Khublai Khan

Tried this place for dinner as it was recommended by a good friend. Had a browse through the menu online and thought, hmm interesting why not? Boy, was I wrong. I would not return to this place even if you paid me.
The idea behind it is great and unique. However the quality of the meat was appalling. Went for the full Mongolian feast. The barbeque was a good concept. All the meat was very hard and difficult to chew (and yes I have tried the types of meat before and it is not meant to be THAT hard and tasteless). The worst bit of the meal was the OCTOPUS. I grew up in a seaside town eating seafood, this was by far the worst octopus I’ve had in my life. It wasn’t fresh at all — couldn’t even bring myself to swallow it. Don’t bother having any dessert but if you are, avoid the crème brûlée.

This is definitely a place for a party more than a date.
I had heard tales of the Mongolian bbq place somewhere near The Shore but it had never struck me as somewhere to try, more a novelty that existed in Edinburgh (like those deep-​fried butter balls I read about in a paper back home). My friend, however, had her heart set on this place for her birthday celebrations after hearing they dressed you up as a Khan if it was your birthday…
So 10 or so of us rocked up on a Monday night, yes Monday, the opening hours need to change. There were two groups in that night, and no one else. We were seated next to each other in the room with the meat and the grill. My friend and the other birthday girl from the nearby group were decked out in their Khan gear and the evening began.
The set up is that, for £22.50 (more at the weekends) you get to choose a starter, which includes zebra and kangaroo dishes. Then you have unlimited goes at the meat table, after which you get to choose a dessert, the list of which is pretty standard and unexotic. Not too shabby.
The meat table is quite an achievement. You take a bowl, add vegetables, add spices (you’re free to follow the spice recipes detailed on the wall) and then choose from an array of exotic meats. Lllama, zebra, kangaroo were n offer along with some game such as pheasant and wild boar. Chicken and beef were available for the less experimental and the fish available ranged from white fish and prawns to wee baby octopuses which were adorable and tasty. When you have selected your dish, you hand it over to the kitchen and they cook it on a large grill, with SWORDS!
There is ample opportunity for dishes to be mixed up, which happened to us several times but was never a problem. I’ve also read a review or two which mention that with everything being cooked on the same grill the tastes blend together. Well, they do keep the individual bowls separated and they get rid of the manky left over bits after each dish so you’re always on a clean grill.
The selection of flowering teas was definitely an attraction, several different kinds were ordered to our table and there were plenty of ooooohs and aaaaahs as they blossomed. Definitely worth a gander.
The place is decorated with generic Mongolian garb, including drapes, loads of drapey things everywhere, swords, pictures etc. But still has a bit of a canteen feel to it. The staff are really nice and seem to chop and change between jobs waiter becomes chef and chef becomes bartender.
Overall it was a pleasant evening. I did feel a bit dissatisfied at the ends of the night as despite eating LOADS the gap in time between each bowl made the waiting around a bit bothersome. I’m not sure I’d go again but they deserve 4 stars for the spectacle and the range of food on offer.

This is a fun night out. The food isn’t awesome, but more than worth the money. The venue also caters to large groups and the staff are very efficient and pleasant. Well worth a visit!

Visited this place on Friday for dinner, the place seemed a little quiet at first but it soon got busier as the night went on. It was quite a new way of dining for me: experimentational eating! You pick the starters and desserts from the pre-​planned menu, but the main course (s) are constructed by yourself! I chose Smoked Mackerel Pâté and my fellow diner chose Kangaroo Haggis for starters. Both were a tasty introduction for things to come.
I should warn you, this place isn’t for the faint hearted, if you’re not prepared to try new things, then stay clear! I, however always like to try things at least once before I reserve judgement. As say this because there is a wide range of unusual meats on offer, like camel, ostrich, wild boar, kangaroo, zebra, crocodile etc (although when we went there was no crocodile on the menu, due it only being served when they are killed for it’s skin)! They do still have the usual meats, chicken etc on offer for the less experimental.
Anyway, for the main course you are invited to choose from a selection of noodles or rice, a variety of veg, spices, sauces and meats/​seafood. You mount these up in a wee bowl yourself. I became quite cunning in stacking the veg round the edge to create a deeper bowl and load more food in! :P You then pass it on to a friendly chef, who cooks it on a Mongolian barbecue in front of you. I enjoyed this element of having fun with your food. The only draw back would be is that because you are creating your own dish and own mix of food that you have no one to blame but yourself if it tastes bad!
We shared Golden Syrup and Orange Pudding and Mars Bar Cheese Cake for dessert. The pudding was light and yummy but the cheese cake was just to rich and sweet for me. All in all it was a fun dining experience, although I advise you not to pile all the different meats into one bowl (to try them all) as you then never know what you are actually eating after it’s been cooked!
ps. Take an extra layer with you too, I found it a little cold in there.

