Chinese all-u-can-eat in Dublin

ixoy

Piliger wrote: »

Wow interesting. What is Mongolian food ? :eek:

It's whatever you want it to be

I've been there loads of times and really like it. It's a bit like a buffet in some ways. You grab a bowl and add to it a selection of (raw) meats: chicken, lamb, and pork last time I was there. To the same bowl you add from a selection of vegetables (brocolli, sweet corn, kidney beans, etc). Add as much or as little as you like.

Once you've got these ingredients you can add a selection of spices - again entirely your choice. There's the hotter spices like cayenne pepper, paprika, chilli powder as well as the flavouring types like oregano, garlic, ginger, etc.
The combination of spices is entirely your call - there's a few recommended mixes there if you want to use them. I never bother.

After that you can add from a selection of 10 sauces, such as lemon& herb sauce, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce. Pour it over the bowl that contains the meat, vegetables and spices. I reckon it's good to use a fair bit of sauce to ensure it soaks into the dish.

Finally, you take the bowl to the waiting cook. This is the Mongolian element - they cook it in front of you on a large open heated flat stone (least I think it's stone). They use giant sticks to move the ingredients around. Generally they're cooking a few dishes at once, side by side but there's never any crossover with someone else's meal.
As the portions of meat are finely cut, it doesn't take too long to cook. Once it is cooked they scoop the finished product back into a bowl and hand it back to you. You take it back to your table where there will be a bowl of rice waiting for you (they'll replenish this bowl of rice as much as is required).

With the all-you-can-eat you can go up as often as you wish. I'd advise then to make small dishes. It's tempting to pile on the ingredients but if you get a wrong mix of spices/sauces, it mightn't be the best. Sample the various combinations.

Very good value - I'd recommend trying it out.

shanered

Its amazing, and I'm chuffed you did the explaining for me!

Piliger

I don't want to appear ungrateful I guess I am a bit on the lazy side when it comes to food, but all that trouble doesn't appeal to me much ...:rolleyes:
I want to browse ready made stuff where I can test and taste a variety as I go. ThoughI can certainly see the attraction for some people.

Gin Fizz

The Mongolian sounds good. I have been to an all you can eat Chinese before but avoided the rice as much as possible and went with the meat dishes.

Piliger

Just an update.

Due to pure laziness I popped in to the Chang all you can eat on the top floor in Stephens Green Shopping Centre at 2.10pm today to see if they had improved ANYthing about the place, rather than walk all the way to O'Connell Street.

Wow ...so so poor

Arriving at 2.10pm there was clearly no lunch trade, as there were only 4 people there and no evidence of anyone else having been there and just left.

The chicken sweetcorn soup was luke warm. The prawn crackers were so leathery I had trouble biting through one and couldn't swallow it.

The pork cuts were luke warm also.

Then I had a blackbean dish and a chicken dish. As I reported earlier in this thread they both tasted almost the same ! tasteless ! So no change in months. No improvement.

The tables are so grotty and rank that I felt uncomfortable sitting at them.

The contrast with Jimmy Chung's off O'Connell Street is night and day. The number of choices is limited to about two or three main dishes, no desserts, one start.

I really do not understand how they can afford to stay in business.

Degsy

Mongolian bbq is hugely overpriced,always full and very likely to give you a dose of teh trots..the food is cooked in such a hurry its often not done properly.

Eggonyerface

Me so horny

youcancallmeal

Degsy wrote: »

Mongolian bbq is hugely overpriced,always full and very likely to give you a dose of teh trots..the food is cooked in such a hurry its often not done properly.

I went once on Friday night, it wasn't that busy, I enjoyed the combinations I came up with and I didn't get teh trots. That was a few years ago, maybe its changed since then?

Esoteric_

Degsy wrote: »

Mongolian bbq is hugely overpriced,always full and very likely to give you a dose of teh trots..the food is cooked in such a hurry its often not done properly.

Overpriced? It's a fiver for a bowl at lunchtime, or 10 for all you can eat, and 16 for all you can eat in the evenings. When you can get a big, healthy lunch cheaper than a McDonald's, I don't see how you can call it overpriced.

Also, I've never gotten the 'trots' from the food there, and my food is generally covered in chilli powder and flakes and madras spices. Never had the food given to me undercooked either, and I eat there regularly.

