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A little preparation. A much better adventure.Independent travel advice · Made for China
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A taste of Inner Mongolia

Menggu Daying (Mongol Camp)

蒙古大营

A large banquet-format Mongolian restaurant out at the Saihantala wetland park on Youyi Street, built for the whole-roast-lamb performance: the lamb comes out lacquered gold, a knife ceremony is performed, and the carving happens at the table. It is theatre as much as dinner, but it is the realistic way to eat a whole roast lamb without driving out to the grasslands.

¥180–220 per person≈ US$27Qingshan District, Youyi Street, by Saihantala wetland park (青山区友谊大街 赛罕塔拉湿地公园)
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Why come here

A place worth making time for

The restaurant most consistently recommended in Chinese guides for whole roast lamb in Hohhot, at around ¥196 per head; no graded award.

The house favourites

What to order

Point at the Chinese. Staff will understand it even where the menu has no English at all.

  • Whole roast lamb (烤全羊)
  • Hand-grabbed boiled mutton (手把肉)
  • Mongolian milk tea (蒙古奶茶)
  • Lamb boiled with ice (冰煮羊)

What it actually tastes like

Whole roast lamb is ordered as a whole animal or half animal and needs a group — a couple cannot eat one. Shouba rou is unseasoned boiled mutton on the bone, eaten with your hands, with the bones left in throughout. Vegetarians have essentially nothing to eat here.

Allergens in this kitchen

dairygluten/wheatsoy

This is the kitchen, not one dish. Woks, fryers, blanching water and utensils are shared in almost every Chinese restaurant, so for a serious allergy treat the whole premises as the unit rather than ordering around it.

Get to know the menu

Local specialities to try here

Hand-grabbed mutton 手把肉Clean, mild, intensely sheepy and quite fatty, with the seasoning coming entirely from the dip you choose.Mongolian salted milk tea 蒙古奶茶Savoury, salty and tannic with a milky body - closer to a thin broth than to anything a visitor would call tea.Roast whole lamb 烤全羊Shatteringly crisp glazed skin over mild, fatty meat; richer and sweeter on the outside than boiled mutton.Ice-boiled lamb 冰煮羊Clean and sweet rather than gamey, with a light broth that tastes of lamb and onion and nothing else.