TRADITIONAL Mongolian Food Guide in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia

Hey guys, I am in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. If you're wondering why I'm here, go check out my vlog channel. And of course, the first thing I wanted to do since getting here is try out some authentic Mongolian cuisine. Which is actually kind of hard to find in the city. So my local friends recommended that I go to the Modern Nomad. This is kind of like a modern spin on traditional Mongolian food. But I heard this place is pretty authentic, so let's eat. This menu looks pretty... Wow! Everything looks fantastic. I wish there was like 10 people here with me, so we can like order a lot and eat it all. This is the lamb set, and it comes with a lamb's head. This is a head of lamb, and I think they're using the head as a plate. Comes with cheeks, tongue, snout. Actually looks really good. I'm gonna start off with some Mongolian dumplings. This is also called buzz. And then I'm gonna get a soybaan, which are stir-fried Mongolian noodles. Of course, traditional Mongolian milk tea. And they said this is really good. Which is basically lamb chops, lamb shanks cooked in a closed container with hot stone. The characteristics of Mongolian food is that they're very hearty, and most of the time very fatty. Because this climate is typically really cold. So the dishes are really meant to just fill you up, and make you feel all warm and happy. Oh my goodness, here it comes. Oh wow. This is the mini korkak, hot stone lamb barbecue. And it's still sizzling. You guys hear that? That's the Mongolian welcome song. Smells so incredible. Thank you. It comes with this little side of pickles, and this dipping soup. I can't wait any longer. I gotta get this thing started. Let's start with the little lamb rib. Look at this. Oh my goodness. It looks so delicious. Okay, it's not falling off the bone. Clean off the bone. And dip it in this little dipping sauce here. So happy. Oh, that is delicious lamb, my friends. Wow, there's about a thousand degrees of flavor here. You can taste a bit of the smokiness from the roast. The lamb itself, it's not the most tender thing in the world, but it's seasoned so well. I don't think there's too complex of seasoning in here. I think it's just mainly just some salt, but oh, is it delicious. I'm gonna get into one of these babies right now. I don't think it's so good. No gaming those dudes at all. Let's dig into it. Let's see what's underneath all this. I think as you get deeper, the meat gets tenderer. Oh, look at that. Look at that big piece. The head is massive. There's so much lamb in here. Mary must be sobbing. You can actually see the stone cooking everything at the bottom. I'm really excited to try this meat. Look at how much juice is in there. Look at that. The thing looks like it just ran a marathon. It's so sweaty. That's some fantastic lamb. I'll take another piece and dip it in this gravy. There's a lot of fat here, but a lot of flavor in this gravy. I think a lot of this is just from the braised lamb itself. There's so many parts to this. Look at this nice rib. I mean, there's really no good way to start eating this. Just put it in your mouth. This is the traditional Mongolian milk tea. It looks like there's some fat floating on top. All right, it's not sweet at all. With the tea, they brought these fried doughs. You're supposed to dip it in the tea. I think that's how you're supposed to eat it, because the tea on its own, it's low-fatty. It's kind of like drinking milky soup, but the dough itself is greasy, but it has a slight bit of sweet flavor. That's a better way to consume this tea, for sure. It's a really traditional Mongolian noodle soup with flat noodles on the inside. Look at all the lamb they put in here. This is definitely a super hearty bowl of soup that's meant to keep you really warm in the winter. This definitely needs some hot water, I think. That's really delicious. I love this. Absolutely love this. The flavor is very light. It's distinctively lamb, but without the gaminess. So it's really clear, flavorful lamb soup. That's great. Honestly, snowing outside, 20 below, I want this bowl of soup. And after I have it, you know, with some hot oil, I can walk outside with a shirt on. This dish is really unique. This is called Grandma's Tea. And oh my God, I left it alone for like a few minutes, you can see. It's already starting to film on top. There's definitely a lot of fat in here. This is actually green tea soup with milk and homemade lamb dumplings. And they said I really need to try this. So of course, if they recommend it, I've got to try it. Just so you guys know, that's kind