MAR 16, 16 .. ОЛОН ОРНЫ ХООЛ .. Part 2 of 2 .. THE FOOD

September 11, 2019 ..

Sad to say, the ОЛОН ОРНЫ ХООЛ restaurant is now out-of-business. As I write it is being demolished and its interior re-furbished.

My plan was to devote Part 2 of this pair of posts totally and 100% to the food. However on-my-way-to-the forum things changed and I want to write about something else in addition to the food.

I will now start off here by stating that it suddenly looks to me like ОЛОН ОРНЫ ХООЛ is perhaps a new restaurant still being re-furbished from its prior usage.

Below I present my case.

Yesterday I posted the below three photos showing the West side of  ОЛОН ОРНЫ ХООЛ.

The first photo below shows that at the far end is a small ‘private’ dining room perhaps for parties.

I followed up with the below two close-up photos of this room.
I went in this evening for dinner and .. What To My Wondering Eyes Should Appear ..
A construction project is underway .. Just started since yesterday.

The workmen just ‘kept-on’ with the ‘getting-on’ and look-see below!

Below is ‘further evidence’ that changes are underway or continuing to be made as perhaps a new ownership is moving in.

In the below photo .. In the corner are two picture-menus of their meals. North (left) and East (right).Above and below note the plain, white-tile wall where the East (right) picture-menu ends.
Do all of you see the addition of the green menu-board in the photo below?You will note there are actually two picture-menu boards. One on the North wall (left above and below) and one on the East wall (right above and below). The one on the North wall is for larger groups. I am eating solely from the menu board on the East wall.
Below is a closer look at the East wall picture-menu board. I am eating only from this menu.
Below the North picture-menu for larger groups of customers.
In the above photo notice that above the East picture-menu the wall is cleanly finished. The below photo shows the extreme top right and you can see that when I snapped the photo the wall above it was not finished. Just subtle evidence that work-is-underway.

Perhaps I am their first ‘regular’ customer. Who knows? I don’t.While we are here notice the price above in the lower right corner .. 6,500 in the SMALL RED SQUARE. 6,500 is the cost of the meal in Mongolian Tughriks (pronounced ‘toogs’). I am going to abbreviate Mongolian Tug as M₮. Their symbol like our $ sign .. for the tug is a T with two hashmarks .. ₮..

How did I do that? I just switched the keyboard to Mongolian Cryillic characters and pressed the number 4 on the keyboard йиб гз ёйту (and up came) the ₮ шыиэ эхйэ й ашаалуЮ (isn’t that a giggle?). Press our ? and up comes this Cyrillic character .. Ю.

Today .. 1 US $ = 2,038 M₮ so a meal costing 6,500 M₮ costs .. HOLD ON HERE .. US $ 3.19 !

LET’S EAT !

When Changer and I walked into the restaurant the cook and cashier immediately said-to-Changer  .. “He is a frequent visitor!”

Some of you may get tired of seeing the below photo but in showing you the meals I have enjoyed I will refer to it.

My first ever dinner at ОЛОН ОРНЫ ХООЛ was the dinner in the extreme top right corner above. Below is a close-up of the meal in the picture-menu.
Below is the meal. I asked Changer what it says above and he replied .. “Fried meat and eggs.” Cost = 6,500 M₮ = US $ 3.19.My second meal is almost in the exact dead-center of the picture-menu. Third row (either up or down) center picture.“Well Changer .. What’s it say?” .. “Fried meat and potatoes.”
The potatoes here are wonderful. I could make a meal just eating the potatoes. Just look at them. Cost = US $ 3.19.The second time (photo below) I ordered this meal I asked for more rice in exchange for the regular side-dishes you see above and in the picture-menu.My next meal is shown one picture down and one picture to the right from the upper left corner of the picture-menu. Cost = US $ 2.45 !The reality (below) did not look too much like the picture (above). The picture-menu did NOT show fried potatoes.Man-O-Manischewitz! To ‘die for good’! Just look-at-them! The potatoes here are wonderful.When I ate everything but the meat and the rice .. I mixed them up .. got serious .. and ‘went-after-it’ ..Here is a very quick ‘aside’.  Look again at the above meal as shown in the picture-menu.Below is one of several meals that Amaraa cooked for me. It looked more like the above picture than my restaurant dinner! Both have the maraschino (WHERE WOULD I BE WITHOUT DICTIONARY.COM) cherry pieces in the rice.The next meal is in the 2nd row down and 3rd from the left. It is to the immediate right of the above meal on the picture-menu.

