the filling is a refined combination of coarsely ground sesame seeds with a healthy amount of still-crystallized sugar. Though sweet, it is a vast improvement over the cloyingly sweet red bean paste that fills most versions.
For beginning hot potters and those who prefer to leave the prep work to someone else, Mala Tang is a great place to start with a little bit of guidance — though I, as a life-long hot potter, am more likely to enjoy my hot pot at home. But I would definitely return to try their selection of kitchen-prepared dishes. In fact, I can’t wait to try their “pork water buns” better known to some as soup dumpling or xiao loong bao, as well as their tofu fries with cumin.
Mala Tang
3434 Washington Blvd.
Arlington, VA
(703) 243-2381
Metro: Virginia Square (Orange)