So, most interesting discovery of the week: Camel. Is. Tasty.
It had been a good 2 or 3 years since my last venture to Khublai Khan, down at the Shore, so I was glad to see some very positive changes from this already interesting eatery. Firstly, they are now open Mon-​Wed as opposed to only prolonged weekend evenings. And second, the already exotic selection of meats had been expanded further with the addition of camel, baby octopus and mixed wild game (rabbit, venison & pheasant).
For those that don’t know, Khublai Khan is a Mongolian restaurant in the Leith area. If the Mongolian origins aren’t enough of a twist, the way they present dinner certainly is. Starters are done in an a’la carte manner, the customer selecting from a bunch of pre-​determined dishes such as Kangaroo Haggis or Wild Game Enchiladas, both worth a try, particularly the latter.
Main courses are where Khublai Khan think outside the box. Upon arrival, you will be seated at your table, each place at which is allocated a numerical token and matching placemat. Once your starter is done and dusted, take your token with you to the buffet-​style table, grab a bowl and get to work preparing your own dish from the multitude of ingredients sprawled before thee:
1) Choose your base: rice, noodles or beansprouts.
2) Choose your veg, options include carrot, peppers, onions, spring onions, beans and many more.
3) Next come the herbs, spices and sauces. The concept here is that there are a plethora of sauce recipes on both the placemats and the wall above the buffet. Follow the ingredients on the recipes to construct a tasty dish or create your own, it’s entirely up to you. Although make sure you don’t add Thai Mix and Curry Powder to the same dish… whoops!
4) Finally my favourite part: the meat. This is where Khublai Khan stands out amongst the Shore crowd. The meats on offer vary from the usual chicken, beef or pork to exotic seafood like calamari and shark, all the way round to the downright mental such as ostrich, springbok and kangaroo.
Once your bowl is full, shuffle yourself on over to the cooks area where you leave your bowl and numerical token. After that you can either get back to your seat and patiently wait, or if interested stand and watch the cooks at work, cooking up a storm of mixed dishes on their huge hot plate.
The trick is to sample as many of these unusual dishes as possible, so customers are advised to add small amounts each visit to the buffet. Having been a few times now I can testify to that!!! As Ron Burgundy would say, «Mmm, this wild boar is good, but it is filling!».
Mongolian Feast option includes a set starter and dessert with the ALL-​YOU-​CAN-​EAT buffet sandwiched between and comes in at about £20. The staff all seemed pretty savvy on my last visit, a sociable bunch who were happy to encourage and get involved with the banter of each individual party. Good craic.
An absolute bargain and a complete must for the adventurous diners out there.

Mongolian barbecue merriment abounds at Khublai Khan’s. You play the key role in preparing your food, choosing from their infamous selection of meats, some of which are «culled from South African safari parks», so in many senses you can be the author of your own culinary misfortune.
Overall, we said: «I think that Khublai Khan’s is fun and different, and for a large group for, say, a birthday (where the birthday boy/​girl gets to sit in a throne and wear a crown), it would be loads of fun, but I found it to be much like the ones I went to in the States, lovely, but not on my general list of places I will pop into on a regular night.»

Recommend for a truly unique and fun night out. I love interactive dining experiences. Have been several timesit’s always a treat and lots of fun!

My husband (fiancé at the time) took me here on my first trip to Scotland– September 2009. It was the most amazing food I have ever experienced. It was a bit late and the restaurant was not busy at all. They were out of a couple of the meats, so perhaps it’s best to not to get your hopes up about a specific experience.
The staff were quick to serve us. The beer we ordered was not very tasty. We got a pitcher and ended up not enjoying it much, but the food was amazing. It was a lot more expensive than I am use to paying at restaurants in the US, but I assume it was not excessive considering how pricy eating in the UK is.
Although I don’t cook this type of food, I stole the place mat that detailed the ‘recipes’ for each flavor. We still have it and I love that I kept it because I will never forget one of the best meals my husband and I have ever had together.

Tres original!
Such an amazing place to go to, ina group or even with a friend ‚
just make sure that the people you are with looove food!
this mongolian restaurant has a lot to offer, i mean you can create as many dishes as your stomach can take ! they have all sorts of spices and herbs so you can make your own style dish you can go mongolian, indian chinese even italian ! as for the meat, wow !!! they have stuff i never even imagined that i would taste !
Oh for starters go for kangaroo enchiladas, they are heavenly!
I definitely recommend it to any food lover!

Good food, good fun, and a little bit different. And affordable. I’ll definitely be back.

Based on all the fabulous reviews I’ve read about Khublai Khan (and despite some mixed reviews from friends who are less than committed carnivores), I was keen to try it out. Sad to say, the experience was disappointing.
If you love meat, the main attraction of your night is hanging out with a big group of your friends, and you’ve got a rumble in your tummy when you pitch up, then this place could be great fun. If you manage to avoid pricier times of the week or year, then it could also be good value. A wide range of exotic meats are on the menu, including zebra, wild boar, ostrich, springbok, and kangaroo, and with an all you can eat buffet you can indulge in as many of these delights as your heart desires. For the less adventurous there is also beef, lamb and chicken (pre-​cooked to avoid any nasties) and seafood.
On the other hand, if you love quality food, enjoy heavily spiced cooking, are vegetarian or allergic to nuts, then I suggest you stay away. The meat selection is accompanied by a basic choice of noodles or white rice, plus a small selection distinctly unadventurous vegetables: button mushrooms, bean sprouts, finely chopped broccoli and cauliflower, sweetcorn, cabbage, courgette and tomatoes. Our pumpkin soup was completely overpowered by the clashing taste of heavy meat stock.
For the main barbecue there are a good selection of spices, oils and seasonings, plus recipe suggestions that promise flavour sensations, but the restaurant concept seems ill-​suited to the production of quality results. Spices like chilli, coriander, and cumin need to be pre-​fried in oil, and most herbs and spices should be cooked into food for a long time, in order to release their flavour. Cooking them quickly on a hotplate adds nothing and can taste raw — like the difference between cheap wine and good wine. You also need to add a fair bit of liquid in order to prevent food from drying out on the hotplate, but since it’s flat and everyone’s food is cooked cheek by jowl, the liquid from one dish contaminates neighbouring food.
The end result is the food tasted messy, and was often surprisingly bland despite having plenty of spices or coconut milk added at the start. The vegetables tended to be slightly overcooked, and the meat can be tough. I’m sure it all seems better after a few pints of beer. Perhaps that’s why they gave us a large thimble of vodka at the start.
We were the only small table that night, and though the atmosphere was jolly, in between the paper place mats, silly hats and cloaks, pints of beer, predictable vegetables, and over-​excited patrons, it felt more like a kids birthday party at Pizza Hut than a dining experience. Don’t get me wrong, those pizza parties were great fun! It’s just not the sort of thing I want to pay a flat £26 for (excluding drinks).
As a final note, the service was inattentive. We were not offered any explanation of the setup, staff omitted the bread and did not take our order for what turned out to be obligatory starters. This was caught by the manager, who was doing double duty as a chef, when we eventually pitched up with our mains.

The food is great here, I love trying all the different meats and experimenting with more herbs and spices than have ever seen the inside of my kitchen!
First went here last year with a mate who was organising a charity fundraiser. The tickets were a little bit pricier that the usual £20odd but worth it for the charity and, if I’m not mistaken, the charity got the proceeds of the bar. I could be wrong on that point but we raised loads of money anyway. Definitely worth looking into if you’re looking for a charity gig!
I’ve been back with my man recently, who is allergic to half the world it seems, and he loved that he could pick and choose and not have to worry about checking the ingredients.
Definitely recommend it, love it here!

