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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ and Authentic Chinese Cuisine- Lake Forest


23615 El Toro Road
Suite P
Lake Forest, CA 92630
949-951-8296


Hidden in the back of a strip mall off El Toro Road, next to Office Depot, is one of my absolute favorite places to eat. Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ. This particular restaurant is in no way related to any other Genghis Khan that you may have seen in a mall or someplace else. The restaurant is a small family run business and serves both Mongolian BBQ and Chinese food. I have tried their Chinese food before and it's pretty good, but the reason I return again and again is the Mongolian BBQ.

I usually go to Genghis Khan for lunch and get the "All-You-Can-Eat" special ($10.95 during lunch). The meal comes with soup or salad and all you can eat bbq, rice and pocket bread. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Mongolian BBQ, it is basically a stir fried dish of meat and vegetables. The unique thing though, is that you get to customize your dish any way you like it.

When you order the Mongolian BBQ, you will be asked for your meat selection. You have the choice of Beef, Pork, Turkey or Lamb. You are able get one meat or a combination of any of the meats. I usually choose a combination of turkey, pork and beef. The waiter will then bring you a bowl with your meat selections in the form of thinly sliced, frozen meat. If you're mean like me, you can bring new people to this restaurant and then tell them to dig in when the frozen meat is delivered. I've gotten a lot of horrified looks from people when I do this...it's hilarious....but I digress....

(Frozen Meat)

Take your bowl of meat up to the buffet of raw vegetables, spices and sauces and customize it however you'd like. My standard is LOTS of cliantro, a little bit of celery and onion and a few slices of fresh tomato. I then top it off with three ladles of "spicy" sauce (not really spicy, just a soy based stir fry sauce) and a generous sprinkling of garlic powder. Hand your bowl to the cook behind the giant circular grill and watch in awe as the chef quickly turns your bowl of raw ingredients into a delicious bowl of Mongolian BBQ.


(The finished product)

When you get back to your table, there will be some rice and a basket of piping hot, freshly baked pocket bread. While V loves Mongolian BBQ, what she really goes for is the pocket bread. I've tried to bribe the owner into giving me the recipe, but he won't. The way that many people eat their Mongolian BBQ is by ripping off the top of a pocket bread and then stuffing the pocket full of meaty goodness from their bowl. This is how I eat it and it is fantastic. If you've ordered the "all you can eat", you can ask for bowl after bowl of meat and go through the process over and over again. My record is 3 1/2 bowls. Think you can beat me?

Genghis Khan is the place to go when you want to have a big lunch, but don't want to spend a lot of money. All you can eat meat for $10.95? You can't beat that!

Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ on Urbanspoon

13 comments:

ChristianZ said...

I've been to the one in Fountain Valley a million times.

mherzog said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Griffin said...

CZ-I don't think the Fountain Valley one is in any way related to this one. I have been to the Fountain Valley one as well and I think the one in Lake Forest is much better.

Diamond Dog said...

The only thing I don't like about this place is you cant pick your own meat. They do it for you. Full out meat control. Stingy Asians

Diamond Dog said...

Regarding Fire & Ice in Anaheim. I just got back

Its ASSTASTIC

not Mongolian BBQ. Instead, just a bunch of ingredients. Sausage,
Bacon, pasta, raw hamburger meat, etc. More of a "sir fry random
stuff" place

All the sauces are super sweet and thick. No cooking oils.

Constantly out of stuff (seasonings. ingedients)

Expensive for what it is.

Hard to get to

pay for parking.

Anonymous said...

IU've only been to the one inside the Westminster Mall, good thing is you can pick your own meat! Definately worth the money and Both my boyfriend and I eat for the price of one.

Is this one related to the one in Lake Forest?

Griffin said...

DD-I believe they only bring you the meat during lunch hours. At dinner the meat is out on the buffet so you ca pick it yourself. I think they do this because it is slower at lunch time and they want to make sure that the meat does not sit out for too long.

Anon-I don't think that this particular Genghis Khan is related to any other restaurant.

To the person that left the comment on the facebook version of this blog complaining that they did not have noodles-They now have noodles on their buffet as well.

Matthew D. said...

Ate there tonight on your recommendation. We were surprised that you don't get noodles but the rice and pocket bread made up for it. I thought it was pretty good. My friend likes Mad Wolf BBQ up in Fullerton cause they have spicier sauces.

Diamond Dog said...

eat at the Gengis Khan in Fountain valley and take a gamble on your life!

http://foodinspections.ocgov.com/foodinspections/insp.aspx?record_id=PR0016697&agency=OCH

Anonymous said...

Have you checked other review sites? Not too many good words over on Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/genghis-khan-mongolian-barbeque-and-chinese-cuisine-lake-forest

vietfoodrecipes said...

Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ is a good choice. Nice restaurant with good healthy food!

Restaurant Insurance said...

Reading your post made me prepare a Mongolian BBQ dish but without that much spices. I prefer it to be less spicy so my wife and kids will also enjoy it.

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