A new build-your-own hot pot spot opened its doors in Frisco on Wednesday, bringing customizable Chinese malatang to a shopping center off Prestmont Place. The restaurant lets diners pick their own proteins, vegetables and broth before each bowl is weighed and cooked to order, a format that has built a following across Asia and is now spreading through North Texas.
The new restaurant, located at 9144 Prestmont Place, Suite 210, marks the brand’s second Texas restaurant, according to Community Impact, which reported that YGF Malatang opened its newest location in Frisco. The outlet identified the Frisco shop as the brand’s second location in the state, joining an existing presence elsewhere in Texas.
How the Build-Your-Own Bowls Work
YGF Malatang serves customizable Chinese malatang, a hot pot-style dish in which customers choose their own ingredients, per the Community Impact report. Diners select from meats, seafood, vegetables, tofu and noodles to build a bowl, then pick a broth before the kitchen cooks everything to order. Available broths include spicy Sichuan mala, beef bone and tomato, the station’s report noted, and every bowl is priced by weight rather than a fixed menu price.
That weight-based pricing model traces back to the brand’s origins. According to YGF Malatang’s company website, the chain was founded in 2003 in Harbin, China, and began as a humble street-side stall before growing into a much larger operation. The company credits founder Yang Guofu with pioneering the weight-based malatang model using his own base broth recipe, and describes malatang itself, whose name translates to numbing-spicy soup, as a culinary experience centered on choice, freshness and flavor.
A Global Chain With Conflicting Numbers
YGF Malatang’s reach extends well beyond Frisco, though the company’s own materials don’t entirely agree on how far. Community Impact reported that, according to the company website, YGF Malatang operates more than 6,000 locations across 28 countries. The company’s about-us page, however, states separately that it has more than 200 international stores worldwide, a discrepancy the dossier does not resolve…