Sorimmara, a new restaurant in Seoul Plaza on Markham Street in Annandale, offers something different: mala, a spice with a numbing taste on the tongue used in soup and stir fry dishes. Mala comes from China but is popular in Korea, which has some 200 Sorimmara restaurants. The Sorimmara restaurant in Annandale is the fourth in the United States and the first in Virginia. Diners can select from dozens of ingredients on display (fish cakes, mushrooms, noodles, vegetables, and many more) and spice level (mild to inferno) to create a hot pot (malatang) or dry pot (mala xiang guo). Sorimmara also offer guobaorou (deep fried pork, shrimp, or other ingredient), fried rice, rice balls, and tteokokki (spicy rice cakes).