Richard was the first to go to the Inner Mongolian Restaurant, taken there by his Chinese boss who hails from that northerly province of China that hugs the northern desert country of Outer Mongolia. We went with Kirsty, Richard’s Scottish development manager who is here in Shanghai to help out for a year, and her boyfriend James who was here for the Christmas holidays.
We had more less the same dishes that Richard had had with his boss – we believed that he would of course know what was best – and what we ate was delicious. Once the waiter had taken our order, he turned over a medium-sized sand timer that he had brought to our table. Richard said that if they didn’t give us all our food by the time the timer finished then we would have the meal for free – but somehow I think this got loss in translation as the last time we went, they failed to deliver, but we still had to pay for everything. (Perhaps we should take Rozy there when she is visiting and she can then find out for us what it really is all about.)
We started with sea buckthorn juice squeezed from the orange berries of the spiny Sea Buckthorn (surely rather misnamed if it is found in the majority of its natural habitat so far from the sea – from around Mongolia west across the semi-desserts of China and southern Central Asia through central southern Europe and around the coasts in Europe where the sea salt rather than sand kills off its competition), and delivered in a cork-
stoppered bottle. In fact it seems to be the signature of the restaurant chain as the restaurants’ plates were decorated with images of sea buckthorn branches. It was a beautifully flavoured drink and if you are ever out foraging and find some I urge to pick some (although I expect they will need a lot of sugar to make them palatable).
Next we had lamb kebabs, flavoured with cumin – a meat and spice you don’t see in this part of China. The Han Chinese appear not to eat lamb and they don’t use cumin either. And after a year away from the UK we have found ourselves hankering after both flavours, alongside marmite, chocolate, marmalade and British bacon (although that’s probably Danish).
Then came a dish of oat pasta rings – the pasta rings stood stuck together on their ends and were stuffed with a red and green sauce made with celery and with hindsight I’m not sure what, perhaps peppers, or pumpkin – Richard must know. It is very unusual to find pasta made with oats – usually they are made with 
wheat or sometimes rice flour. But in Inner Mongolia the climate is not capable of growing wheat and as in Scotland oats they are the grain of choice. To this we added a plate of green vegetables, as I find myself craving such things here in China.
We ordered some green vegetables and a leg of lamb each for gnawing at, in medieval fashion, and finally some flat breads filled with diced meat, onions and peppers. To finish off there was homemade yoghurt topped off with honey just as the Greeks do it.
All in all a welcome respite from the more normal food of the Han Chinese we have been eating over the past year. If you are in Shanghai and are interested, this is in the Shopping Mall on the north side of Zhenbei Rd Metro on Line 13, on the 4th floor I think.
Pearls From The Orient 