What to eat in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter

The Muslim Quarter (回民街) in Xi'an starts behind the Drum Tower and runs north. It's heavily commercialised — Beiyuanmen Street is essentially a tourist food strip — but the food is real and the centuries-old Hui community is genuine. Here's what to eat in what order.

On arrival (afternoon snacks)

Liang pi (凉皮) — cold wheat-or-rice noodles in a chilli-vinegar dressing. Find a stall with fresh hand-cut noodles; ¥10–¥15.

Rou jia mo (肉夹馍) — the Shaanxi 'Chinese hamburger'. Stewed beef (halal version uses beef and cumin) in a flatbread bun. ¥10–¥15.

Persimmon doughnuts (黄桂柿子饼) — the local snack, fried persimmon-and-flour cakes with osmanthus sweetness.

Before dinner

Roasted lamb shanks at the larger street-side grills. Cumin, chilli, salt; eat with bare hands. ¥25–¥40 per shank.

Lamb skewers (羊肉串) — from any of the dozens of grill stalls. ¥3–¥6 per stick. Order 5–10 between two.

Stewed beef (酱牛肉) — sliced thin, plate-served. ¥40–¥80.

The main meal

Yang rou pao mo (羊肉泡馍) is the single dish you must try. The classic house is Lao Sun Jia (老孙家) on Dongda Jie, founded 1898. The technique:

1. Order at the counter; you receive a bowl with two pieces of dense unleavened flatbread (mo). 2. At your table, crumble the bread by hand into chickpea-sized pieces. Smaller is better — serious places critique your crumbling. 3. Return the bowl to the kitchen. The cook adds mutton broth, sliced mutton, vermicelli noodles, scallion, coriander, optional chilli paste. 4. Eat with a spoon in small bites; chew, don't slurp.

The whole crumbling process takes 10 minutes. Treat it as part of the meal, not as labour. ¥40–¥60.

Hand-pulled noodles

Biangbiang noodles (biáng biáng 面) — wide flat noodles, the size of a belt, dressed with vinegar, chilli oil, garlic, scallion, and sometimes minced beef. ¥18–¥28.

Saozi mian (臊子面) — narrow noodles in a sour-spicy soup with diced pork (or beef in halal versions), tofu, vegetables. The Qishan area's saozi mian is the canonical version.

Sweets and drinks

Mochi (糍粑) — sticky rice balls coated in soybean powder.

Eight-treasure rice porridge (八宝粥) — sweet glutinous rice with red dates, lotus seeds, longan, raisins.

Jingao (镜糕) — small round steamed rice cakes with sesame and rose-petal jam.

Rose-and-osmanthus glutinous rice cake — a Shaanxi sweet.

What to drink

• Yogurt drink in glass bottles (酸奶) sold from coolers at every shop. Particularly the big-bottle kind with the foil cap. ¥6–¥10.
• Sour plum juice (酸梅汤) — house-made; not the bottled version.
• Beer and Yanjing — at the dinner restaurants. Halal restaurants generally do not serve alcohol.

Where it gets best

The deeper-in lanes (Beiyuanmen → Xiyangshi → Damaishi) get progressively less touristy. The Damaishi lane has more locals than Beiyuanmen.

Timing

The street is most active 6pm–11pm. Friday evenings and weekends are crowded. The Great Mosque, two blocks west, can be combined with a Muslim Quarter dinner — visit the mosque before sunset, then eat.

Etiquette

• Halal restaurants: don't bring pork or alcohol in.
• The Great Mosque has prayer times marked; respect by waiting until after if visible worshippers are present.
• Photography of worshippers, particularly inside the mosque, requires asking first.
• Tipping is not expected.

The Muslim Quarter is a working ethnic-religious neighbourhood that happens to be a tourist destination. Treat it as the former, and the food rewards.