We study the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) with the quadratic nonlinearity |u| 2 , posed on the two-dimensional torus T 2 . While the relevant L 3 -Strichartz estimate is known only with a derivative loss, we prove local well-posedness of the quadratic NLS in L 2 (T 2 ), thus resolving an open problem of thirty years since Bourgain (1993). In view of ill-posedness in negative Sobolev spaces, this result is sharp. We establish a crucial bilinear estimate by separately studying the non-resonant and nearly resonant cases. As a corollary, we obtain a tri-linear version of the L 3 -Strichartz estimate without any derivative loss.2020 Mathematics Subject Classification. 35Q55.