This past week I have been quite obsessed with Mongolian food. My hubby and I were walking through Trinoma mall and decided to have dinner before heading home. (This was early last week.) We didn't want to spend a lot that night so we browsed through the food court stalls and happened upon "Mongolian by Sweet Inspirations". The prices listed seemed reasonable and we went ahead and filled our bowls with veggies, sauces and a small amount of meat.
If you're not familiar how the "Mongolian thing" works, here's an overview. Choose and pay for your bowl - small or large, with drink or no drink. You pass through a counter with an assortment of vegetables, rice, noodles, sauces, etc. and you fill up your bowls with whatever you want. At the end of the counter, you hand your bowl to the server, tell her what meat you would like (beef, pork, chicken, squid balls, shrimp or a combination of those). She weighs and measures a specific amount of meat and adds it to your bowl then, she gives you a number to claim your bowl. A chef cooks your food on a flat grill behind a thick piece of glass while you watch. Once the chef is done, you can claim the bowl and enjoy your food.
So, we went through the process...adding the veggies and then the sauce. Hubby decided to follow one of the suggested recipes of sauces which is posted in little boards behind the counter. You can choose from Sweet and Sour, Sweet and Spicy, and others. Hubby chose sweet and sour. I, on the otherhand, decided to concoct my own sauce adding a bit of terriyaki sauce, mongolian , lemon water randomly to my bowl.
In the end, my bowl was quite nice but a bit way too hot and spicy. Ofcourse, I gave my husband's food a taste and mmmmm, I really liked it! (not enough spiciness, though).
This is how I got hooked. A few days later, the food was back in my mind wanting to perfect the taste of my Mongolian Rice Bowl. So, I went back and did it over, this time, following the Sweet and Spicy recipe. The second time around was much better but, still not enough spiciness.
Third time was the charm! My perfect Mongolian Rice Bowl:
What was the mixture? Here it is -
The bowl ingredients:
I filled the bowl with the following - Sotanghon (rice noodles), Chinese lettuce, Singkamas (Jicama in English), 3 small cut up pieces of Sili (pepper), onion, carrot, tomato, leeks, sesame seed, chopped garlic (about 1 tsp)
What I omitted:
These ingredients were also available but I decided not to add them to my bowl - bell pepper, tofu, rice, ginger, and bean sprout.
Side Note/Suggestion:
I like to eat my meal with rice (it is called a mongolian "rice" bowl after all). However, I suggest not adding it to your bowl since the rice takes up a lot of space. Instead, get a separate order of rice. That way, you'll have more space for your veggies and meat.
The sauce ingredients:
I pretty much followed the instructions for the Sweet and Spicy Sauce, making little adjustments as follows
- 1 scoop each of Teriyaki sauce, Mongolian sauce, Szechwan sauce, garlic water, lemon water
- 1 tsp of sugar
- instead of just 1/4 scoop of soy sauce, i put about 3/4 scoop
- instead of 1 scoop of sesame oil, i put only 1/2 since too much would leave a slight bitter taste
Viola! A perfect Mongolian meal!
Very affordable. The small bowl with drinks is Php120 (pictured above) plus Php15 for the rice for a total of Php135 only!!!
(Small bowl with no drinks is only Php105. Large bowl is Php185)
Here's just half of what I had in the bowl emptied onto my plate. There's still half a bowl left!
OVERALL FOOD REVIEW
NAME OF RESTAURANT - Mongolian by Sweet Inspirations
LOCATION - Trinoma mall, food court
SPECIALTY - Mongolian
NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN PARTY - 1
TOTAL BILL (INLCUDING TIP) - 135 (no tip needed)
OVERALL EATING EXPERIENCE - 9/10
OVERALL AVERAGE FOOD RATING - 9/10
OVERALL FOOD TO COST RATING - 9/10
SERVING SIZE - 9/10
SPEEDINESS OF SERVICE - 8/10
AMBIENCE - n/a (food court/ fast food)
CLEANLINESS - 8/10
LIKELINESS TO RETURN TO THE RESTO - 10/10
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