I've taken to Mainland cuisine quite recently, in particular Mala Xiang Guo, and whilst I have had the dish at a couple of places here and there around the island, there's one- at a lorong in Geylang- that somehow seems to stand out to me.
It is a quirky place- despite being called the grandiose name of Golden Jade- so don't come expecting gleaming chandeliers, tapestry hanging on walls, wait staff in neatly pressed uniforms and luxurious seating.
No, there is none of these.
What you get is booth seating (thankfully quite comfortable), at parts peeling wallpapered walls, and regular, normal-looking LED light fixtures too commonplace to be of any special mention.
The place, however, is atypical Mainland diner cozy where practicality and functionality override the planned-for aesthetics- but hey, the service is reasonable, the food comes in great portions, and most importantly it tastes good.
We had three different dishes for dinner that evening.
The first being, of course, Mala Xiang Guo- the very reason I'd come to this restaurant for- and, having gotten full liberty to pick out the ingredients for our meal, chose two kinds of mushrooms, one portion of fried bean curd, one portion of bean curd skin, a selection of seaweed, and a selection of cabbage.
The dish, when served to our table, was delicious.
If there's one thing I love about Mala Xiang Guo, it is that the dish is remarkably all-inclusive. Doesn't matter whether you're vegetarian or keto, doesn't matter whether you like spice or not, this is a dish that suits every palate.
You can have a full selection of vegetables (like we did) and make your dinner a herbivore. You can have a full selection of meats and make your dinner a carnivore. Or, you can have a balance of both, which will then make your dinner an omnivore.
If you need the spice, just go for it.
If you don't want the spice, you can have none of it as well.
It's all very flexible.
Me, I loved how the flavors of the oils enhanced all the ingredients I'd chosen- even the plainest of the plainest that was fried bean curd.
And I loved how the dining experience- picking up each item with the chopsticks, nibbling it slowly (because of the mala)- forced me to slow down, letting me savor my food more.
On hindsight, I should have ordered lettuce instead of cabbage (I don't buy from the wet market much so the Chinese characters had me confused) because I like the leaves, and I should not have underestimated the strength of their "least spicy".
Trust me, it was very spicy!!
Good thing we had two other dishes- one of which was fried lamb- that, I soon discovered, was very effective in balancing out the spice of the Mala from your tongue.
Now, at other times I probably might have squealed at the strong, gamey taste of the meat-it really gave me barbaric carnivorous feels I'm not joking- but not that day.
That day I learnt to appreciate the richness of its taste.
As slowly, carefully, I worked through the plate- with hands, chopsticks and fork- piece by piece, bone by bone.