Mongo's Restaurant Essen — Restaurant in Essen

I was expecting a proper Mongolian grill restaurant. It is however a generic Asian fusion restaurant, however a very good one i might add. The concept is quite interesting, you pick your raw food of choice and marinade, and they do the cooking for you, so it is worth having the all you can eat option (at around 29 EUR) rather than the a la carte ones, just so that you can explore the many marinades they offer in combination with an abundance of fresh options in the food ingredients open bar. You can find anything from carrot and tofu to clams, seabass or zebra and kangaroo meat, so perhaps worth pacing yourself in terms of ratio sizes while you create the assortment for grilling. The desert selection is also worth trying but the platter was more than sufficient for four people. besides the food abundance i particularly liked the wine selection. Service was very good! Perhaps worth mentioning that a subtle grill smell will impregnate your clothes. An enjoyable experience that was worth it all in all. I think it's a restaurant you should visit...

Wow! I love this restaurant. The food is so fresh and you have plenty to choose from. The concept is pick what you want and then the chef will cook it for you with your chosen sauce. You can either choose all you can eat, have a one off meal or choose items from the menu. The staff are all really nice and the restaurant has a chilled vibe and is really cosy. There are lots of drinks to choose from, alcoholic and non alcoholic, beers, wines and cocktails. I have to mention I was blown away when I saw Chang from Thailand on the menu. I've been to the Mongo's in Dortmund and i totally loved it. The one in Essen did...

Fresh ingredients, healthy, but no taste to the meal at all. I had my own selection with the sause with the sesame seeds and orange from their selection + rice noodles, some veggies, shrimp. Everything was fresh, but I was VERY disappointed, how did they manage to make it taste like nothing. No spices, I felt the sauce for like 5 seconds total. Its was not salted at all, nothing!

On top of that, I got a Mango lemonade, it tasted like a Multivitamin, more like orange than mango. I might give this one more chance, with different sauce (Curry sauce seemed to have some flavor), but not...