🥘Mala Boom
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🥘Mala Boom
Weekly Playlist #34: cozy winter asmr, study with me at a cafe, piano music, coffee sounds, and more.
Long time no see.
It’s been more than a month since I sent the last issue, but fear not: Coffeehouse is back on track, stronger than ever, with exciting projects on the horizon. Thank you for your patience and loyalty to Coffeehouse — it really motivates me to keep going.
Mala Xiang Guo
Last week, I tried the most interesting restaurant: Mala Boom, located in the Folie-Méricourt borough of Paris. It’s a small, one-of-a-kind place that serves mala xiang guo, a traditional Chinese dish.
The concept is simple: mala xiang guo is 100% customizable, except for the bean-based sauce and spice mix (an impressive number of spices goes in this dish!). You can choose as many ingredients as you like (lotus roots, sweet potato noodles, black mushrooms, etc.). Then, they bring you a large plate of mala xiang guo for the table to share.
The waitress asked how much chilli pepper we wanted, on a scale of 0 to 5. Disclaimer: people answering “5” get their picture taken and put on the wall — it’s that intense. We asked for “level 2,” and it was already hard to tolerate. The dish was excellent — savory and full of surprises — but damn, my whole body was on fire. Thank God I did not listen to my friend, who wanted to have his pic hung on the restaurant’s wall. I wouldn’t live to tell the story.
Weekly Playlist
In this cozy playlist, you’ll find some cooking asmr (a delicious pie coming your way!), recorded study-with-me sessions at a café, energizing Starbucks asmr, and piano music to soothe your mind. Stay warm!
Interesting Links
3 things about friendships that change as you get older — Fast Company
No, Remote Employees Aren’t Becoming Less Engaged — Harvard Business Review
How to Cook Mala Xiang Guo — The Wok Life