Readers who have been following popular food trends will no doubt have heard of the increasingly popular Chinese food of the moment, malatang (literally spicy soup). With quite a few stores serving it now, I was keen to get a second taste following my intriguing experience at Chongqing street food several weeks ago. Luckily for me, the Tomcat family and I were invited by Narati Noodle and Grill to try out their malatang and other foods.
Being situated in the ever popular Sunnybank Plaza, the place was near full when we attended on Friday night.
The menu was one of the shortest I've seen. Other than malatang, it had a selection of noodles and grilled meats. But of course we were there for main attraction, malatang.
Step by step process is as follows: Step 1: Get a bowl from the side table.
Step 2: select meat, vegetables and noodles accordingly.
Step 3: Take it to the counter for weighing and payment.
Step 4: design your own sauce, and go back to your table to wait.
Our food came quite quickly. First off was Mrs Tomcats favourite lamb soup with noodles and Turkish bread. Being big fans of garlic, she and I both agreed to add copious amounts to the bowl. The broth was light and tasty with strong lamb flavours, thankfully without the gamey taste. The noodles were very tender but had a bit of bite to it, whist the bread was tasty but could have been better if toasted.
Our main even arrived after that lamb soup, to much fanfare and admiration. Our malatang, came non spicy with copious amounts of garlic, spring onion and some extra prawns. To be honest, dear reader, I was a little concerned at some of the elements being overcooked or undercooked as I didn't have the benefit of being able to control the boiling myself (OCD right there). However I was pleasantly surprised by the result. Meats were cooked well, prawns weren't overdone and noodles were tender. The soup was also quite delicious with the lack of spice not detracting from my experience at all.
Our next noodle dish was the XO sauce stir fried beef noodles. Even for a main, I was surprised and impressed at the quantity, but thought there could have been more beef. Again the noodles were very tender and the dish very flavoursome, albeit a bit on the salty side.
Next to come were chicken skewers, which came in a serve of three. These were heavily peppered and came with considerable spice, which I quite enjoyed. The meat wasn't overdone, and clung to the skewer quite a bit. I also really enjoyed the marinade which had infused deep into the meat.
In addition to chicken, we had a serve of spicy and non spicy lamb. Like the soup, I was very impressed at the strong lamb taste which again wasn't too gamey. Whilst I do prefer my lamb like my beef, rare, the texture was still quite good despite it being well done, making it a nice way to round off a very satisfying meal.
Espresso and Matcha were invited guests of Narati Noodle and Grill, but our opinions, as always are our own.
Price Range: $10 - $30pp
Taste: 8/10
Value: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 7/10
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