MONGOLIAN AT KABIRA

The Mongolian traditional diet is mainly made up of meats, animal fat and dairy. The people who live there need the fat to cope with the extremely cold temperatures.

We live in the sunny trtropics so in addition to the fish, beef, liver, chicken and pork (served separately by you), there was a spread of foods that I ignored. That wasn’t why I was there. However, I could tell from friends’ plates that there was gonja and potatoes.

According to one of the chefs, what makes it Mongolian is a mix of all the meats…so I got all the meats, except for pork-because I had not seen it.

Sight

One of the most exciting parts about this dish is that you get to watch it get made. Be warned your colorful display will shrink and your vegetables will disappear.

That picture will, upon completion look something like this.

Smell

Because you are right next to the chef who is cooking, you may not be able to make out the smells of your food. You could go back to your seat and let it cook, the waiters will bring it to you, but then you would miss the sight, and the chance to tell the waiter to ‘Stop’ at adding soy sauce or ‘Yes’ to some white wine.

Sound

Much much sizzling. Very much sizzling.

Taste

Now. All the meats tend to need different times to cook so the best bet is to let the chef cook them for as long as he sees fit. I wound up with everything from well done (the liver) to not that well done (the beef) to the good old fish that was exactly how I hoped it would be to I couldn’t find the mushrooms.

With Kabira Mongolian nights, you can go back as many times as you like. And believe it or not, I went back. This time with more of an understanding of what I needed.

1. Heap up on the vegetables, they will shrink and disappear.
2. I only picked white meats.
3. Go big on the spices so that you don’t have to add them when the meal is ready. Don’t be shy about the garlic and black pepper. Also there is vinegar and a drizzle might be good to tenderize and to keep some germs at bay.

4.  I asked the chef to wait until the end, to add the vegetables so that they could remain a bit crunchy.

5.  I let him cook and only went for the plate when it was done. I still couldn’t smell the flavours but my friends could, not that they described them beyond being anything but ‘good’-not judging you friends, LOL.

The meats had different textures and were nice together.  The fish at perfection, chicken well done and juicy and pork nice and tender.  And to that the slightly chewy vegetables and you will feel like you should eat this combination a little more often.

It wound up looking a little something like this. (Sorry the pictures are dark)

Kabira absolutely does not pack Mongolian leftovers, ever.  So you have to eat everything there.

This is what that looks like in the light of day.

Did I mention that there is also salad and a wide display of deserts like this pretty thing on offer?

Mongolian nights happen every Friday, at 50k per plate,  for as much as you can eat.