Vegetarian malatang restaurant – fresh noodle soup where you pick your own ingredients. Almost all ingredients are vegan.
Sichuan pepper
Common in China, malatang is a streetfood consisting of a spicy broth to which ingredients of your own choice are added. Traditionally the broth has Sichuan pepper and dried chili peppers as key ingredients.
When Guus Rodermans was studying in China (ended up there while travelling in Asia) he used to eat malatang several times a week. During the harsh covid lockdown in China he returned to the Netherlands, but was missing the food in China a lot. That’s when he started dreaming of opening up a malatang restaurant in Amsterdam. He had an outdoor sports company at the time, but believed he could make a bigger impact on one’s mental and physical health as well as the environment, with a healthy and cosy food location!
And so with the support of his partner Dana and cousin Niek they started out to make it happen. Though in China most malatang places offer meat as well, they chose for a vegetarian concept. Mogu Malatang opened in May 2023. And the name? Mogu is Chinese for mushroom, in Japanese it’s the word for the sounds one makes while eating!
Mushroom paradise
The concept is pretty straightforward. You take a bowl and fill it with ingredients of your choice from the open fridge, more than 40 in total! Except some eggs everything else is vegan. Lots of mushrooms (beech mushroom, king oyster, woodear, enoki and more), vegetables, tofu, tempeh, seaweed and noodles.
You hand over the bowl at the counter (it’s pay per weight) and pick the type of soup base you wish. Classic Sichuan, Thai style Tom Kha (with coconutmilk, galangal, lemongrass etc.) or Japanese style miso broth (red miso and black garlic oil). They boil everything together for you in a pot and pretty soon you are handed a bowl of steaming hot soup! Finish it with the toppings of your choice (e.g. fresh ginger, tahini, crispy chili oil etc.).
Cool fact: for mise en place they prepare the broths in giant 100 litre pots! Simmering for a full day.
They also have a few side dishes on the menu like spicy cucumber salad, wakame seaweed salad or edamame beans. For dessert the vegan option is a selection of mochi balls.
On the drinks menu besides beers, wines, coffee also natural sakes and herbal teas.
Bos en Lommer
Seating inside and some tables on the pavement outside. Mogu Malatang is located at Bos en Lommer, same spot where former vegan restaurant Loving Hut used to be! Tram 19 stops nearby.
Reservation just for groups of 4 and more, for smaller groups only walk-ins. During peak hour you might have to wait a little bit for a table as the restaurant is not very big, but service is fast.
In other countries malatang restaurants are getting increasingly popular. So far Mogu is the only malatang restaurant in the Netherlands!