CeluiDuDehors

ixoy wrote: »

It's whatever you want it to be

I've been there loads of times and really like it. It's a bit like a buffet in some ways. You grab a bowl and add to it a selection of (raw) meats: chicken, lamb, and pork last time I was there. To the same bowl you add from a selection of vegetables (brocolli, sweet corn, kidney beans, etc). Add as much or as little as you like.

Once you've got these ingredients you can add a selection of spices - again entirely your choice. There's the hotter spices like cayenne pepper, paprika, chilli powder as well as the flavouring types like oregano, garlic, ginger, etc.
The combination of spices is entirely your call - there's a few recommended mixes there if you want to use them. I never bother.

After that you can add from a selection of 10 sauces, such as lemon& herb sauce, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce. Pour it over the bowl that contains the meat, vegetables and spices. I reckon it's good to use a fair bit of sauce to ensure it soaks into the dish.

Finally, you take the bowl to the waiting cook. This is the Mongolian element - they cook it in front of you on a large open heated flat stone (least I think it's stone). They use giant sticks to move the ingredients around. Generally they're cooking a few dishes at once, side by side but there's never any crossover with someone else's meal.
As the portions of meat are finely cut, it doesn't take too long to cook. Once it is cooked they scoop the finished product back into a bowl and hand it back to you. You take it back to your table where there will be a bowl of rice waiting for you (they'll replenish this bowl of rice as much as is required).

With the all-you-can-eat you can go up as often as you wish. I'd advise then to make small dishes. It's tempting to pile on the ingredients but if you get a wrong mix of spices/sauces, it mightn't be the best. Sample the various combinations.

Very good value - I'd recommend trying it out.

:eek: I always wondered how that place was, it cannot even be called a restaurant at this stage, let the customer pick the ingredients and just heat it all on a hot stone, terrible idea! Do they have a menu of some sort or is it just that horrible concept?

Slydice

Just happens that I saw this review of a Chinese buffet on Moore St recently:

Esoteric_

Slydice wrote: »

Just happens that I saw this review of a Chinese buffet on Moore St recently:

Myself and my friends thought the food there was disgusting tbh.

griffdaddy

CeluiDuDehors wrote: »

:eek: I always wondered how that place was, it cannot even be called a restaurant at this stage, let the customer pick the ingredients and just heat it all on a hot stone, terrible idea! Do they have a menu of some sort or is it just that horrible concept?

The customer doesn't cook the ingredients and heat them on a hot stone, they hand them to the chef who cooks the on a big grill thing. I've never had my food undercooked and it's always delicious. Never had the trots or anything either. It's in no way overpriced either. The €5 euro lunch deal is probably the best lunch option in Dublin if you're looking for something like that

Degsy

[QUOTE=griffdaddy;80035210The €5 euro lunch deal is probably the best lunch option in Dublin if you're looking for something like that[/QUOTE]


No it isnbt,you get a tiny bowl with a miniscule helping of meat plus some soggy vegetables.

if you want a good 5 euro lunch deal the Temple Bar Hotel does a daily special for the same amount.

griffdaddy

Degsy wrote: »

No it isnbt,you get a tiny bowl with a miniscule helping of meat plus some soggy vegetables.

if you want a good 5 euro lunch deal the Temple Bar Hotel does a daily special for the same amount.

Different strokes for different folks then I guess. It's always jammed at lunch time so clearly a lot of people like it. It's hardly a minuscule helping either. You can fill your bowl up with vegetables and noodles as high as you want, they're never soggy either. I always find the portions of meat are enough, but some of them do seem to be bigger than others. You also get unlimited rice as well. Did you have a bad experience there or something? When did you go? I've only been going in the last year or so, so they might've improved since you were there or something

Piliger

LyndaMcL wrote: »

Overpriced? It's a fiver for a bowl at lunchtime, or 10 for all you can eat, and 16 for all you can eat in the evenings. When you can get a big, healthy lunch cheaper than a McDonald's, I don't see how you can call it overpriced.

Also, I've never gotten the 'trots' from the food there, and my food is generally covered in chilli powder and flakes and madras spices. Never had the food given to me undercooked either, and I eat there regularly.

I know several people who love it. It's full because it's so popular.
Comparing it with a normal restaurant is just silly. It's about the experience.