Mongolian barbecue is not really Mongolian cuisine, and Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire probably never had it while trying to conquer the world. And it has little to do with barbecue. The dish was developed in Taiwanese restaurants more than half a century ago, and the term was coined by legendary crosstalk performer Wu Zhao-nan (吳兆南) in 1951 when he opened a barbecue eatery in Taipei.
Established in the 1960s, Genghis Khan Mongolian Bar-B-Q is the oldest restaurant that specializes in the stir-fried dish today. It is about a 10-minute walk from Zhongshan MRT Station (中山站). The first floor of the two-story restaurant is closed during weekdays, so my family and I were seated at two round tables on the second floor for dinner.
At Genghis Khan, you first choose ingredients from a display of meats, vegetables and sauces to create your own bowl. You then hand it to a chef, who cooks it in front of you on a giant circular iron griddle. The restaurant provides four varieties of meat: beef, pork, lamb and chicken. They are thinly sliced and neatly piled in four containers on a counter. It also offers nine varieties of vegetables: basil, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, onions and green onions, pineapples, tomatoes and water spinach.
Photo: Eddy Chang, Taipei Times
I had some beef and lamb, and a little bit of everything from the vegetable counter, so my creation looked colorful. It is said that an enzyme in pineapple can tenderize meat, so I added a few slices to my bowl.
Next, I moved to the counter where various sauces were displayed. All the labels for the sauces are written in Chinese and English, with suggested amounts for each. A chef told me that soy-bean sauce, shrimp oil, sesame oil and rice wine were the most commonly used, so I took one teaspoon of each and added some garlic and chilies just to spice things up.
Finally, I handed my bowl to one of the two chefs at the semi-open kitchen next to the sauce counter. The chef skillfully stirred all the ingredients on the griddle and added some water to ease cooking. The sizzling sound and tempting smell immediately aroused my appetite. The chef said that the temperature of the griddle could be as high as 800 degrees Celsius, so they moved fast during the cooking process.
Photo: Eddy Chang, Taipei Times
Within a minute, my Mongolian barbecue was ready. The quickly stir-fried beef and lamb were quite tender with a robust meat flavor. Since the chef added some water during the stir-frying, the vegetables did not dry out. But I realized that I added too much soy sauce because my barbecue was a little too salty. A traditional way of eating Mongolian barbecue is putting it in a baked sesame seed coated cake. My cake was crispy and flavorful.
Apart from the Mongolian barbecue, additional buffet items were available, including a mini salad bar, a good selection of appetizers and seven dishes. My favorite appetizer was mixed meat jelly; the mix and chilled jelly-like broth were a good match. Other dishes on the night we dined included a nigiri sushi combo (綜合握壽司), seasoned Venus clams (特調海瓜子), boiled neritic squid (美味軟絲), sea bream with teriyaki sauce (照燒鯛魚排), free-range chicken with green onion oil (油蔥土雞), boiling water scalded shrimps (白灼鮮蝦) and abalone salad (鮑魚沙律). All the seafood dishes were fresh and well cooked. Genghis Khan also has a variety of drinks, desserts and fruit to finish off the meal — though the former two weren’t anything to write home about.
There are three prices for the dinner buffet: NT$520 for an adult, NT$270 for a child (between 110cm and 140cm tall) and NT$120 for a young child (below 110cm), along with a 10-percent service charge. For lunch buffet during weekdays, it is only NT$420 for an adult. Overall, Genghis Khan was an enjoyable dining experience, and its authentic Taiwanese-style Mongolian barbecue deserves a try.
Photo: Eddy Chang, Taipei Times
Photo: Eddy Chang, Taipei Times
There is no politician today more colorful than Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯). The recall vote against her on July 26 will test the limits of her unique style, making it one of the most fascinating to watch. Taiwan has a long history of larger-than-life, controversial and theatrical politicians. As far back as 1988, lawmaker Chu Kao-cheng (朱高正) was the first to brawl and — legend has it — was the first to use the most foul Taiwanese Hokkien curse on the floor of the legislature. Current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) has become famous
Crop damage from Typhoon Danas “had covered 9,822 hectares of farmland, more than 1.5 percent of Taiwan’s arable land, with an average loss rate of 30 percent, equivalent to 2,977 hectares of total crop failure,” this paper reported on Thursday last week. Costs were expected to exceed NT$1 billion. The disaster triggered clashes in the legislature last week between members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and China-aligned lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) argued that opposition lawmakers should take responsibility for slashing the Ministry of Agriculture’s (MOA)
July 14 to July 20 When Lin Tzu-tzeng (林資曾) arrived in Sansia (三峽) in 1830, he found the local conditions ideal for indigo dyeing. Settlers had already planted indigo across the nearby hills, the area’s water was clean and low in minerals and the river offered direct transport to the bustling port of Bangka (艋舺, modern-day Wanhua District in Taipei). Lin hailed from Anxi (安溪) in Fujian Province, which was known for its dyeing traditions. He was well-versed in the craft, and became wealthy after opening the first dyeing workshop in town. Today, the sign for the Lin Mao Hsing (林茂興) Dye
Asked to define sex, most people will say it means penetration and anything else is just “foreplay,” says Kate Moyle, a psychosexual and relationship therapist, and author of The Science of Sex. “This pedestals intercourse as ‘real sex’ and other sexual acts as something done before penetration rather than as deserving credit in their own right,” she says. Lesbian, bisexual and gay people tend to have a broader definition. Sex education historically revolved around reproduction (therefore penetration), which is just one of hundreds of reasons people have sex. If you think of penetration as the sex you “should” be having, you might