Places to eat in Mongolia

The 3rd offering of Mongolia's Triple M cuisine... the traditional MEAT pastries or dumplings readily available from most restaurants and stalls. The other two 'M's are as explained above : Mutton and Milk.

The pastries or dumplings are likely to contain mutton wrapped in a dough. They are then either steamed (called BUUZ) or fried (called KHOORSHOOR).

Down them with some horse milk!

If you're getting tired of the mutton, soup and dumplings as is typical of Mongolian fare, then head into Fairfield where western food is on the menu. Owned by a couple of British expats this small place can supply you with the hamburger you are craving, or perhaps its some lasagna that will hit the spot. Extremely cheap and quite good. Was disappointed that the only ketchup was one with chili peppers though, my palate is too mild for hot ketchup.
The Lonely Planet and Brandt Travel Guide recommend this place though both called it Fairview. The sign looked like Fairfield to me.
Open from 10-3 Monday to Saturday.
If you read "Long Way Round" by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, you'll find that they ended up at this same restaurant on their journey.

Favorite Dish: I had the hamburger and chips. I already mentioned the ketchup but when you've been eating mutton and aren't a fan of it even a dry hamburger is ambrosia.

I came here twice as I found it to be very good. They actually have two places within a few minutes of each other. The first is on Peace Ave opposite the Russian Embassy while the second is on the road running up the side of the State Department Store known as West Selbe Street. The food is really good. They do grilled meats as well as other dishes but they obviously do pizzas.

This wonderful cafe, run by a Belgian guy, is just down Peace Ave from the State Department Store and is full of lovely western food and snacks. The menu includes some great breakfasts which, even thought I didn't have one, look great from their photos. The menu also includes other western dishes such as salads, soups, sandwiches, burgers etc. They also serve traditional Mongolian food such as Buuz, Khuushuur and Goulash. There's also a selection of cakes and pastries in the fridge by the entrance. There's a definite backpacking/ex-pat vibe going on in here and the guy who runs this place has a definite winner on his hands.

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This is the first American chain restaurant to open a franchise in Mongolia - ironically, it's not American cuisine but Mongolian barbeque. What you do is fill your plate or plates with raw food such as meats, vegetables and sauces etc and then take them to be cooked by a few guys standing around a huge circular hot plate. They will then take your plate/s and cook the food in front of you as well as everyone else standing there waiting for theirs to be cooked. It's all pure entertainment and the food is cooked OK but then the ingredients can be a bit dodgy as they're chosen by you!

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This restaurant lies in the southern suburbs of Ulaanbaatar on the south side of the railway line. We came here for lunch after arriving back from the Gobi Desert on our 10-day long Mongolian tour so it only seemed fair to take in more Gobi cuisine. I had a "Gobi Grill" which featured a camel steak, vegetables and barbeque sauce. Starters consist of about 6 salads, Unagaldai horse meat snack and soups. Main dishes included a "Nomad" - beef rib, potato, carrot and turnip cooked in a clay pot; beef tenderloin steak, "Taste of steppe" - beef on a hot plate with steamed dumplings; fried pork, buuz and Khuushuur. The camel was excellent, tasty and very lean.

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The traditional Mongolian Cuisine primarily consists of dairy products and meat. The nomads of Mongolia sustain their lives directly from the products of their animals (horses, cattle, yaks, camels, sheep, and goats). Cooking in the ger normally happens in a wok on a small stove using wood or dried animal dung (argal) as heating material.

Two of the most popular foods that I ate in Mongolia were buuz and khuushuur. Buuz are dumplings filled with meat, usually mutton, which are then steam cooked. Khuushuur is a kind of meat pastry where the meat is placed inside the dough creating a flat half-circular pocket shape. After making the pockets, the cook fries them in oil until the dough turns a golden brown. The khuushuur is then served hot, and can be eaten by hand.

Milk products are produced in great quantities. Aaruul is made from mare's milk and is then dried into a hard curd in the sunlight on top of the ger. It's extremely sour and bitter and certainly wasn't to my liking. My guide, however, loved them and took with her a bag of them after we visited a family, one time. Also made from mare's milk is airag, which is fermented and slightly alcoholic. The everyday beverage is salted milk tea known as suutei Tsai which you'll probably be offered if you visit a nomadic family. To drink with your tea are Mongolian cookies called boortsog.

Nomadic herding lifestyle has been part of Mongolians life for thousand of years because of this Mongolians are closely intertwined with the natural environment and the life is more dependent on their livestocks. The food and beverages are very heavy and strong, also because of the extremely weather and harsh winter. The main diet is Meat( mutton, goat, beef , horse and camel) flour, rice and very less vegetable ( potatoes, onion and cabbage) and milk products for sure
Mongolians have various way of cooking meat and producing milk, main method of cooking meat is boiling and steaming. Buuz a kind of dumpling is one of the traditional food in Mongolia cooked by steaming, it’s normally cooked in especial occasions like Tsagaan Sar and more respected visitors.
Khuushuur (Fried meat pie) , Tsuivan ( thick noodles with meat and vegetables) and many kinds of soups especially drunk in winter to keep them warm.
Boodog and Horhog is made in only special time and marmot or
goat and mutton is cut into small pieces and cooked in an animal skin and slowly roasted from the inside out by placing the hot rocks inside when eating Boodog Mongolians pass the hot rocks from hand to hand which said good for health. Very delicious food and after that supposed to drink only cold water or airag.
In Mongolia we say “give your breakfast to yourself and share your lunch with your friend and offer your dinner to your enemy” So from here you can see how important the breakfast is for Mongolians Eventough the dinner is still the biggest part for day If you’re invited to Mongolians for dinner please try everything you are offered at least sip or nibble remember that Mongolians are very hospitality people and they offer whatever they have if you don’t try anything you could make them upset.

Favorite Dish: So It’s impossible to imagine Mongolia without salty milk tea Suutei tsai added small quantity of tea leaves. Elder people like to add some butter and even some dried meat Borts to make it more tasteful. It’s very nourishing most of the time accompanied with fried home made cookie Boortsog .
Mongolians never put milk into the river. in a countryside milk plays the main role of the dairy product called Tsagaan Idee, producing milk into Clotted cream (urum), yogurt (tarag) , cheese (Byaslag) ,dried curd (aaruul), cream ( zookhii) takes whole day work after one by one. Milk product are very healthy and good for teeth you will admire people are how strong and healthy in Mongolia
Do you believe if I say Mongolian kids start drinking alcohol Airag when they are only three four years old .Airag is one of the Mongolian traditional beverages which is fermented mare milk generally made from end of June to end of September. Traditionally it kept in a bag made of cow’s skin but also can be kept in huge plastic container. The fall is the best time to try Airag when it gets strongest and usually in this time Mongolians celebrate wedding .Don’t be shocked if you are offered huge cup of airag and you should drink three cups of that and probably have opportunity to play traditional game “Dembe”. This game for two person, each side trying to guess right sum of fingers, which both shows to each other. Loser have to drink a bowl of airag. It can continue many hours until one of sides will say “enough”.
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