It’s starting to drive me crazy being inside so much but now that we’ve left the house for a lunch excursion I wish we were back inside… it’s just so cold!
Also Lonely Planet is a liar… they said that restaurants were open every day but all the ones we walk up to are shut!
Finally, this one seems open… it looks like a cafe… bummer, I want to try more Mongolian food… but it’s cold and I’m hungry so whatever.
Wow. This place is empty. Look at the waitress perched on a bar stool. She looks back blankly. Um, okay, guess we’ll seat ourselves then.
Find a booth and she puts two menus on the table. Flick through it and ooo! Some things are translated into English! Not all items, but maybe a third. I wonder how they decide which ones to translate… But it looks like this place serves Mongolian after all!
Hmm… Tsuivan is described as ‘mutton, flour, vegetable’. Sure, that’ll do.
My dish comes and it’s stir-fried noodles! I guess they are flour noodles, the ones they make with water and cup up with a knife. The mutton is diced into tiny mince-size pieces… each with a glob of fat the same size attached. The vegetables I can see are strips of carrot and onion and loads of red and green capsicum. The whole dish has the sheen of oil and a puddle of it at the bottom, as well as a good coating of chopped chili.
Taking a bite…
Huh, despite it looking like being very spicy there is no heat at all. How did they manage that, I’m sure the numerous red speckles are chili… The noodles are firm and slightly chewy, dense and pleasing. The mutton has a strong lamb taste, the capsicums are distinct… in fact, the result of not putting any spices or flavouring besides garlic means that each ingredient holds its own. That’s quite refreshing, to enjoy the tang of capsicum and the mellow mutton taste.
It is very oily, though. Veeerrryyy oily.
But despite being full I can’t stop eating it! It’s very more-ish!
Possibly my favourite Mongolian meal yet!
Rating:
Specifics: Tsuivan, from who-knows-which cafe in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Tsuivan
It’s starting to drive me crazy being inside so much but now that we’ve left the house for a lunch excursion I wish we were back inside… it’s just so cold!
Also Lonely Planet is a liar… they said that restaurants were open every day but all the ones we walk up to are shut!
Finally, this one seems open… it looks like a cafe… bummer, I want to try more Mongolian food… but it’s cold and I’m hungry so whatever.
Wow. This place is empty. Look at the waitress perched on a bar stool. She looks back blankly. Um, okay, guess we’ll seat ourselves then.
Find a booth and she puts two menus on the table. Flick through it and ooo! Some things are translated into English! Not all items, but maybe a third. I wonder how they decide which ones to translate… But it looks like this place serves Mongolian after all!
Hmm… Tsuivan is described as ‘mutton, flour, vegetable’. Sure, that’ll do.
My dish comes and it’s stir-fried noodles! I guess they are flour noodles, the ones they make with water and cup up with a knife. The mutton is diced into tiny mince-size pieces… each with a glob of fat the same size attached. The vegetables I can see are strips of carrot and onion and loads of red and green capsicum. The whole dish has the sheen of oil and a puddle of it at the bottom, as well as a good coating of chopped chili.
Taking a bite…
Huh, despite it looking like being very spicy there is no heat at all. How did they manage that, I’m sure the numerous red speckles are chili… The noodles are firm and slightly chewy, dense and pleasing. The mutton has a strong lamb taste, the capsicums are distinct… in fact, the result of not putting any spices or flavouring besides garlic means that each ingredient holds its own. That’s quite refreshing, to enjoy the tang of capsicum and the mellow mutton taste.
It is very oily, though. Veeerrryyy oily.
But despite being full I can’t stop eating it! It’s very more-ish!
Possibly my favourite Mongolian meal yet!
Rating:
Specifics: Tsuivan, from who-knows-which cafe in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia