Arag Mongolian Cuisine

🇲🇳 MONGOLIA
📍 3012 Wilshire Blvd., Westlake, Central Los Angeles
🅿️ Street Parking
🥤 No Alcohol

Without much warning, the seven year old Golden Mongolian Restaurant at this space on Wilshire Blvd. since 2014 suddenly closed on the first of August 2021. This was after surviving a year and a half of mostly takeout business during the pandemic. Thankfully the closing was just a switching of the guard, as the owners had been looking to sell for quite some time and found a new Mongolian ownership team.

If you have ever found yourself traveling through Mongolia, by train, bus, or even inside your own car, your most vivid memories probably all have the lingering scents of lamb dusted over them. The animal is a part of almost every meal, and is in various stages of being cleaned and cooked wherever you go. Opening the door of Arag Mongolian Cuisine is a pathway straight back to the country, starting with the aroma of lamb that hits your nose with that first step inside.

Thankfully Arag has kept this quality from the restaurant they replaced, your chance to travel (back) to Mongolia is still right here on Wilshire Blvd. a block or so east of the Koreatown border. By the time you find parking, the area will seem very familiar, a tangle of construction sites and Southwestern Law School buildings. Now that Nadima's in Torrance has closed, it is once again the only place in town to get real Mongolian foods.

Not much needed to be changed on the inside since the cuisine stayed the same, although the previous owner may have taken some of the artwork home. It is now replaced with new works, and a lighter and softer color on the walls replaces the blood red paint. Cathy Chaplin at Eater LA reported that the owners wanted to make the menu a bit more traditional and be "more representative of what is eaten back home."

While the opening day menu was one laminated page, the owners have expanded this into a QR code that leads to ten pages of scrolling. Where Golden Mongolian had one type of each dish, Arag is doing multiple options and really trying to put the full range of Mongolian cuisine in focus for Los Angeles. Many of the customers are part of the small Mongolian community in Southern California, but it is also nice to see people new to the cuisine stumble in and experience something new.

You can sample the dumplings of Mongolia, called buuz, in a few different forms, but if you are only able to order a couple things, small versions can be found in the traditional lamb soup with dumplings ($15.99, above). This rich, salty soup is delicious, with thinly sliced fatty cuts of lamb and small dumplings that burst with flavor.

You will find that one of the more common foods that was always enjoyed at Golden Mongolian is done even better here if you order the tsuivan ($14.99, above). This stir-fried plate uses freshly prepared noodles, some chopped up vegetables, and the meat of your choice. After the noodles are cooked, they are added to the stir fry and soak in the flavors of that meat and the oils used to cook everything.

It was noticed that shakers of salt and pepper were brought out, although only at this table that did not include Mongolian people. This brought back a memory from Nadima's where she almost was apologizing that Mongolian flavors were subtle and not enough for many in Los Angeles. Tsuivan is indeed a dish of simple flavors, but those flavors are really good and no salt or pepper was necessary.

If you are in the mood for the larger version of those Mongolian dumplings called buuz, come with some time to spare, as they take more than 30 minutes to prepare. If you have less time on your hands, the deep fried khuushuur ($10.99, above and below) are a fantastic stand in, filled with beef unless requested otherwise. The fried envelope has a very thin crisp edge, but remains soft and chewy, the interior soaks up some of the fatty liquid that cooks out of the meat.

These are also available with chicken or vegetables, or you can upgrade them for a couple bucks with lamb offal. Arag also has steamed versions of buuz, or Russian-style deep-fried pies called pirozhki which are very popular in Mongolia.

On the menu you will also find undugtei khuurga, annotated in English as a Mongolian BBQ plate. This of course a more real barbecue of Mongolia, not that Taiwanese (not Mongolian) invented stir fry (not barbecue) that is so popular that quite a few US-based chains have popped up. Unlike khorkhog, which is a slow-cooked festival food that really is barbecue, khuurga seems to be an attempt to make sure anyone walking in expecting stir fry gets what they want.

Grab a cup of Mongolian traditional milk tea ($1.50/person, below) for a tea experience like no other. Technically this is green tea, but it is truly hard to discern any flavors like that over the salty, almost meaty milkiness of the brew. It is not for everyone, but you will see it in front of almost every Mongolian who eats here, so it is worth trying.

🇲🇳🇲🇳🇲🇳

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World Los Angeles is and always has been free. It is a hobby born of passion and never solicits money or free food from restaurants. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better please tell your friends about us and if you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World Los Angeles is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

Thank you!

VENMO: @JAREDCOHEE

CASH APP: $JaredCohee

PAYPAL: (no account necessary, use link)