Mongolian BBQ
A long time ago I went to the Mongolian BBQ over by Fred Meyers and was disappointed that it wasn’t “all you can eat” like other Mongolian BBQs I have been to. So it has been a long time since I have been back and now I sort of regret it. I like this place.
For those that don’t know, Mongolian BBQ features “create your own stir-fry” using a variety of meats, vegetables, and sauces. You start off with the size of bowl you want, pack it with the ingredients you want, finish it off with ladles of sauces and hand it to the grill guy.
He’ll throw it on the massive flat stove as seen here:
I guess this style started with Mongolian warriors cooking food on this inside of their shields. Not sure if that’s accurate or not and I’m too lazy to look it up.
When it’s done they’ll slide it back into a bowl and you’re ready to eat:
What I found amazing about their set up is the order in which they lay out the bar. Starting with the bowls your first options are the vegetables. The broccoli and cabbage are huge and will take up quite a bit of room in your bowl. Before you know it, you’ve got a bowl full of crappy vegetables and you haven’t added your meat. That’s how they “get” you.
I decided that I wasn’t going to conform to the order and sort of jumped around from section to section. After a couple vegetables I hit the meat section. I went a little overboard with beef, pork, and shrimp. I should have stuck with only one main meat for better flavor. But I’ve always been a fan of eating as many animals as possible. I know that sounds barbaric but it’s the truth.
At El Caporal I LOOOVE the Tres Cobaios (not sure if that’s spelled right, I think it means Three Horses…mmmm horse (kidding)). It’s skirt steak, chicken breast, and prawns wrapped with bacon, rice, beans. Oh man, sooooo good! Beef, Pork, Shrimp, Chicken…am I missing something?
I was having too much fun adding all the different stuff and not following the “proper” order of things that I forgot to add noodles. DUH! So I ended up with this massive stack of noodles on top. It worked out ok since most of the ingredients cook down, plus they drop some like you see in the photo, and it all fit back in the bowl just fine.
It’s not necessary to have all you can eat since the big bowl is plenty big. You don’t need more than that.
If you do visit Mongolian BBQ, I recommend going HEAVY on the ladles of sauces. I had the big bowl and put in what I thought was a lot of sauce but mine still came out a tad dry. It was good, I just would have preferred a little more sauce is all.
Also, I’m not sure I’d recommend the Mongolian BBQ if you are allergic to anything on that bar. I didn’t add any peanuts to mine but the other dish that was on the grill at the same time must have cause I had no less than three peanuts in my bowl while I was eating.
All in all, for the money, it’s a pretty good deal. Dinner prices are around $7-$10. You get exactly what you want (and maybe an extra peanut or two) and your eating pretty soon after you come in. I’ll be back there.
Mongolian BBQ
61535 S Highway 97, Bend, OR
(541) 318-8500
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