MáLà Project
Chinese restaurant · East Village
122 1st Ave, New York, NY 10009
Highlights
Build-your-own Chinese dry pot with dozens of ingredients.
Build-your-own Chinese dry pot with dozens of ingredients.
"There’s plenty of great Szechuan food in the East Village. But Málà Project’s spicy dry pot specialties make it the most remarkable Szechuan dining experience in the neighborhood. One night, you could have a great dinner consisting of bacon fried rice and a dry pot with broth-filled beef balls, bok choy, and lotus root. And you could go back the following week for a dry pot full of tofu skin, frog, and four different kinds of mushrooms. No matter how many times you eat here, it always feels exciting." - will hartman, bryan kim, willa moore, kenny yang, neha talreja
"This beloved Sichuan haunt now counts multiple locations across the city, but everything started at the East Village original. The winding, cavernous setting includes a communal table, exposed brick, and low ceilings. Dinner could go in any numbers of directions. Some opt for the dry pot in which diners customize their ingredients—meat, seafood, vegetables, rice—and degree of spiciness. The possibilities here are nearly infinite. Those who aren’t up for making so many decisions swing for Sichuan classics. Recent highlights include the cold husband and wife appetizer (braised beef and tripe), warm dan dan noodles, and a particularly elegant white fish with pickled vegetables. Nothing is an intense barn-burner in terms of spiciness." - Michelin Inspector
"The casual restaurant specializes in spicy dry pot, which you can customize with your choice of vegetables, meats, noodles, and spice level. You could eat here three times in the same week, with three very different people, without ever feeling like you’ve done it all before. Málà Project opened their first location in the East Village in 2015, and have since opened three more restaurants. At the original, long, brick-walled space, you’ll see a lot of dates splitting bottles of wine and chatting over Chinese music from the ’80s." - neha talreja, hannah albertine, diana kuan, molly fitzpatrick
"Even if you already have plans, you can still pick up a four-pack of to-go cocktails from the new Cocktail Bodega at this fantastic Chinese dry-pot restaurant in the East Village. The program is only running from Friday, May 28th to Monday, 31st." - hannah albertine
"MáLà Project is one of our favorite restaurants, regardless of whether there’s an official holiday or simply a celebration in your mind. If you’re near their East Village or Bryant Park locations, know that they’re serving Lunar New Year specials for takeout, delivery, or heated outdoor dining on February 11th and 12th. Expect everything from a fried ham hock, shrimp dumplings, and crispy fish to bring you an auspicious start to the year." - hannah albertine