All you can eat buffet of exotic meats!!! A heavenly place for a hungry meat loving Scotsman. You choose the meat, extra ingredients & sauces then give it to the chef to BBQ it all up for you! Amazing! Great Fun.

Interesting place — unique for Edinburgh. The food is both tasty and entertaining. It’s not a place for a vegetarian! It’s all about the meat and it tastes great… although I do wonder how they find Zebra meat in Scotland. When the place is packed it can be a slow process, but the food is cheap and it’s fun picking your own meats and constructing the sauces.

I loved this place :) Ended up in here for a hen night, was a bit sceptical at first due to the meat choices, however for anyone a bit more adventurous than myself you’re in for a treat. There is certainly plenty to choose from, meat, veg, noodle wise etc. There are menu suggestions available (which were great) or you can simply create a meal of your choice. Once you have all the ingredients you simply hand the bowl over to the chef to cook (didnt take long at all) and then a waiter will bring it back to you :) It was excellent value for money, we went along on the Thursday evening and got the pre-​theatre prices. Starters were delicious as were the deserts, and some of the predefined meal names are hilarious! A bit of history can be found in the toilets with a brief insight in Ghengis (sp) Khan himself. The staff were great, the food was great, everything about the place was great, i’d highly recommend it :)

When I was first told about this place I must admit I got pretty excited. The idea of all those exotic meats (boar, ostrich, zebra, et al) being cooked with veg, herbs, spices and sauces of my choice is my idea of a perfect dining experience. I wasn’t disappointed! A buffet table is laid out for all diners to pick what they want into a bowl which is then handed over to the chef who cooks it all up. There is a large range of suggested receipes (which I recommend) or you can create your own dishes (which I only recommend if you know what you’re doing). Price wise it is very good value as it is all you can eat for the mains as well as a starter and a desert though I though the price of pints was a bit steep. I highly recommend at least one visit for the unique meat selection.

Fantasic value for money. You get your bowl, chose your ingredients, take it to the chef and watch him cook it on a giant hotplate in what feels like seconds. Repeat as often as you like. All for one price. This has to be the least risky environment to experiment with new foods in. If you don’t like it there is no embarassment, no offended chef, no re-​ordering or just plain going hungry and no extra cost, you just chuck it and try again. Consequently this is the place I learned to love Ostrich.
I imagine this is the perfect venue for picky eaters and the allergic/​intolerant who can be a pain to find a restaurant for (as you select your own ingredients they can sort themselves out — though i wouldn’t say it was safe for the deadly allergies).
I know it’s ideal for the hollow-​legged brigade as it’s all you can eat (I know people who take ‘all-​you-​can-​eat’ as a challenge). It’s also great for groups as everyone can go at their own pace.
It’s casual and the décor reflects that. The only downside is it can be a bit ‘bring your own atmosphere’, so I wouldn’t call it a date venue but if you go with a few people you’re guaranteed a good time.
Fun, affordable and probably the most exotic food you’ve ever experimented with.

This is a fantastic concept — mongolian bbq! It’s a real dining experience with lots of unusual items on the menu such as wild boar, ostrich, shark, springbok, and kangaroo. Basically you select which meat (s) you’d like, which vegetables, and you can either create your own sauce or they have recipes on the wall. You then take your dish to the chef at the huge hot plate who cooks it for you whilst you wait.
The number of times you can create dishes is unlimited and it’s a very unique way of eating, both the food that you will eat and the way in which it is cooked
This is not for the lazy diner, it includes real involvement on your part, to get creative and to help out. This is lots of fun and a great opportunity to try different dishes.
The price is very reasonable and I’d definitely recommend going here, it’s a fun dining experience!

this mongolian restaurant is fantastic. You make your own food, you pick your meats, veg, noodles or rice and your sauces/​herbs & spices and put this all into a bowl and take this upto the chef to cook. You can either stand and wait on it, or they will bring it to your table. You have some strange food like ostrich, shark, kangaroo etc. You can go up as many times as you want, so if you end up not liking it you can get something different.

Where else can you try WILD BOAR, OSTRICH, SHARK, VENISON, SPRINGBOK, KANGAROO, and ZEBRA, under one roof. You select your raw ingredients and then they are BBQ’d in front of you Mongolian style. Very different eating experience and very enjoyable. Highly recommended