Pixiu Mala Hongtang

Choosing a meal at Buena Park’s substantially Korean dining and entertainment center The Source just became more challenging – thankfully for a good reason. Popular South Korean chain Pixiu Mala Hongtang recently opened its first Orange County outpost here, and it’s already making a very strong first impression.

Combining the names of a Chinese mythological creature symbolizing prosperity, and numbingly spicy Sichuan malatang hot pots, Pixiu Mala Hongtang says it invented “the first Korean-style malatang,” using authentic Chinese spices to create “a recipe that everyone can enjoy.” Guests typically begin meals here by choosing beef, lamb, seafood, vegetables, noodles, and/or tofu from a four-sided, temperature-controlled salad bar with over 55 options, placing their preferred ingredients into a metal bowl. A much smaller sauce bar with two handfuls of spices, seeds, oils, and sauces lets you craft dips, which we prepared but ultimately found unnecessary for the entrees we ordered.

Once you’ve assembled your metal bowl, you bring it to the front counter, where it’s weighed and priced at either $17 per pound for a malatang soup preparation or $19 for a mala stir-fry. Cheese topping can be added if you wish for an additional $3. There’s no all-you-can-eat option here, which might discourage some people, but made our right-sized meal very affordable; guests get unlimited water and a glass of sweet peach tea for free.

Unlike shabu shabu restaurants, Pixiu handles the cooking in the kitchen, preparing all of your ingredients together with your preferred level of spice. While the soup can be ordered with anywhere from zero spice – a peanut and sesame-flavored mushroom broth – to a “danger hot” level four, the stir-fry is always spicy, with only level one to three (“extra hot”) options. Pixiu’s most popular option is level one, “medium hot,” which includes peanuts, sliced dried red peppers, and just enough spice to taste delicious without being particularly numbing.

We absolutely loved the medium hot and level three hot mala stir-fries we ordered across two separate visits. From plump scored squid to lotus root slices, rice noodles, and clumps of white wood ear mushrooms, each stir-fry’s ingredients truly came alive thanks to Sichuan peppers, judicious salt, peanuts, and other seasonings, making us wish we’d loaded more ingredients into our just over one-pound bowl.