Flavors around the world #4: Mongolia
What comes to mind when you hear the word Mongolia? Aside from its capital, Ulaanbaatar [Ulan Bator], and our very own Mr. Shooli, I can only think of one other thing: Mongolian barbecue! It’s one of my favorite pig-out foods. A hodge-podge of rice, noodles, meats, vegetables flavored with your choice of sauce, it simplifies the cooking process of something that involves a lot of ingredients. Unlike the usual barbecue, which we know to be grilled, the Mongolian barbecue is stir-fried. What I love most about this food is that I get to choose what goes into my bowl–that means, no bell peppers, no onions, no pineapples, etc.
So where do I go for a Mongolian barbecue fix? Well, first, there’s Mongolian Quick-Stop in SM City Sucat (where I do my monthly grocery-shopping). For only P105+ (single bowl), I also get a small serving of the soup of the day.
For the uninitiated, here’s how it works:
[1] Fill your bowl with all the rice, noodles, and vegetables that you like (I particularly like the flat miki noodles, vermicelli or glass noodles, bean sprouts, carrots, young corn, plus the fried tofu cubes).
[2] The counterperson will put the chunks of meat that you choose (I usually tell that person to add everything in–beef, pork, chicken, squid, fishballs and squidballs).
[3] Specify the type of sauce/flavoring that you prefer (could be sweet and spicy, regular, spicy or sweet).
[4] Get a number and wait for your bowl to be served to you hot and ready to enjoy.
I recently discovered this restaurant called Kublai’s Rock at the Paseo de Magallanes in Makati. The place is small but nice and modern. It serves a mean Mongolian barbecue (P279/person) with added ingredients like mussels, whole corn kernels, mushrooms, and a whole lot more. That also comes with a free bowl of soup (it was cream of potato that day). Mmmm…the Mongolian barbecue is really, really good! A complete and very filling meal, it’s something that we ought to thank the Mongols for.
