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Best Bargain Restaurants: Tony Cheng's Mongolian Restaurant

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Tony Cheng's Mongolian Restaurant
Washington

With only two specialties on the menu, either Mongolian barbecue or a Mongolian hot pot, the choice of a meal at Tony Cheng's depends on whether you're in the mood for self-service or up to the challenge of cooking your own food. You can decide while nibbling on the complimentary appetizer, a small plate of pickled napa cabbage.

If you go for the $13.95, all-you-can-eat Mongolian barbecue, make as many trips as you want to the massive cast-iron grill that is the focal point of the dining room. Select a variety of meats and vegetables from the refrigerated bins surrounding the grill, sauce them at the condiment station, and pass your laden bowl to the grill cook. After a few deft turns with extra-long chopsticks, the cook will sweep your barbecue off the sizzling grill into a clean bowl. At table, Mongolian barbecue is eaten by placing portions of it between two halves of flaky, house-made sesame rolls.

The hot pot is the Asian counterpart to fondue. Served for a minimum of two, it starts with a $5-per-person charge, which includes a charcoal-fired pot filled with boiling broth and a small platter of cellophane noodles, vegetables, and bean curd. There is a small additional charge for each platter of seafood, meats, and vegetables one orders to add to the pot. For first-timers, a waiter stands by to suggest the order of ingredients to be added to the pot and the length of time they should be cooked.

Tony Cheng's Mongolian Restaurant , 619 H Street NW, Washington; 202/842-8669. Open Sunday through Thursday 11 am to 11 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to midnight. AE, MC, V. MapIt!

QUALITY: ****Excellent; *** Superior; **Very Good; * Good
PRICE RANGE: $$$= Very Expensive; $$ Expensive; $=Moderate; ¢=Inexpensive

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