Mongolian cooking is built on what survives -40°C: mutton, flour, and milk in a dozen preserved forms. Three days take you from dawn dairy halls and neighbourhood buuz canteens to hot-stone khorkhog, vegan reinventions and Seoul Street draught.
The city's best-stocked food market: a dairy hall piled with aaruul (dried curd), tarag yoghurt and summer airag, plus horse meat, Khövsgöl fish and imported cheese. Open 09:00–19:00, cash only, vendors weigh in kilos.
Mongolia's biggest fast-buuz chain, run canteen-style: point at steamed mutton buuz, fried khuushuur, tsuivan noodles and a bowl of salty milk tea, pay at the till, eat within five minutes. Open from 08:00 daily.
The sprawling western market where ger-district households shop: whole sheep butchered to order, sacks of flour for home-made khuushuur, blocks of curd stacked like bricks and boortsog dough fried at the edges. Closed Tuesdays.
A city-wide bakery chain whose counters mix Soviet-era pastry with Mongolian baking: boortsog dough sticks, poppy rolls, cream cakes and ul boov, the stamped 'shoe sole' biscuit stacked in odd-numbered layers for Tsagaan Sar.
Wood-panelled rooms serving the full national repertoire with photo menus in English: khorkhog cooked with fire-heated river stones, mutton buuz platters, tsuivan, horse-meat dishes and aaruul desserts. Open 10:00–23:00.
Mongolia's first vegan restaurant, opened by Buddhist practitioners off Juulchin Street: soy-protein buuz, khuushuur and tsuivan folded to the same shapes as the meat originals, served with sea-buckthorn juice and steamed rice.
The homegrown hot-pot chain that Ulaanbaatar eats at in winter: a divided broth pot per table, plates of paper-thin mutton and beef, hand-pulled noodles, and a sauce bar where you mix sesame, chilli and garlic yourself.
A small wine-led bistro behind Choijin Lama Temple where steppe ingredients meet European technique: Khövsgöl fish, slow-cooked lamb shoulder, Gobi camel and one of the longest by-the-glass lists in the country.
The expat-founded café that has anchored UB breakfasts since the 1990s: strong espresso, Cuban sandwiches, key lime pie and a noticeboard of city news. Breakfast from 09:00, closed Sundays, courtyard tables in summer.
An almost round-the-clock buuz canteen where taxi drivers and students queue for khuushuur fried to order — hand-sized mutton pasties served three to a plate with pickled cabbage and a bowl of broth on the side.
The ground-floor supermarket and top-floor souvenir counters are the simplest place to buy the Mongolian pantry: vacuum-packed aaruul, sea-buckthorn syrup, curd blocks, canned horse meat and Chinggis and Soyombo vodka.
Ulaanbaatar's longest-running pub pours house-brewed lager alongside Chinggis and Sengur draught, with mutton ribs and khuushuur on the bar menu, live bands most nights and a summer terrace facing Seoul Street.