Opened since 2008 with its first location in Beijing, I have never tried this style of BBQ until I went to their Longemont branch with ex-colleagues.
Long Time Ago was the brainchild of Inner Mongolian native Song Ji 宋吉, who had the brilliant idea that everything can be BBQed. He went back to his native Hulunbuir 呼伦贝尔 and tasted his first no-smoke BBQ, and brought that idea back to Beijing. From their first shop in Gui Street 簋街 in Beijing in 2008, they have since opened in over 59 locations in China.
The highlight of the evening undoubtedly was the automated skewer turner. The first time I saw this kind of self-turning grill was in India at BBQ Nation. They used charcoal instead of an electric grill, but I was told in other branches in Beijing, they used charcoal too.
They do not grant any franchising license, so every shop is owned directly by the group. Therefore they can assure the quality of the meat and skewers of every shop. And like all the successful restaurant chains in China these days, the service level in the restaurant and peripheral services are what made them stand out from the competition.
Firstly, their lamb comes from their own sourced farmers in Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia. Hulunbuir Grasslands represent some of the finest patches of untouched wilderness in the country. Hence, the herds graze in pristine grassland and water source. And this can be tasted in their lamb skewers, not musky and really tender.
Everything is skewered in standard steel rods with a gear at one end that would catch onto the spinner in the grill, which would rotate it automatically to give an even heat to the skewer. This standardisation also helps to maintain a consistent food presentation and quality. Very smart.
You place the skewers onto the latch one by one and let the electric griller takes over. Everything takes a different time to grill, and the waiters are on hand to help with the process, reminding you to take them off the heat or placed them on the rack above to keep warm. If something gets burnt, they replace them FOC.
Some of the harder to cook skewers like offals are precooked in the kitchen and you just need to finish them on the griller. This gives the diners some variations in pacing, so you have something to eat while waiting for the meat to get done.
And if everything gets cooked at the same time, the skewers can be kept warm on the rack. And if it turns cold, you can return them to the grill. How convenient.
OK, the food was not that fantastic, I had better BBQ skewers at roadside stores. But the Haidilao-style service sets this chain apart from those stores, which very often had very temperamental bosses and staff. But really, the food wasn’t the attraction despite whatever their marketing wants to say. And it is not quite value-for-money, our dinner for 10 persons costed us over ¥2800.
Long Time Ago 很久以前 – 中山公园龙之梦店
上海市长宁区长宁路1018号中山公园龙之梦6层 (蓝中庭)
Visited Jun 2024
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