of like the philosophy I live by. So if anybody recommends me a dish, and you're the local and you should know more than I do, then I don't care what it is, I'm eating it. It looks like it has a lot of milk. All right, I don't know how I feel about this. It doesn't have a lot of flavor. It just tastes like salty milk. Let's try the dumplings. Lamb dumplings, I dig. It's different than any lamb dumpling I've had because as you can see, there's no veggies inside. And it's made with, I think, super lean lamb. I mean, you gotta chew that sucker, but that lamb is really flavorful. It needs some hot oil treatment, it really does. There's literally Mongolian culture sitting on a plate right here. These are khorshor, basically fried mutton dumplings. This is bulge, Mongolian dumplings. This is bulge, and this all has just like lamb inside. This is beef, and it's not cheese. This is just a straight up layer of fat. And yeah, you need to eat that. Let's try one of these Mongolian steamed buns. And this one doesn't look like it has any meat in there at all. It just looks like vegetarian. This is really good. It's like a veggie medley. I think I can taste some potatoes, some celery, carrots, cabbage. It's all wrapped inside this little thin layer. And I think the potatoes is genius because the potato kind of just breaks down and plays mash maker, connecting all the different vegetables together. They brought me some chili sauce. It looks like it's more sweet than spicy. Chili sauce is not, but that steamed bun is fantastic. I can't believe I'm sitting here like surrounded by lamb and beef, and I'm praising like a vegetarian bun. What's happening to me? Let's try one of these fried dumplings. Not a fan. It's all veggies inside. There's really not much flavor. Also, I see something I really don't like. You see that enemy of humanity right there, the broccoli? No, we don't want that. It tastes like one of those egg rolls you find at a super Americanized Chinese takeout place. You know the ones that are really thick and fat, and they're filled with cabbage, and you can't really taste much of anything? That's sort of what this tastes like. And I'm confused. I think some of these are supposed to have lamb inside. Maybe this one. Oh, salvation. You have brought honor back to the Horseshoe family name. Wow, this is good. Again, similar kind of filling as in the other dumplings, but somehow here, there's more tendon and more fat in this filling, and that made this dumpling super juicy and buoyant. It's like biting into a super flaky, juicy, lamby hot pocket. This is my favorite dumpling so far. All right, there's really no easy way to do this. I'm gonna eat this like a cheese cracker, except for instead of cheese, there's fat, and instead of a cracker, there's just beef. So maybe a fatty beef crack? I don't know. The fat itself, it's not a melty sort of fat, you know? It's kind of like a chewy piece of fat. I know some of you are cringed out there. I'm okay, because I love fat. Finally, the sui van, which is a very traditional stir-fried noodle, and this one looks like it's got multicolored noodles, and of course, the lamb inside. Mm. That is super yum. That is my favorite dish here. The noodles are 100% freshly made, hand-pulled noodles. They're really springy, chewy, got that fantastic, fresh noodle texture. Mm. If I lived in Mongolia, this would be my everyday lunch, and the noodles are so flavorful, because they are cooked in the lamb fat. It's seasoned well. There's red peppers, carrots, scallions in here that gives it a nice little crunch. I've been eating a lot, but I'm hungry all over again for this. Mm. Oh, man. This is a superb, superb noodle dish. Now, I'm just thinking how much better this would taste if I had some hot oil here. Overall, Mongolian food is what I expected. It's hearty, it's filling, it's fatty, it's extremely meaty. It's so fatty and meaty, I'm kind of craving a kale juice instead of my typical bubble tea. But of course, this is the type of food that the Mongolian people actually needed to survive in this region of the world. And honestly, it's kind of right up my alley. I mean, what's not to love? Fatty, good. Doughy, good. Meaty, really good. I mean, give me some hot oil, I'll set up camp here. So if you are ever in Mongolia, definitely try out some of these traditional Mongolian dishes. And again, whatever you do, don't leave out these noodles. Also, there is a surprising amount of vegetarian dishes here. So unless you're merry, I think you're gonna really like it. As always, the details of this restaurant is located in my description box below. Thank you all so much for watching. And until we eat again, see you later.