I tried a new Glasgow restaurant where food is priced by weight

The Herald Scotland

3 days ago

A young couple toddles down the cobbles of Ashton Lane for what is likely a first or second date, nervously exchanging small talk while digging through their pockets in search of student discount cards to flash at the till.
Before reaching the counter, they're distracted by the multi-coloured world of the pick and mix station and soon find themselves bonding over a shared love for gummy snakes as they shovel scoop after scoop of processed sugar in different shapes and sizes into their bag.
That's all fine and well. Heartwarming, even, to think of them sharing a mix of all of their favourite sweets while the crashes and bangs of the latest Marvel blockbuster push our ageing speakers to their limits.
The problem is, in my time here, I've weighed up hundreds of these sneaky, priced-by-KG parcels and know long before this one settles onto the scales that it's going to be costly.
Cue a cold sweat as whoever's paying realises they now have to part with a tenner's worth of SAAS loan to save face in front of a new potential love interest.
Pictured: Zhangliang Malatang on Sauchiehall Street (Image: Newsquest) I'm having intense flashbacks to these awkward exchanges after picking up a pair of tong and what looks like a large plastic mixing bowl at Sauchiehall Street's latest chain restaurant.
Opened this summer, Zhangliang Malatang is a build-your-own soup spot where diners take charge, choosing from an impressive selection of noodles, veggies and proteins before handing the whole lot over at the till to be cooked in a broth of your choice.
Whether you play it safe with chicken breast, mushrooms and leafy greens or get adventurous with bull frog, ducks' blood and fungus is up to you, and there can be as much or as little of each component as you desire. Like a savoury, grown-up version of a pic and mix.
Just the same as with those jelly babies and liquorice wheels at the cinema, however, the trick here is to avoid getting carried away or face a nasty shock when your ingredients are priced up by weight at £2.95 per 100g before being whisked into the kitchen.
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Although this place has just arrived on Sauchiehall Street, it is not a new concept.
If you're a keen TikTok user, you might be aware of a trend in which diners make a game out of guessing at the final cost of their dishes before receiving their bill at similar hotpot restaurants.
This usually ends with each of the shocked participants paying at least a couple of quid over what they anticipated.
Last week, a Herald colleague faced the same fate, underestimating the weight of his ingredients at Zhangliang Malatang and swiftly texting me a photo of his soup to debate whether the £17 price tag was fair.
I bear that in mind while picking out a mix of tofu, enoki mushrooms and rice noodles that will form the base of my lunch, wondering if this concoction will match his total.
Putting concerns over the end cost aside, the freedom of choice here is a lot of fun. I pinch at a generous bunch of coriander that would turn any herb-hater's stomach without a second thought, knowing that this meal has to please no one other than myself.
The staff are also extremely helpful, walking customers through how to navigate each step of the process from first picking up a bowl to hitting up a sauce station where they can create a dip with sesame oils, peanut pastes or chopped spring onions at no extra cost.
At the till, I hand over my final choices and request a spicy Tom Yam soup to top it all off before waiting for the grand total.
All in? It's a total of £12.75 with £10.25 for the weighted ingredients and £2.50 for the broth.
Pictured: My finished creation of fried tofu, mushrooms and vermicelli noodles (Image: Newsquest)
A competitive streak means I'm thrilled to have beaten my co-worker's bill, but I would be lying if I said I had held back all that much to achieve this.
When a deep orange bowl arrives at the table, there's a decent portion there, and though the broth is scalding hot, it contains a brilliant hodgepodge of some of my favourite foods like springy fried bean curd and thin vermicelli noodles.
Summer might be the wrong time to indulge in piping hot soup, but I can see myself returning here when the Autumn chill begins to bite in Glasgow.
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A wee bit of digging back at the office later reveals that Zhangliang Malatang originated in London and now operates somewhere close to 6000 stores across the globe.
A mega-chain though it may be, something in the self-service set-up and range of fresh ingredients helps to inject a sense of novelty into the experience and sets it apart from other big names in the area.
And truthfully, in the current climate, any fresh sign of life on Sauchiehall Street is encouraging.
Be mindful of your measurements, and this new addition to the city centre will surely rival the fun factor of any sugary pick and mix you might have had before.
Zhangliang Malatang is located at 258 Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.