Shashlik

Standing in a kebab shop in Ulaanbaatar, looking at the choices. Not at all like the choice you have in Australia: you’ve got three options. Donner kebab meat with salad and sauce in either a pita or a wrap, or a tray with skewered meat, bread, cucumber, raw onion and some kind of tomato salsa. This is shashlik, apparently.

Looking at them carving meat off the giant rotating cylinder of processed flesh. No idea what kind of meat it is supposed to be. Yeah… I’ll try shashlik.

It comes. The grilled meat skewer consists of four pieces of lamb with a large chunk of fat in the middle of the skewer. I’m not going to eat that. The finger of bread looks like focaccia. There are three slices of cucumber, the raw onion is in a corner (good, I’m not eating that either) and the salsa is in the opposite corner. It looks like mashed tomato with a bit of red capsicum. And oil, of course… this is Mongolia after all!

The meat first. Grip a chunk in my teeth and pull… and pull… and pull… this is very tough meat! Gnaw, chew, finally get it off the stick and into my mouth. Chew chew chew. It’s got some spices on it, with a strongly charred flavour.

I try another bit. As immensely tough as the first. This is a workout for my jaw muscles.

Try the bread. It’s warm, too soft to be focaccia, more like a stick of bun. The cucumber is refreshing and crisp, good to clear the oil off the tongue.

Try the salsa. It’s not spicy, just mild tomato, but the texture is pleasant. I dip the bread in, that works well.

Gnawing at the rest of the meat, interspersed with bites of cucumber.

A light meal… I finish off The Husband’s donner wrap. It is much more delicious than mine… but how would I know if I hadn’t tried something new?

Rating:

Specifics: Shashlik bought at some kind of kebab chain near the Urgoo Cinema, Ulaanbaatar