First saw this concept in China, where you can choose your toppings and they boil it in soup for you. The toppings are measured by weight and if you're not careful, it can really add up! The broth I had was not very flavorful, maybe because they usually use spicy numbing soup for everyone. The toppings were the same that you would expect from hot-pot restaurants and were not that exciting. Some vegetables looked dry, as if they had been out for quite a while.
I woke up with a mad craving for mala xiang guo the other day so i looked up places in my area not expecting much and without high standards. happy to say i was in for something way better than my expectations. they had tables with tons of options to choose from. i got some sausages, beef balls, imitation crab meat, tofu skin, rice cakes, veggies, and i was overjoyed to see that they also had glass noodles!! those are my favourite noodles to go with this dish, highly recommend! i got the regular spice and regular numbing option. i waited a couple minutes for them to cook up my order and off i went. let me just say the flavour was impeccable. the spice level was perfect, as i can tolerate high spice levels but i wanted to still taste the food and didn't know what their spice was like. the lady working was so nice and the food was super delicious!! i would definitely be a continuous repeat customer here, as i'm writing this review 4 days later, i am still drooling thinking about it!