We took a short and sweet weekend trip to Xi’an to celebrate my thirtieth birthday last week. Just a short plane-ride away, the charming provincial capital of Shaanxi boasts some of the most fascinating history and some of the best street food we’ve encountered in China.
According to the history books, Xi’an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China and originally the site of the first ruling dynasty’s capital after the end of the period of the warring states. In 221 BC, Shi Huangdi (which literally means first emperor) famously inaugurated the union of China’s provinces under the Qin Dynasty, and commanded the construction a secret subterranean world of terracotta sculptures.
Artisans worked stealthily to create human-scale likenesses of thousands of military men, acrobats, and even civil servants that (in superstition at least) would serve to protect, entertain and attend to Shi Huangdi in the afterlife. The sheer scale, lunacy and genius of this underground project is impossible to rationalize, and now having seeing it with my own two eyes the whole idea makes me wonder what other layers of histories have yet to be excavated or perhaps will never be uncovered.
Xi’an was also the last stop on the Silk Road, which accounts for the Middle Eastern influences that we could literally see, hear and taste throughout the Muslim quarter. Home to over 80,000 muslims and boasting a tasty bounty of local market fare with the promise of pedestrian friendly side streets, the Muslim neighborhood in the walled city center felt particularly welcoming to us.
Co-mingling with Chinese characters, beautiful Arabic calligraphy decorates walls all over quarter, from small restaurants to Xi’an’s great mosque where Jia Ching and I snuck in a visit just before evening prayers.
Having been limited and frustrated daily by my pathetic lack of Mandarin skills, it warmed my heart to be able to communicate my happiness and gratitude genuinely with a simple greeting of “Salam Aleykum” and a smile. To my delight, locals in Xi’an often understood me and returned the gesture before serving up some seriously delicious food.
Which brings me to my next and most important point! I’ll forever live with the fond memories of our leisurely and indulgent strolls through the street markets of Xi’an’s Muslim quarter: a notably pork-free and pedestrian-friendly corner of China!
Enjoy these pictures from our fabulous tasting tour of Xi’an’s Muslim street markets:
Yangrou Paomo : a popular daily dish of mutton soup that is completed only by the addition of hand torn bits of flatbread that is a specialty of Chinese Muslim cuisine.
Hand-pulled noodles soaked in beef broth are a must-have (and have again). Salty and tender, this gorgeous mess of long noodles are among the chewiest and most satisfying in the world. Our bowl was served with a complimentary amount of beef, egg and vegetables to make for a rich late afternoon meal.
Devouring a half-dozen of these fluffy little lamb dumplings with numbing peppercorn spice had to be one of my favorite textural and tasting experience in China! We dipped ours in chili oil and vinegar to kick it up another notch. Yum!
Cold noodles served with just about any condiment you like!
Putting on an enticing show!
We had to stop for a few of these lamb kabobs fresh off the grill. An added delight is the healthy sprinkle of cumin and hot spices he gives these badboys before serving.
Flatbread baked fresh in an awesome gravity-defying woodfired oven, looks like naan and tastes something like a bagel. It makes an excellent side to a meal of spicy, cumin-crusted lamb skewers.
Spicy quail eggs on a stick!
Continuing with the theme of protein packed offerings, I should note that it was hard to imagine a single part of the sheep that was not on offer. Here we have the hooves marinated and ready for a snack on the go, and all along the streets specialty butcher shops sold everything halal, from liver to intestines and more.
This vegetarian-friendly cart really stood out on a street lined with butcher shops and proved to be quite popular. Her method is to deep-fry any produce of your choosing before chopping and dousing the veggies with her homemade hot sauce. Her final step is to stuff everything into a portable bread pocket and there you have it - lunch on the go!
Another popular snack are these sesame layered rice cakes.
Persimmons grow plentifully in the region and we found them sold everywhere along the streets of Xi’an: fresh, dried and even fried!
If you have a sweet tooth, never fear as there is plenty to get you through the day.
Speaking of sweet, perhaps no one was sweeter to us than this perky vendor who busily sliced his cake, sang a lovely tune, posed for pictures and kept his business flowing all day long. No matter that the cake just isn’t that tasty, it’s still service with a smile!
Brilliant red chinese dates, jujubees and sultanas a plenty!
Everywhere we went we saw carts selling a juice made of stewed pears and dates. Curious, we couldn’t resist giving it a try. Unfortunately, we found ours blandly watered down and never went back for seconds.
Xi’an turned out to be an unforgettable destination and a very special place to spend my birthday. I definitely look forward to returning again…and I know just where I’ll go for my noodles.
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As a postscript, I want to mention that although we usually opt for B&Bs or cheap hotels as a rule, on this weekend getaway we decided to splurge and stay at the Sofitel Xi’an. This turned out to be possibly the best hotel ever. Not only were their rates reasonable, location great, food delicious, and general service extremely courteous and helpful but they also upgraded our room and when a staff person noticed it was my birthday arranged to have a complimentary cake sent up to our room as a surprise! Sorry to sound like an advertisement…but I mean, it was really exceptional.
