Over the past several months, rumors started flying amongst friends and co-workers about a new bodega on 8th Avenue with an eclectic but intriguing variety of international foods. European friends murmured about their hefty line-up of Kinder chocolates and Cadbury confectioneries, and Korean friends spoke of their impressive stock of kimchi, banchan, and packaged noodle soups. The bodega that they were referring to, was none other than Midtown West newcomer, Bread & Honey.

During our first pass, we’d unfairly labeled this place as a “generic deli”. Instead, Bread & Honey is like a bodega on steroids. Sure there’s your standard sandwich, soup and salad stations, and a tremendous steam table of prepared by the lb food. But there’s also an incredible and eclectic line-up of snacks and groceries to keep your office drawer stocked, or for a quick shopping trip on the way home.

In addition to the standard mega-brands, there are organic brands such as Green & Black chocolates, Annie’s, Brad’s, etc as well as local brands such as Michaels of Brooklyn and Sarabeth’s fruit preserves. Equally impressive is the variety of Asian groceries, whether they be frozen, jarred, or dry – it’ll be a handy substitute for H-Mart in K-town for sure. But since this is Midtown Lunch, and not “Midtown Grocery Shopping”, I stopped by the Mongolian BBQ station for a try.

For the few readers who are not familiar with the concept of “Mongolian BBQ” (quotes because it’s a concept of Taiwanese origin, and bears no resemblance to Mongolian cuisine), you grab a large bowl, and fill it at your leisure from a large buffet of raw ingredients. Being a rookie at Mongolian BBQ, I can’t say how this stacks up against other versions of it. However I was impressed with the variety and quality of raw veggies, herbs, proteins, including slices of chicken, beef, krab, and shrimp, and carbohydrates such as rice and several types of noodles. You have the option of adding sauces, such as Japanese curry, mapo tofu sauce, their house sauce, oyster sauce, etc, as well as condiments such as minced garlic, minced ginger, salt, pepper, etc.

Next, hand the bowl over to be cooked on a massive round skillet, and finally, take your bespoke bowl of pseudo-Mongolian goodness to the front counter, and pay $7.99 per pound. At this point, I should point out Zach’s excellent essay on maximizing the bang for your buffet buck – which I obviously didn’t adhere to judging by the amount of noodles in my dish. But I learned my lesson, and I’ll certainly be back for another go. And I’ll certainly rely on Bread & Honey when the need for an impromptu snack or grocery shopping run arises.

Bread & Honey, 941 8th Ave (btw 55+56th), 212-245-0007

Thanks to Lunch’er Mangostrawberry for giving us the heads up about Bread & Honey, a new Deli/Supermarket/Buffet/Sandwich/Udon noodle place on 8th Ave between 55th & 56th. Normally this sort of venue wouldn’t be worthy of investigation, but when we hear the words Mongolian BBQ station (possibly the only one of its kind in this area) all bets are off. I did a quick cruise through the store to inspect.

Aesthetically speaking, it’s not much of a looker. In fact it’s more like the bastard child of a freaky 3-way between a LES bodega, Cafe Duke, and an industrial warehouse. It’s also within spitting distance of a Gristedes, Food Emporium, and the Columbus Circle Whole Foods, so I’m not optimistic about the longevity of this place.

The prices of their sandwiches are certainly ML worthy.

There’s an extensive steam table of your standard buffet items, priced at $7.99/lb, featuring an eclectic line-up of American-Chinese, Korean, Japanese, a salad bar, and American comfort foods.

The Mongolian BBQ station is at the back of the store, complete with instructions to tell you how it’s done. I’d already had lunch prior to this visit, so I didn’t try any of the food. However, early adopters should let us know what they think in the comments.

Bread & Honey, 941 8th Ave (btw 55+56th), 212-245-0007

Anyway, regardless of its origin, Mongolian BBQ is here, and people love it.  I’m constantly asked “Where can I find some good Mongolian BBQ in Midtown?”  Which is a tough one for me to answer, because I don’t usually eat Mongolian BBQ.  And there are four words to explain why: Pay by the Pound.  Take me to an all you can eat Mongolian BBQ (like Fire & Ice in Boston), and I’m a madman.  You force me to weigh my food and there’s going to be trouble… but for the sake of you people, I headed to Food World- the freshest looking Mongolian BBQ I’ve seen in Midtown.

