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Mongolian Grill

29 North Street, SW4 0HJ Full details & map

Restaurant: Chinese

Time Out says 7 Users say 4/5 Rate it

By Jennifer Lee Posted: Oct 7 2011

Housed in a converted pub on a quiet corner of Clapham Old Town, the Mongolian Grill is an unusual find. It attracts a largely young clientele of the sort more often seen in Beijing than in this part of south-west London. It serves hotpot, a type of cooking popular in northern China and other parts of Asia (whether it actually originated in Mongolia is unclear) that remains relatively undiscovered in the West.

Perhaps most unusual of all is the price for this exotic all-you-can-eat experience - a mere £12 per person. Essentially, it involves a pot of simmering broth at the centre of a table, in which diners dunk a choice of raw meats, seafood, vegetables, noodles and other ingredients - all sliced or chopped to ensure rapid cooking.

At this compact restaurant, painted black and lit by hanging red lanterns, diners first choose from a variety of aromatic broths (the spicy stock, tingling with Sichuan peppers and dried chillies, is particularly fragrant if you can handle the heat).

They are then invited to concoct a dipping sauce at the condiments bar, which includes constituents such as spring onions, coriander, fried garlic, and peanut, soy and fermented tofu sauces. And finally, you head to the well-stocked raw buffet, which offers a selection of thinly sliced beef, pork and lamb, bite-sized cuts of chicken, fish and other seafood, an assortment of tofu, leafy greens, and other vegetables, as well as noodles.

The dining room was full on a Friday evening, so staff replenished the buffet at a rate that guaranteed freshness. Armed with their haul, diners then return to their tables to cook at their leisure.

One great advantage of hotpot is that the food never goes cold: not that there was any chance of that happening on our visit. Try resisting the tender mouthfuls of meat and seafood, cooked to your liking in a deeply flavoured infusion, then dressed in a sauce as spicy or garlicky as you can handle. Diners also have the option of grilling their food at the table on a portable barbecue - as the restaurant's name suggests.

The best option to calm any chilli-based fire is a beer or two, dispensed from a row of taps clearly left behind by this former pub's previous landlord.

Tags: Asian, Chinese, Groups, Something different, South, Clapham, Budget, Restaurant

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Mongolian Grill details

Address

Mongolian Grill

29 North Street SW4 0HJ

Transport Clapham Common tube or Wandsworth Road rail

Telephone

020 7498 4448

Mongolian Grill website

Open 5-11.30pm Mon-Fri; noon-11.30pm Sat, Sun

Meal for two with drinks and service: around £45

Mongolian Grill map

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Comments & ratings 4/5 (Average of 7 ratings)

By maija - Mar 22 2012

5/5

This place was amazing somewhere you must book though we went on a wednesday night and it was packed! We were seated by an amazing waitress who explained everything as the people i was with had not been to hot pot before she made up her favourite sauces for us helped picked stocks that we absolutley loved and showed us the proper way to eat everything. It was like being invited to somebodys home, the food range was amazing everything from lamb to tofu and on occasion they would bring out rice or spring rolls at no extra cost! this place very highly recommened we had to drive 30mins to get here it was well worth it for a whole £12.50 we got all of this!

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By magic maggie - Mar 10 2012

5/5

I love this place, having gotten old and boring china town has become a rare treat. Couldn't believe my luck when i stumbeld into the mongolian grill one rainy night. China right on my door step. Funny how we often fail to see to whats right under our nose..I love to impress my friends to a autentic night out. They have not been dissapointed. The food is top quality, being a local i often organzize my take away. with them. The best in clapham by far.( Won't mention the one that used to use, great but rapidly went down hill. .) Its a rare pleasure to have my mouth water at the sheer thought of food. but this place does it for me..Perfect yet differant eating experiance.That fact of the chinnesse from china town are coming to this reasturant say's it all. They also have a following from wood green north london speaks for itself. My only advice pre booked as to avoid dissapointment. My Gem on my doorstep. Lucky me....

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By fn - Feb 11 2012

5/5

Cheap and cheerful atmosphere, lots of variety and very friendly staff. The food is delicious and we've been back several times. A great find!

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By Liz Thompson - Jan 15 2012

Less varianty and poor quality. It is unreasonable to charge £12.5 per person for the hot pot. I am only willing to pay £5 or less.

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By Seafood_Lover - Jan 7 2012

1/5

An awful offal dinner - misled by TimeOut recommendation!!!

A dinner with my friends to celebrate the New Year at this restaurant had turned out to become a nightmare. We were literally being shouted at and intimidated by a series of harassments from the restaurant's owners while all we had done was taking the time to enjoy a meal.

Being a Chinese who had been craving for some hot pot and grilled food in this wintry weather, I searched online and found this highly rated Mongolian Grill Hot Pot Restaurant in Clapham that was also recommended by London Timeout.

When the gas inside the hot pot's camping stove ran out, we asked the waitress to provide a new bottle of gas. However, she refused and asked to leave the restaurant in 3 minutes time because we had reached our 'time limit' and there were customers waiting for a table. This was the very first time we were told there was a time limit – they didn't tell me when I booked the table, they didn't tell us when we were being seated, this isn't on their website, not on their menu nor any signage inside the restaurant. Therefore, we refused to leave based on the fact that we had NEVER been informed and we hadn't finished our dinner yet. After the waitress left the table, an unfriendly big woman approached and shouted at us – asking us to leave immediately because 'time's up'! We reinstated the reason why we're entitled to stay because they had failed to inform us in advance, so we hadn't yet finished our dinner. Followed by a threatening big guy came to our table shouting that because they're cheap we should have expected the 'time limit' rule....and this nasty drama carried on for a while. We are a bunch of principled people who won't be threatened by this psychological violence; so we just calmly stayed till we finished the dinner, paid the bill and left. However, the big guy once again threateningly approached and followed us when we were leaving the restaurant to SHOUT 'PLEASE DON'T COME BACK!'

I can only say his final words are a sound piece of advice for those who don't want to have a disastrous night-out and being threatened. Food is really average – generally salty, wide range of internal organs (offal) and meats are paper-thin; inconvenient location and horrendous services

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By Leo Cheung - Jan 6 2012

1/5

This might be the first time I do a review for a restaurant, but I think I should do it for my terrible experience that I just had with this hotpot restaurant. The food, I would say probably the worst that I have ever had in London. The service is horrify. The staff can shout in the face of their customer is truly unbelievable! Please don't waste your money on trying this one ever.

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By T-S - Nov 30 2011

5/5

Really friendly staff. Excellent service. Very tasty. Meal plus two wines and two beers £47.

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By Xx - Nov 8 2011

5/5

Great food, lovely staff! Definately go here if its your first hotpot. The main waitress explained everything! We had both hotpot and bbq grill, she advised on spicyness and not only showed us around the buffet section but also gave us a demo on how to cook on the bbq and in the hotpot, how to make your own dips and came to check we were doing ok later on. Hang around for the pork dumplings that suddenly appear from the kitchen. Way better than anything chinatown could ever offer!