Gong Yuan Ma La Tang

C'est la saison de la soupe. Meme si on n'a pas les quarte saisons à Singapour, le temps devient "pas aussi chaud" vers la fin de l'année; c'est cette période que j'ai envie de soupes et de ragoûts...ils sont très très réconfortants! 

Dans d'autres nouvelles, les lumières et décorations de Noël à Rue Orchard sont allumées!! Je ne suis pas sûr pourquoi, mais voir les lumières de Noël me rend toujours heureux. Je pense, c'est peut-être parce que les lumières de Noël signifient l'approche de Noël, ma saison préférée de tous. Même si on ne fête pas Noël pour des raisons religieuses, c'est toujours le temps de la gentillesse et l'amour, toutes les qualités que j'apprécie et chérit. Et parce que tous nos proches resteront à Singapour, nous inaugurerons et passerons les fêtes de Noël et du Nouvel An avec eux à la maison au lieu. Ce sera certainement un changement, car nous sommes habituellement à l'étranger et nous regardons les feux d'artifice d'un hôtel. 

Et donc, j'ai été très occupé à organiser des soirées avec tous nos meilleurs amis; coordonner les horaires de chacun n'est pas du tout facile!!

 

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Christmas is my favourite season. Notwithstanding the dumpster fire of a crapshow that is 2020, there still remains something magical about Christmas-time. Maybe it's the multiple festivities (beginning with dressing up for Halloween (and candy!!!), through Thanksgiving (we don't celebrate it but it's nonetheless opportune a reminder to practise gratitude), and into Christmas and New Year's) which brings loved ones together, or maybe it's the overall slow down at work that allows for reflective introspection while taking stock of the year and be thankful for all things, or maybe it's the cooler weather which makes for better temperaments, an increase in generousity of spirit and kindness, or maybe it's simply the oft-lauded "Christmas spirit"...whatever it is, I find myself feeling more joyful, as we inch towards Christmas. Like I've told friends: 2020 has been an extraordinary year. It started off extraordinarily bad, but WFH has been an extraordinary godsend, and now it looks to end extraordinarily well. 

Anyways, the cool(er) weather these days has me craving soup. I've been on a bit of a yong tau fu binge, and in addition to the "Japanese yong tau foo" that is oden, I was also directed to "Sichuan yong tau fu", otherwise known as Mala Tang. 

 

[as an aside: It's amazing, isn't it: how a single dish is interpreted across different cultures?? I've always marveled at how the concept of food is such a unifying commonality. Somehow, some way, we humankind often end up eating foods not dissimilar to one another. 

 

Did you know that the Peruvian 'lomo saltado' tastes very much like Chinese stir-fried oyster sauce beef, except that they load it up with fresh tomatoes and french fries?? Or that what we know as 'goreng pisang' is a beloved street food dessert of fried plantains known as 'kelewele' in Ghana (also rendered by the Nigerians as 'dodo'), only that it's flavoured by cayenne pepper?? Heck, I'd venture that the majority of Singaporeans, myself included, wouldn't even be able to place Ghana on a world map. To wit, American beef jerky is also found in South Africa in the form of a vinegared dried game meat called 'biltong'; whereas the national dish of Denmark, 'flaeskesteg', is the Nordic spin on Chinese roast pork; while Icelandic milk curd drink 'skyr' shares largely the same flavour profiles as Indian cottage cheese. So you see, even with all of our (cultural and racial and ethnic and religious and whatnot) differences, and without intervening migrant influence, we wind up not so different after all.]

 

So....Sichuan Ma La Tang. It's like mala xiang guo, but styled as a soup. Think of it as mala spice-accented pork bone broth. I love it, it's got the clean, clear, delicate appeal of yong tau foo soup, but with the heady kick of tongue-numbing mala spice. 

 

One of the earliest market entrants, Gong Yuan Mala Tang, started off with just the one stall in Suntec City Mall, and now it's sprouted five outlets. Set up like a cross between a yong tau foo stall and mala xiang guo shop, you pick the ingredients you like, then hand your bowl of pickings to the cashier, informing your choice of soup base, spice level, and effect payment. Quick, efficient, and low-fuss. Which probably explains its popularity with the office lunch crowd.

 

I picked the Ma La Soup Base with the mildest spice level (ooh I'm a major wuss when it comes to spicy foods) with about a gazillion ingredients (ooh we got a little trigger-happy here heh) but hey, this mammoth bowl sustained 2 gluttonous adults ($29.78). We also supplemented with the Cabbage Pork Dumplings ($3.50), which fillings we thought were decent, albeit unmemorable, but found the skins too thick.

 

Gong Yuan Mala Tang

3 Temasek Boulevard

Suntec City Mall B1-176

Tel: 6219 3620

Open daily from 11.30am to 9pm