Suwon malatang date with lemon cream shrimp: Rahongbang Malatang

One of my boyfriend's and my favorite foods is malatang (spicy mala soup). We love malatang, mala xiang guo (dry mala stir-fry), and guobaorou (sweet-and-sour fried pork) so much that we often order delivery. Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch is one of the places we regularly had delivered, too.

This time, the weather was nice and we were on a date, so we went to the restaurant instead of ordering delivery. We added a few new side dishes to what we normally order, so I thought I'd make a record of it.

Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch: restaurant and parking

📍 Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch 6 Manseok-ro 5beon-gil, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea 경기 수원시 장안구 만석로5번길 6 세화프라자 1층

There is parking in the building, but it isn't validated, so we parked somewhere suitable along the street. We visited around lunchtime, and there were quite a few diners inside; delivery orders kept coming in, too.

There are separate two-person and four-person tables, so it didn't feel awkward to visit as a pair. I also saw people dining alone, so it seems like a place that solo diners come to as well.

How to choose ingredients and a spice level

At Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch, you pick out the ingredients for your malatang yourself. Meat and skewers weren't charged as separate add-ons either; everything was priced by the weight of the ingredients we chose.

There was a wide range of ingredients, from beef and lamb to vegetables, mushrooms, tofu products, and noodles, so we took our time looking around and choosing what we wanted. One of the fun things about malatang is picking your own ingredients, and even while choosing together, my boyfriend and I could subtly see how different our tastes were.

Once we'd filled our bowl, it was time to choose the spice level. We thought a very spicy level might be hard to finish, so we chose level 1, mildly spicy. They said it was about as spicy as Shin Ramyun.

We ordered a few sides in addition to the malatang: egg fried rice, a single serving of lemon cream shrimp, mini garlic guobaorou, and two youtiao (Chinese fried dough sticks).

We normally prefer the regular guobaorou, but since we had come to the restaurant in person, we wanted to eat a little differently from our usual delivery order, so we chose the garlic guobaorou.

A generous spread, even for two

Not long after we ordered, the food started arriving one dish at a time, and there was much more than I'd expected. Since we'd ordered several sides with the malatang, I initially wondered if we'd ordered too much, but the two of us ended up eating almost all of it.

Mild, with a little kick: the malatang

We started with the malatang. The broth was clean-tasting, with a slight spicy kick at the end. At level 1, the characteristic intense sensation of malatang wasn't too strong, so it suited our tastes well.

The ingredients were especially fresh overall, and even with the meat in it, there was no unpleasant odor, which I liked. One bowl of malatang was quite filling on its own.

Egg fried rice that went well with the malatang broth

I thought the egg fried rice would just be a side to have here and there with the malatang, but the serving was quite large. As we ate, my boyfriend and I commented that the egg flavor came through nicely. Eating it with the malatang broth also softened the heat a little, so I was glad we'd ordered it.

Garlic guobaorou and sides I tried for the first time

I usually order regular guobaorou, but that day we ordered garlic guobaorou. It came topped with garlic flakes, so the garlic aroma was quite strong from the very first bite.

The outside was crisp, and the meat wasn't dry, so it was nice to snack on between bites. After the first bite or two, I still preferred the familiar regular guobaorou, but with that garlic aroma added in, the garlic version was good in its own way. We saw other tables order it while we were eating, too, and I thought maybe it is more popular than I'd expected.

The lemon cream shrimp and youtiao were good, too. The shrimp were quite large and plump, with a nice bite, and the lemon cream sauce on them was refreshing. I learned about youtiao for the first time on this visit; dipped in condensed milk, it was nutty and sweet. It was similar to a churro, but more bread-like.

We were so hungry that day that we ordered this and that without thinking much about the price or the amount. Once everything was on the table, though, it was quite a lot for two people. Still, as we worked our way through it, we ended up finishing almost all of it without leaving anything behind.

It's a place we normally enjoy conveniently at home through delivery, but visiting in person on a nice day while on a date with my boyfriend was nice, too.

It was even better because we ordered not only our usual malatang and guobaorou, but also things we'd never tried before, like lemon cream shrimp and youtiao. Next time, I'd like to try the mala xiang guo at the restaurant, too.