Mongolian menu on Train #004

You get just a day to try your hand at some good and very reasonably priced Mongolian fare. The restaurant takes Yuan, so no need to do a black market deal for local currency (of course they say no one will take anything else at the border!) The menu is in English, Chinese and Mongolian with pictures of the main dishes. Highlights for me are the beef dumpling soup, the “Traveller’s Beef” and the Russian Champanska. The best local beer is a bottle of Golden Gobi, and to give you an idea, the filling dumpling soup and a GG beer will cost about £4. Much cheaper and nicer than the Russian restaurant carriage..

The whole thing is over before you know it – closing at 18.30 local time when you start Chinese border formalities. I recommend a blow out lunch then a snack at dinner, as they run out of some things as the day goes on.