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!
