Fare Mongolian hotpot and Northern Chinese dishes.
Ambience Informal, with booths lining the walls and larger tables in the middle. Posters of Mongolian scenes and dishes cover the walls.
Cost About HK$250 per person including a few beers.
Who to bring Friends wanting to try something a bit different from the usual Chinese hotpot or shabu shabu.
Turn-ons The soup bases came with wolfberries, nutmeg seeds and a fibrous, fragrant seed called amomum, which is used in Chinese medicine, and they all lent a spicy pungency to the different broths. The fibre noodles - thick, flat noodles made from a variety of grains - were fun to experiment with as they turned from firm and textured to soft and glassy, depending on how long they stayed in the broth. The slices of lamb (above) were thin but full of flavour. The lamb ribs (top right), the only already cooked dish we tried, were sprinkled with a heady spice mixture and were amazingly tender, falling off the bone at the lightest touch. The green leafy vegetable, tong ho (believed to be of the tarragon family), had an unusually strong flavour, which went well with the spicy broth which became very fiery after simmering for a while.
Turn-offs Be vigilant about what you order and check your bill: expensive dishes kept arriving at our table unasked for, the deer sinew (HK$128) being the least appreciated and left largely uneaten. We realised we needed to be more firm with the serving staff and refused the deer steak (HK$100) but we were still charged for it, along with an abalone dish (HK$60) we did actually eat and enjoy despite not ordering. We would have tried the camel hump but it was out of stock.
