Trip to Baguio and O' Mai Khan

Driving on NLEX/SCTEX is always fun.  I feel like I'm on another planet.  It's nice to get away once in a while from the stifling confines of the city.  We've had a particularly toxic work schedule these past few weeks, hence the lack of posts (sorry!).  So yeah, this particular trip was a much needed escape. 

The view of clear blue skies and lush greenery has always had a calming effect on me.  I could feel my stress slowly melting away as we drove further and further away from the chaos of Manila.

Yuri wouldn't let me drive so I had to amuse myself by snapping photos along the way on our 5-hour climb to Baguio.

Since I can't always drive off to Baguio whenever life gets particularly difficult or stressful, I figure, at least I have these pictures to look at to remind me of this particular trip.

We stayed in Baguio for four days and three nights.  The goal?  To hibernate and get away from all things related to W.O.R.K.  We only went out to eat once during our whole stay. Our days were basically spent on cooking, eating, sleeping, and watching Yuri's arsenal of movies and TV series.  Ahhhh yes, we were living the good life.  So you can imagine how special that one resto trip was.  We had enough food supplies to cook for a week but we both knew that we couldn't pass up the chance to stuff ourselves silly at O' Mai Khan.  Our Baguio trip just wouldn't have been complete.

O' Mai Khan offers the most affordable Eat-All-You-Can Mongolian Buffet I've ever been to at only Php 195.00 per person.  Seriously.  The price is amazing for the amount of food they offer.  That alone already sounds too good to be true, but believe me it gets better.

Here, let me show you.

All you have to do is to let your taste buds and imagination guide you.  You start by picking out what kind of meat you want in your Mongolian barbecue.  You may choose from chicken, beef, pork, and liver.  You then move on to the veggies.

Baguio supplies the freshest and widest variety of vegetables to the lowlands so it would be irreverent to not take advantage of the available options. You've got togue (bean sprouts), watercress, kamote (sweet potato) leaves, bell peppers, carrots, sayote (chayote), etc.

Now comes the exciting part!

There are around 20++ condiments and sauces to choose from.  This is the most elaborate and complicated Mongolian barbecue buffet I've ever seen in terms of the add-ons to the meats.  Mad props to them.  This really allows you to control the flavors and adjust the spices of your end-product.  And yes I am a control freak so this part is the one I look forward to the most.  You've got pineapple chunks, chili, brown sugar, sugar water, sesame oil, vinegar, crushed peanuts, curry sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, etc. etc. I can see how daunting this would be for non-cooks but do not despair, if you're feeling a bit lost and unsure of what to combine, there are always buffet attendants ready to help you to make sure your bowl comes out really yummy.

When you're done picking out the sauces and condiments, you just need to decide on how much rice you want included in your bowl.  You may also opt to add egg to your rice bowl for a minimal additional fee.

They then proceed to stir-fry all the ingredients on a large flat griddle on high heat, as is the custom in Mongolian barbecue restaurants.  When cooking is done, the finished product is then scooped up into a bowl and brought to your table.  You end up with something like this.

Bowl # 1

In my first bowl, I put a mixture of chicken and pork, tomatoes, watercress, bean sprouts, onions, kamote leaves, bellpepper, oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce, a touch of curry sauce, sesame oil and a cup of rice.  It was so-so and a bit lackluster in flavor, but I expected it since I usually feel out the sauces on my first go.  The kamote leaves, when cooked, become slimy so I decided to stay away from those on my next try.

Bowl # 2

In my second bowl I combined chicken, beef, watercress, bean sprouts, carrots, tofu, bellpepper, 2 T of teriyaki sauce, 2 T of oyster sauce, 1 T of sesame oil, 1 T of sugar water, 1 T of soy sauce, pineapples, a sprinkling of brown sugar and half a cup of rice.  This bowl I loved!  It was tasty and flavorful.  The secret is to always make sure you have sesame oil, sugar water, and soy sauce as your base and then build your sauces from there.  The pineapples also added a nice tartness to the whole dish which I enjoyed.

Alas, this was my third and final bowl!  I can usually eat up to four bowls with a cup of rice each but my ulcer had been acting up on this trip so I had to scale it down....erm sort of.

In this bowl I mixed together beef, watercress, bean sprouts, carrots, sayote, bell pepper, 1 T sugar water, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T sesame oil, 2 T sate sauce, 2 T curry sauce, crushed peanuts, pineapple chunks, brown sugar and 1/4 cup of steamed rice.  This had a bit of a bite and heat to it.  I wanted to make my last bowl a little bit different and less sweet.  I was happy with the result.

Yuri and I gobbled up three bowls each.  He is my equal in every way!  He ate more rice though since he was feeling perfectly healthy and hungry that day.

As far as I know, Mongolian barbecue isn't really a reflection of what Mongolian cuisine is.  I did confirm this with my dad just to be sure since he used to frequent Mongolia when he was based in China a couple of years back.  In fact, Mongolian barbecue first appeared in the restaurants of Taiwan during the 1970's.  Some claim that it's based on how Mongolian soldiers from a long time ago used to gather different kinds of meat and cook it over a large flat surface over an open fire, hence the humongous griddle in Mongolian buffet restaurants.  

Well, whatever the origin of this interactive feast is, I'm just happy that it was invented in the first place.  Fried rice never fails to put a smile on my face and Mongolian barbecue is just different versions of fried rice tweaked and customized to each person's individual taste. Yuri and I went home stuffed up to our noses in Mongolian barbecue and we couldn't have been happier!

Starting July 2011, they will be moving from their current location which is at Otek St in Rizal Park,  to their new snazzy 2-floor building located at the Upper Session Road. 

New Address: Upper Session Road, Engineer's Hill, Baguio City
Mongolian Buffet Hours: 11:00AM - 2:00 PM; 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM everyday