Vegetarian Lunch in America 10: Mongolian Grill Noodles

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Today's vegetarian lunch: Mongolian noodles from YC's Mongolian Grill.

The way most Mongolian grills work is that, you take a bowl and fill it with your choice of vegetables, meats, tofu and rice noodles. You then add your choice of sauces, depending on your taste. You then hand-over the bowl to the chef, who will cook it on the grill for you. The quantity of veggies, meats and noodles is limited to how much you can fit in one bowl. I usually top my bowl at least two inches or more above the rim, when I choose my vegetables and add noodles! When it is cooked, the food settles down exactly upto the rim-level, and it is quite filling.

The vegetable choices include beansprouts, bell pepper, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, green onions, mushrooms, onions, spinach, tofu, tomatoes, water chestnuts, and zucchini. The sauces include BBQ sauce (see vegetarian alert below), sweet and sour, ginger, garlic, cooking wine, vinegar. The price for a bowl of noodles also includes sides of white rice, soup, pineapple chunks, roasted peanuts, soda, along with soy-sauce, hot-sauce, pepper flakes dressing.

There are similar Mongolian grill chains in most cities across the US.

Cost: $6.00 (includes tax), about 264 Indian Rupees.

Vegetarian alert: Whenever I visit this restaurant, I add BBQ sauce (and few other sauces) to my noodles. I did that today also. After I finished eating today, for the purpose of this blog, I asked them what if the BBQ sauce contained any animal products and they said it was made with beef broth! :-( Also, they cook meat and vegetables on the same grill, and use the same tongs to handle all food. So, if you are a vegetarian, you might want to ask them to clean the grill before they cook your food. Even then, the most cleaning they can do is to rinse the hot-top with some water. So, the juices and tiny pieces of meat would still be left-over on the grill and tongs. The soup is made with chicken broth.

Background: Vegetarian Lunch in America.