“What do we call this one Changer?” .. “Noodles and meat.” Cost = US $ 2.21 !
That sure fits in with the below revolving sign above the entrance that states words to the effect of instant noodles. 

Quite a ‘plate-of-food’ for US $ 2.21 ! Heavy on the noodles (a good) thing and very light on the meat (a good thing).

“Is that fried rice Changer?” .. “Yes.” .. “I am asking you because I don’t want to know that I might have been eating plate-after-plate of fish eyes or some such ‘real’ Mongolian food. I am still reeling from the soup last July 2015 with blood in it being a ‘real’ Mongolian soup! ” Cost = US $ 2.46.Fourth row down on the right edge of the picture-menu.
Some servings (above) are large and some servings (below) are small. It is vegetable fried rice and it is GOOD!Next up we have .. Taa-Daa .. Below is the picture-menu photo of my next meal.Bottom row center meal. All of you .. Together .. In Unison .. “Oh-h-h Cap that looks like deep fried shrimp with red sauce!” Cost = US $ 2.46.Well it sure looks like it to me but what-do-I-know. Below is the reality.

“Ah-h-h-h .. This does NOT now look like shrimp with red sauce at all!” .. “This does NOT look like the picture-menu rendition either.”Have you ever seen deep fried shrimp look like this? No? Neither have I. Well I guess that is BECAUSE it is (some form of mock) Chicken deep fried. It was ‘all right’ but I needed several extra helpings of red sauce (it was NOT catsup) and hot spicy mustard (ala Chinese style). This is the only meal I have eaten that I will not re-order. Good BUT .. I love so many of the other meals far more.Just-in-case some of you are wondering .. we are just about finished here. The right edge of the picture-menu third picture down from the top. Cost = US $ 3.19.
“Ah-h-h-h What to say?” .. “Another wonderful meal for US $ 3.19. I have not commented on the side-dishes that have come with several of the meals. They are excellent. I could get a full helping of some of them.

Below are two meals that I DID NOT PURCHASE because they are quite sizable. I did however photograph them to show you.

The first of these two meals ..
What a meal for a small group or a hungry couple. Cost = US $ 9.82. That is not a bad price for dinner-for-two now is it?The second of these two meals ..In real-life (below) it looked MUCH different from its picture-menu photograph above. Cost = US $ 11.78. Again not bad for dinner-for-two and a night out.

Now I am going to show you the final meal that I am enjoying. I have been saving it to last (saving-the-best-for-last) because it has become my absolute favorite meal.

First the picture-menu photo of it. Go down the right side of the picture-menu to the fried rice (4th down from the top and diagonally above the gigantic meal in the lower right).“I just heard Patti let-out-a-squeel!” .. “That’s MY MEAL. A meal that I would love!” Cost = US $ 2.46.I love breakfast and I love the combination of eggs with tomatoes and just a hint of onions. This meal DOES IT FOR ME.

The four photos below are of four different meals.

In the below picture-menu photo the above meal is next to the fried rice.This is how I order this dinner. For the two below entrees together the Cost = US $ 3.93.
Then? Then I mix the two of them together and enjoy.
For reasons unknown to me .. I can eat one meal over and over and over again without getting bored or tired of it. This trait serves me well in my cabin in remote interior Alaska. As one for-instance I never ever tire of eating tuna fish.

So as not-to-embarrass her I snapped the below ‘candid’ photo of the young lady who snapped the above photos of me. She thought that I was photographing the North picture-menu behind you. Actually I was and just dropped the camera down to shoot the below photo.

For-the-time-being .. There you have it. My favorite restaurant here in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia .. ОЛОН ОРНЫ ХООЛ .

Smiles .. Cap

• ← MAR 15, 16 .. ОЛОН ОРНЫ ХООЛ .. Part 1 of 2 .. THE PLACE
• MAR 17, 16 .. FAIR IS FAIR .. ONE DOOR HAS SWUNG BOTH WAYS! →