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Mala tang can be a hassle to eat especially if you’re wearing white, but this stall might have made it worth staining your clothes. Tanjong Pagar, or the CBD as a whole, has given the impression that it lacks affordable food.
To exacerbate this, mala has always been one of those things that blows up the bill easily as it can be difficult to judge the pricing of the ingredients based judging the weight of the bowl. Well, that is where Ma Lab comes in with its affordable mala tang sets from S$8.90.
The long snaking queues during lunch time is a telltale sign of its approval from the working crowd. When we went down during dinner time, many of the items had been sold out already.
The menu is simple and as mentioned before, to prevent you from blowing up the bill from taking too much, they have preset menus to choose from, starting from S$10.90 for the Standard Set, and also the highly-queued for Promo Set (S$8.90).
What I tried at Ma Lab
Feeling like going for variety, we each had the Deluxe Set (S$14.90) which came with 7 ingredients, a side dish and a drink or a dessert. Again, as the lunch crowd had swarmed this place, the dessert was out of stock when we were there at dinner time.
You can also choose which soup broth you want it cooked in – the Ma Lab Signature Soup, Fresh Tomato Soup, Dry Stir Mala or the Seasonal Special. Ingredients are pretty standard for a mala or hotpot that you can find outside like pork slices, fishball and enoki mushroom.
What I like about this place is that they have a fried item section in the menu which is open to the Deluxe Set and above which allows you to have the items fried. These fried items included wanton, luncheon meat and also quail eggs which was very intriguing.
For the first bowl, we had the Chinese Shaved Noodle in Fresh Tomato Soup broth. At first glance, this bowl of noodles looked menacing but drinking the broth felt very hearty, especially on a rainy day. It had undertones of sweetness with a slight kick of tartness at the end.
I personally am a huge fan of shaved noodles as it has a chew to it due to the thickness and width of the noodles. However, I was slightly disappointed this time, as the noodles seemed overcooked by a few seconds and unevenly cooked, with some parts still clumping together.
The ingredients chosen were also very interesting with this Smoked Duck being so thick, I thought it would be almost unchewable. However, it was surprisingly tender and the sweetness from the duck matched that of the tomato broth. The fried luncheon meat also provided a slight crunch to the overall dish.
The next bowl we had was their signature Ma Lab Signature Soup with Ramen Noodles. When it first arrived, I could see the creaminess of the soup and upon tasting it, I felt that the soup was extremely drinkable with very little spice to it (good for those who don’t take spice).
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That’s where their signature homemade chilli that is on every table comes in. You’ll find bits of sesame, dried chilli, and peanuts, which are incredibly addictive thanks to their aromatic flavour.
Again, this chilli was very palatable and not overbearing with heat. To give you an idea, I had to add a significant amount to the broth just to get a proper kick of spice. I felt that being able to taste the bits of peanuts in the soup gave that extra crunch which I enjoyed a lot.
For the fried items, the highlight this time was the sliced lotus root. It was coated in a crispy batter that was earthy and savoury. The play in different textures throughout this dish was incredible.
However, not all was smooth sailing. My issue with overcooked noodles resurfaced, as the ramen noodles were overdone by about 30 seconds to a minute.
Final thoughts
A week ago, I spoke about my amazing experience at A Hot Hideout and felt that it was the pinnacle of my mala tang experience. While Ma Lab was almost comparable, it is a different kind of mala tang all together and would be unfair to compare these two.
Overall, I truly enjoyed my experience here at Ma Lab with my only gripe being overcooked noodles which could be solved easily. From the plethora of ingredients, to the choice of noodles and broth to that delicious chilli which I’m still thinking about right now, I think Ma Lab could be the next big thing if they start fixing their minor flaws.
Expected damage: S$8.90 – S$17.90 per pax
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