It has Mongolian in its name, but it's Taiwanese. And I am talking about the Mongolian barbecue that we had in Taipei!
A short 10 minute drive from Nanjing Road brought us to the Tang Kung Mongolian Bar-B-Q on Song Jiang Road in the Zhongshan District...
And this place is famous for its Mongolian barbecue, a dish that steadily gained in popularity over the last few decades...
Take your pick - chicken, venison, pork, mutton or beef...
In deference to my Hindu beliefs I avoided beef. And since chicken is quite common, that too went off my diet tonight...
For me it was loads of venison, pork and a bit of mutton...
I topped my bowl with all kinds of vegetables - onions, cabbage, spinach, bean sprouts, carrots, peppers...
And on top of that went the sauces and oils - soy, shrimp oil, cooking wine, ginger sauce, lime juice, pineapple juice, garlic, sesame oil and chili infused oil...
"I am hungry! Don't stare at me!"
And my huge bowl went on the very very hot griddle - it was so hot that I could feel the heat from a distance of 5 metres...
The chefs constantly mix the meats and vegetables adding few drops of oil and soya in between...
Oooo yummy... I am still waiting for mine to be done!
The griddle is huge and allows for at least 5 bowls to be cooked simultaneously on different parts of the griddle. When cooking is complete, each finished dish is scooped into a bowl and handed to the hungry patron, like me!
And there comes mine. O darn, that's a stir-fry, but who cares about the name, it's so yummy! The meats were cooked to perfection and were melt in the mouth! Trust me when I say, I never had anything like this before!
The way to have the stir-fry is to stuff the goodness of the meat and vegetables into hot sesame buns and devour them. I just ignored the buns. This was just too good for me!
Despite its name, the dish is not Mongolian, and is also not a barbecue. This style of a stir-fry first appeared in Taipei in 1951. The pioneers of this style evoked Mongolian foods and traditions - soldiers of the Mongol Empire sliced meats with their swords and cooked them on their overturned shields over a large fire or on heated stones. Indeed cuisines travel, traditions travel and that's beauty of civilization!
And there on my table was some more stuff for a shabu-shabu - a variant of a hot-pot. Vegetables, meats and tofu are placed in the bronze vessel, left to cook in the hot broth for a few minutes and then slurped up with some noodles!
But this wasn't as cool as the Mongolian barbecue, or o well, Taiwanese barbecue? But who cares, I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always!
No comments:
Post a Comment