7 Best Places To Eat Mongolian Food In Ulaanbaatar
The best restaurants for eating local Mongolian food in Ulaanbaatar. Try suutei tsai, buuz, khuushuur, tsuivan, and more.
Having now lived in Ulaanbaatar for more than six years, I’ve eaten my way through a fair share of the Mongolian restaurants here. In fact, traditional Mongolian food has really grown on me. The dairy products, noodle soup, and meat dishes are now a regular part of my diet. Especially when I’m traveling in the countryside.
I’ve also expanded my Mongolian food tastes from just eating buuz, khuushuur, and tsuivan, to tasting more than just these famous Mongolian cuisine. Drinking airag, mare’s milk, eating horse meat (only typically done in cold weather), and consuming animal fat, things that are typical of a nomadic lifestyle and Mongolian food culture, are also now part of mine.
While it may be hard to get a taste of some of these dishes in Ulaanbaatar, the local restaurants below are a great place to start trying different Mongolian foods. Just don’t expect to find Mongolian barbecue or Mongolian beef here, they aren’t even Mongolian!
Since eating a culture’s food is the fastest way to get to know the people, traditions, and history, start to get to know Mongolia by eating at these 6 Mongolian restaurants in Ulaanbaatar. I’ve also included my tips on what I like to order when I go.
Table of Contents
7 Best Places to Eat Mongolian Food in Ulaanbaatar
- Art of UB Gallery & Slowbar
- Altan Gadas (АЛТАНГАДАС ҮНДЭСНИЙ РЕСТОРАН)
- The Moriton Art Gallery and Restaurant
- Asiana Central Tower
- Khaan Buuz
- Modern Nomads
- Great Mongol Restaurant & Pub
Art of UB Gallery & Slowbar
Tucked secretly behind one of our favorite local galleries in Ulaanbaatar, the private VVIP ger at Art of UB Gallery & Slowbar is one of our favorite finds in the city.
The VVIP ger has to be rented in advance, and does have an hourly rate, but it’s well worth it for a big group or special occasion. Made up of three connected gers, there’s a bar area, seated dinning area, and party/lounge area, pictured below. The details are fun and the art inside the gers is worth checking this place otu alone.
Food comes from Grand Khaan Irish Pub next door and includes Mongolian favorites such as soups, meat, buuz, and khuushuur platters. There’s even shimin airikh (Mongolian vodka) ready to serve on the table. Reach out to Buyanaa from the Art of UB Gallery to book a night here.
Altan Gadas (АЛТАНГАДАС ҮНДЭСНИЙ РЕСТОРАН)
Altan Gadas restaurant is great because nightly at 7:00 pm contortionists, throat singers, and murin khuur players take the stage. It’s a great place to have a first dinner when arriving in Mongolia, especially if you’re in a large group or need a place to celebrate a special occasion. Make a reservation in advance, the restaurant does get busy, and ask for a table with a view of the stage. The meat platters they serve are enormous, so be sure to come hungry for Mongolian food!
There are two restaurants with this same name in town, be sure to use the right Google Maps location when making your way there.
The Moriton Art Gallery and Restaurant
The Moriton is one of the city’s best kept secrets. Buzzing at lunch time with locals who work in the city center, The Moriton serves some of the best Mongolian food in the capital. Try your first plate of khuushuur, Mongolia’s famous meat pockets, or go for something even more traditional. Their version of banshtai tsai, which is a soup of dried meat in a milk tea broth is a the perfect Mongolian soup to eat year round.
Asiana Central Tower
Asiana’s pan fried beef buuz are an update to this traditional dish I order every single time I visit. While the rest of the menu leans more Asian than Mongolian, their Chinese-style slow cooked mutton shoulder, Mongolian boortsog, fried dough with clotted cream, and their hot stone and pressure cooked mutton khorkhog are all worth coming here for.
Khaan Buuz
You’ll often hear me call Khaan Buuz the Mongolian McDonalds, a chain we’re probably one of the few countries in the world to not have.
Khaan Buuz is the equivalent of Mongolian fast food, making it an easy, reliable option anytime you find this chain around the country. Their nogootoi shol, vegetable soup, is always satisfying, while their buuz, Mongolian meat dumplings, with a glass of suutei tsai, milk tea, never disappoints. Khaan Buuz is also a great place to try niislel salad, Mongolia’s version of potato salad with boiled meat.
Modern Nomads
Modern Nomads is one of the few chain restaurants serving Mongolian food in town. With several locations around the city, it’s this location that’s my favorite. With traditional Mongolian furnishings and dishes on the menu, Modern Nomads is a great local option for an easy lunch or dinner when visiting Mongolia. It’s a place where locals also love to eat, so you know it must be good!
Great Mongol Restaurant & Pub
Great Mongol is one of Ulaanbaatar’s biggest beer halls. It’s a great place to sit, order Naadam khuushuur, and have a local beer. Come at dinner time to see the place come to life, this is one of the best restaurants for people watching, and making local friends in Ulaanbaatar.
Author: Breanna Wilson
Hi! Sain uu! I’m Breanna, an American travel writer and adventurer living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for more than 5 years. I’ve written for and been featured in Condé Nast Traveler, CNN, Forbes, and the New York Times, among others. Read more of my Mongolia travel articles here.
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I’d like to recommend Зочин монгол зоог (Zochin Mongol Zoog-4, near the Beatles statue in downtown). It offers authentic Mongolian food, esp. сүүтэй цай (Mongolian milk tea) and боорцог (Boortsog). As you mentioned, the services during tourist season are not as expected.