Ingredient notes for malatang
Find the bowl that's yours.
Pick 10 from 99 ingredients. Tag each one ◎ △ ×, and the next bowl is already decided.
No account. Everything stays on your phone.
- ◎Add again
- △Maybe
- ×Skip next time
10 ingredients
Tap to add ↓
After you eat, tag what you had.
That is the whole record. Next time you are standing at the counter, opening the app brings your last verdict straight back.
- Napa cabbage
- Bok choy
- Enoki mushroom
- Wood ear mushroom
- Fried tofu puff
- Bean curd stick
- Lamb
- Quail egg
- Sweet potato glass noodles
- Wide glass noodles
That is it. The record is done.
Last bowl
◎ Add again
Nothing yet. Tag something ◎ and it shows up here.
× Skip next time
Nothing yet.
Two or three seconds from opening the app. Order the next bowl straight off this screen.
We drew all 99.
Bean curd sticks, wood ear, wide glass noodles. So you can pick by sight, not by name.
Your bowl10/ 99 ingredients
Vegetables38
Mushrooms11
Tofu & bean curd6
Meat5
Seafood6
Balls & processed15
Noodles11
Other7
Straight talk, up front.
So nothing catches you out later, here is the money and the data, before anything else.
Free, with everything.
Save as many bowl records as you like and choose up to 30 ingredients per bowl. All 99 standard ingredients, five languages, and sharing are free. Buying removes ads; it does not unlock features.
One purchase removes the ads.
Not a subscription. Pay once and the ads are gone for good. Buying it adds no features — only quiet. Around ¥300 in Japan; your local App Store price applies elsewhere.
Here is where ads appear.
Home and History may each show one banner. The ingredient list and record picker may each show one native ad. Neither covers content or controls.
Never shown while you are:
Your records stay on your phone.
No account is created. Nothing is sent to a server. It works on a plane, underground, anywhere with no signal.
Questions
Do I need an account?
No. Install it, open it, and you are already using it. No email address, no password.
Where are my records kept?
Only on your iPhone. Nothing goes to a server, and there is no account or cloud sync.
Can I move my records to a new phone?
Not in this version. Keeping everything on-device means there is no cloud sync to carry it over. That is an honest weakness, and it is on the list.
How many ads are there?
Home and History may each show one banner. The ingredient list and picker may each show at most one native ad, after the first eight ingredients on All or the selected ingredient category, never during search or filtering. There are no full-screen, app-open, or rewarded ads, and rating, record details, and sharing remain ad-free. Banners may include video; native ads use static images only. No ads appear before your first saved bowl. One purchase removes both formats.
Which languages are supported?
English, 日本語, 한국어, 简体中文 and 繁體中文. All 99 ingredient names are translated too.
Are there restaurants, or photo recognition?
None of them. No restaurant database, no social feed, no recognising ingredients from photos. The app does one thing: what to put in next time.
Where can I get it?
MalaPick is available on the App Store. Use the download button at the bottom of this page.
Why I built this
I eat malatang about once a month. Ten or so ingredients each time, and every time I stand at the counter thinking the same thing: did I have this last time? Wasn't one of these a mistake?
I never remember the names. I do remember what they look like. But by the next visit the verdict is gone, and I repeat the same mistake. Photos and notes did not help — I never actually opened them at the counter.
So: pick by picture instead of by name, tag it ◎ △ ×, done. I wanted that for myself, so I made it. All 99 ingredients are drawn one by one for the same reason — you should recognise the real thing the moment you see it.