What I got, Mongolian BBQ Porn, and a +/- after the jump…

I’ve seen a few Mongolian BBQ places in Midtown, but Food World is a really good combination of size, and freshness.  Everything looks really clean and good, and if you are skeeved out by normal by the lb. buffets, you can take comfort in knowing that this food is going to be cooked, *after* you remove it from the public trays, making it a lot cleaner.  Mongolian BBQ is not a difficult concept to understand, but the instructions are summed up pretty well in this photo:

At almost $8 a lb., the rules of Mongolian BBQ are very similar to the rules of the by the lb. buffet.  Big Money Items.  You gotta do it.  Nothing on the buffet costs more than $8 a lb, so no matter what, you’re getting ripped off- but by loading up on the meat and seafood you are at least getting closer to that $8 a lb price point.  Normally I would be worried taking seafood off a buffet like this, but Food World’s shrimp and scallops actually look reasonably edible- especially compared to other Mongolian BBQ’s I’ve seen.  (They hadn’t been deveined though, which I know will be an issue for some folks.)

Starch is the killer, and Food World makes it real tough, offering multiple noodle choices which all look delicious.  It was too much for me to handle, and I caved- turning my stir fry into a chow fun sauteed udon style noodle dish.  I tried to make up for it by adding more beef, and less veggies but I knew I was screwing myself.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that noodles + water + oil soaked griddle = heavy.

Once you fill your bowl, you go over to the cooking station and select your sauce.  Most Mongolian BBQ’s will add the sauce for you, but Food World allows you to add your own sauce, and mix and match as you please.  They also have fresh ginger and garlic, which allows you to really get creative based on your own personal tastes.  It can be a little overwhelming trying to choose a sauce, and adding it yourself, but it is a great perk for those who always find that places like this add too much or too little sauce.

I went with the “Ginger Sauce”, and tossed in some extra fresh garlic for good measure.  They have about ten sauces in all- so to try all of them and report back would have been too much Mongolian BBQ, even for me.  I have my limits, people.  The Ginger Sauce and garlic combo was pretty awesome- but if you have a favorite, feel free to post it as a comment below.  

With the sauce applied, we were ready for cooking.  With sword-like giant sticks to move the food around, the guy behind the sheild-like griddle moved with the quickness and efficiency of a soldier in the Mongol army.  You like that?  Actually, they just looked like guys with giant chopsticks cooking Chinese food on a giant round griddle.  Nothing Mongolian about it.

After a few minutes of cooking, I head over to judgement day.  With the over/under set at one pound, I put all my money on the “Over”, and won pretty handily:

It’s too bad nobody was there to take my sucker bet.  The meal was delicious, but I couldn’t help but think that for $6, I could have had the Beef Chow Fun at Hing Won- and it would have tasted exactly the same, if not better.  Of course, I would have missed out on all the fun of picking out my own ingredients, plus the company of any co-workers who will only go to crappy & generic Midtown delis.

I can’t say Food World is the best Mongolian BBQ in Midtown, but it is the nicest one I’ve seen.  Have you been to a better one?  Do you have a favorite flavor combo?  Feel free to post it as a comment below…

THE + (What someone who likes this place will say)

• The ingredients all looked really fresh and good
• The food is cooked *after* you take it out of the public trays, making it much cleaner then normal by the lb buffet food
• The Food World Mongolian BBQ has scallops and big shrimp, both of which were delicious and as fresh as can be expected.  This makes it less of a rip off.
• Big selection
• I love coming up with my own food creations, so I love Mongolian BBQ

THE – (What someone who doesn’t like this place will say)

• I am a fat man, and should never pay for my lunch based on what it weighs
• It’s tough to get away from Mongolian BBQ for less than $9, making it a total rip-off!
• If you want Chinese stir fry, you can get it pre-made at a Chinese restaurant for much cheaper then $8 a lb.
• I would never eat seafood from a generic Midtown deli

Food World, 20 E. 46th St. (btw. 5th + Madison), 212-661-1110

More Mongolian BBQ photos on the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Page