Chapter 5 : Pleasures of the Unknown

Pleasures of the Unknown

Ever since I moved to Canada (Day 48 today), I have been experimenting with new (for me) delicacies and food outlets serving varied cuisines from across the world. It's been an absolute pleasure doing so, even though I miss Hyderabadi food sometimes. But none of my recent foodventures compares to what I had today and that's why I decided to write after a brief hiatus (of laziness).

This is it, the unknown.

Had a good session of basketball at the community centre nearby in the afternoon and then walked towards an Indian store nearby to buy some things for my biryani plans for tomorrow. The only meal I had for the day was two chocolate waffles, a banana, and an oreo around 11 or so - I was very hungry after the game.

As I reached the area of the Indian store and looked around, I couldn't spot any fast food outlet except for a KFC which I definitely didn't wanna go to. What's left were some Chinese, Thai, Korean, Afghani, and Indian restaurants. I quickly ruled out Indian and Afghani and decided to try my luck at a Chinese joint which was nearby. There wasn't even a board in English, so I really didn't know what I was getting into or what food they served.

A quick glance at the only two customers at the place and I knew that it was some kind of soup that they offered. It was hard understanding the thick Chinese-English accent of the guy at the counter but I understood that I had to pick whatever I wished from the counters nearby and they'll make a soup for me with it, according to my spice level preferences.

Interior

I honestly didn't know (even now I don't) half the things that I was picking. At least in the meat section they had some labels, so I know I picked a lobster ball, some sausage, some clam meat, mushrooms, lettuce, some kind of noodles and that's about it - rest were unknown to me. The guy at the counter weighed the assortment and it came up to 242 grams. "That is 6 dollars. You want spicy?" he asked. I said yes and paid the money.

Selection section 1

Selection section 2

In about 5 minutes, a large bowl of hot soup arrived in front of me. By the looks of it itself I was sure that my decision wasn't wrong. Have a closer look for yourselves once more.

Malatang, it was a pleasure to meet you.

The hot soup was perfect for the cold weather outside (-1 degree Celsius at the time) and generously spicy (after a while I started making the "sss" "sssssss" noices). But the soup tasted great. The noodles I had picked turned out to be glass noodles. The lobster ball, clams, veggies, all tasted great. I should have picked something else instead of the sausage though. Maybe next time. It took me a little over half hour to finish the whole thing. Filled me up for the day. Had to have a Kit Kat later to balance the spicy feel in my mouth.

It is for the first time that I came to know even the name of the dish and the restaurant after I had finished the meal. The English name for the restaurant was 'Spice and Aroma' and the dish I had was 'Malatang', a Sichuan street food which became famous in Beijing and rest of North China in 2010s. People basically pick what they want from a huge array of items and they are cooked in a spicy broth for about 5 minutes and seasoned with garlic, black pepper, Sichuan pepper and sesame paste (info I gathered later from google).

Loved this exploration of the totally unknown. Looking forward to more foodventures. Adios.