Suwon mala xiang guo reunion lunch in Cheoncheon-dong: Rahongbang

Meeting a friend after three years over malatang in Cheoncheon-dong, Suwon

Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch is a malatang (spicy Chinese hot pot noodle soup) and mala xiang guo (dry-fried spicy stir-fry) spot on the first floor of Sehwa Plaza in Cheoncheon-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon, and that day I had mala xiang guo here with a friend I hadn't seen in three years, over a weekday lunch. Raising a kid makes it surprisingly hard to even schedule a get-together with friends. We kept putting it off, both using "busy" as an excuse, until finally, after a whopping three years, we met up.

My friend made the trip all the way to Suwon on her precious free time to see me, so I figured this was the day to let her pick whatever she wanted to eat.

When I said "let's eat whatever you feel like today," mala came to mind right away, and so we went looking for a Cheoncheon-dong malatang restaurant and headed to Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch.

Where to park at Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch

Parking for Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch is available on floors 3 through 6 of the Sehwa Plaza building, where the restaurant itself is located. If you're driving, you can use the 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th floor parking areas.

The parking rate sign showed ₩1,000 for the first 20 minutes, ₩1,000 for every additional 20 minutes, and ₩15,000 for all-day parking.

The store's reservation notice also mentioned free street parking nearby from 11am to 2pm.

Weekday lunch atmosphere at Rahongbang: plenty of solo diners

During weekday lunch hours, Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch had quite a lot of diners in. Several people were eating solo, too.

I visited on a weekday lunch hour and was honestly a bit surprised walking in — even though it wasn't the weekend, there were quite a lot of people eating. Several were dining alone. My friend and I sat down and joked, "With this many customers, why would they even need a sponsored campaign?" That's how steady the lunch crowd looked during our visit.

The review event notice on the table

On the table, there was also a Naver review event running. You could join simply by leaving a review after your meal, which seemed like an easy thing to do after eating.

Picking ingredients: this Rahongbang branch has more choices

Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch had a noticeably wider variety of ingredients you can pick and load yourself compared to any malatang place I've been to so far.

I've been to other Rahongbang branches before, and this was the first time I realized that even under the same brand name, the number of ingredients on offer differs from branch to branch.

You pick ingredients with tongs into a basket, then choose your spice level at the counter, with the option to add beef or lamb depending on your preference.

There's a kiosk set up for ordering.

Peanut sauce and pickled radish were also available at a self-serve corner, so you could take just as much as you wanted.

What we ordered and what it cost: 180g mala xiang guo and small lemon cream shrimp

What we picked that day was mala xiang guo and lemon cream shrimp.

• Mala xiang guo 180g — ₩27,100
• Lemon cream shrimp (small) — ₩14,900

Mala xiang guo is priced according to what ingredients and how much weight you load, so please take our total as more of a reference than a fixed price.

What does spice level 1 mala xiang guo taste like?

Level 1 mala xiang guo at Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch leaned more toward a mild, lingering mala aroma than an aggressive burn.

My friend likes mala flavors but can't handle spicy food well, so we ordered the mala xiang guo at level 1.

Level 1 was good for tasting the gently spreading mala aroma as you ate, rather than a sharp, punishing spice.

There were so many ingredients you could load in that my friend laughed and said even picking just one of each, she couldn't finish it all.

Lemon cream shrimp as a break between spicy bites

We also ordered a small lemon cream shrimp for ₩14,900 to have a bite of, in between the spicy stuff. As you can see in the photo—

—the shrimp came topped generously with cream sauce and sliced almonds.

The coating was made with glutinous rice batter, giving it a chewier texture than a typical crispy batter. Rather than just heavy sweetness from the cream sauce, the lemon's brightness came through too, and the balance was better than I expected. Eating the lemon cream shrimp in between bites of mala xiang guo, the sweet-and-savory combo worked really well.

Is Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch worth a visit?

For anyone looking for a Cheoncheon-dong malatang restaurant, what stuck with me about Rahongbang Malatang was how much wider the ingredient selection was compared to other branches, and how surprisingly varied the ingredient lineup was. I saw several solo diners too, so it also looks like a good spot to visit alone whenever you're craving malatang or mala xiang guo.

A level 1 mala xiang guo loaded with the ingredients we liked, plus a sweet and tangy lemon cream shrimp — that was our lunch at Rahongbang Malatang Suwon Cheoncheon Branch.