This dish is a little sentimental for me. You see, when Ryan and I had our first date a little over a decade ago, we went to a Mongolian BBQ. If you’ve never been, its an all you can eat restaurant concept where you pick and choose your meat and veggies and then they cook it on a big grill in front of you. Now most 15 year old girls would be horrified for this to be their first date. I mean all the slurping of pasta, the aroma of garlic, peppers and onions and the high probability that after the date you would smell like you spent a couple days there, would probably have a few girls begging to be taken somewhere to get a salad. But not me, I was actually quite thrilled.

I had been to a Mongolian grill before so I knew just what to expect. There were various kinds of meat, fish, veggies and sauces spread out before me. The success of my meal was at my finger tips. And I did not hold back, I piled on the chicken, the veggies, the sauce and tons of garlic. Hey my date was eating it too and we all know that two garlic breaths cancel each other out, right?

After our first date, the restaurant quickly became “our place”. The dynamic cook who would toss plates and spin around at the grill even knew us and would talk to us every time we came in. Needless to say, it was kind of sad when we moved away and could no longer go. Sadder still, I was informed that it recently shut it’s doors. It was this news that inspired to give it a try at home.

I knew they used yakisoba noodles so I picked up some at the store along with my favorite veggies and meat. The trick here is to make sure your meat and veggies are thinly sliced. That way they cook up really quickly. I have found that if the chicken breast is slightly frozen it makes slicing it thin really easy. For the broccoli, small florets will do.

Remember the idea behind Mongolian BBQ is that you get to pick and chose what you want. These are the ingredients that Ryan and I would add to our stir fry. If you prefer other veggies or meat feel free to substitute.