"Come to Xi'an! I'll show you the food of my hometown." The invitation from my long-time friend Jing was ever present in my mind. This was around March earlier this year, and Hangzhou was just warming up with days of uninterrupted sunshine urging the flowering trees of West Lake to burst open. It was the best time to be here, did I really want to travel all the way to the interior of China and leave the comforts of Hangzhou? But Jing is a food lover, like me; she wouldn't be in Xian for long, and I knew there would be nothing better than a food loving local showing you the best a city has to offer. With that thought, I promptly hopped on the Z89 train for the 16 hour overnight ride to Xian. There are plenty of direct flights from Hangzhou to Xian of course, but a train is so much more atmospheric and puts you in the mood for adventure, don't you think?
The train pulled into Xi'an station in the morning. I spotted Jing at the exit waiting for me, and we went to find our hotel. I had booked a hotel within the old city walls so that we would be well positioned to explore. After a little rest, we were ready to go out to graze.
Our first stop was Three Sister's Dumplings (三姐妹饺子) on Jixian Alley near Nanxin Street. We ordered a Dry Mixed Pork and Shepherd's Purse Dumpling (干拌野菜大肉水饺18RMB). The dumplings were boiled then drained and mixed with a vinegar chilli soy sauce and topped with peanuts, cilantro and sesame seeds. It was just a simple boiled dumpling but why was it so flavourful and the skin so firm and bouncy? "We never freeze dumplings in Shaanxi province. Dumplings never sit around for more than an hour and are usually made fresh to order." I could cry a river for all my years wasted on eating frozen dumplings in China.
Next we headed towards the Muslim Quarter. As the starting point of the ancient Silk Road linking China to the West, Xian was a melting pot for new cultures and ideas. Islam was first allowed to be practiced in Xian in 651AD during the Tang Dynasty. Today there are 70,000 Chinese Muslims living in Xian's Muslim Quarter and it is a vibrant neighbourhood. The Great Mosque, built in 742AD, is worth a visit as it beautifully exemplifies the mix of east and west, Chinese and Islam.
The Muslim Quarter is just west of the city center, north of the Bell Tower which itself is a lively area with souvenirs stands and pomegranate juice vendors. Walking around the Bell Tower, a delicious smell drew our attention. We walked towards the scent and found the source: Sizzling beef pastries frying in butter! Not the best thing for our waistlines, but we liked to think the calories would be useful to fuel our walking tour.
We reached the Muslim Quarter and headed to the food street Xi Yang Shi Jie (西洋市街) with stalls selling lamb sticks (羊肉串 yang rou chuan), meat steamed with flour (粉蒸肉 fen zheng rou), sesame sauce cold noodles (麻酱凉皮 ma jiang liang pi), meat in buns (肉夹馍 rou jia mo) and flatbread crumbled in lamb soup (羊肉泡馍 yang rou pao mo).
"It's gotten too touristy, and prices have increased." Jing lamented. Nonetheless, it is a good place to try many different local foods. We had sesame sauce liang pi (5RMB) and fen zheng rou (10RMB). The noodles in the sesame sauce liang pi are made from steaming wheat flour paste then cutting it into strips. The soft noodles are covered with a thick sesame sauce and a bit of chilli oil. The meat in the fen zheng rou in the Muslim Quarter will definitely be beef. You'll find some raw garlic on the table for you to eat with it, and they add a sharp bite to the shreds of beef mixed with dense steamed flour.
As we were leaving the Muslim Quarter to go back to the hotel for the night, we saw a vendor selling freshly made buckwheat noodles. He put a ball of dough in an extruder, pressed down on it and out came strands of noodles ready to go into a steaming pot with lamb or beef for topping. Since we were quite full already, we could only admire the process and make a note to try this next time we're back in Xian.
While the sesame sauce liang pi are found in the Muslim Quarter, there are many other kinds of liang pi around Xian. There's one called gan mian pi (擀面皮, 5RMB typical price) that is rolled flat and chewy and one called mi pi (米皮, 5RMB typical price) made with rice flour. Both are mixed with a sour spicy sauce, shredded chicken and bean sprouts. Liang pi is as ubiquitous in Shaanxi as hamburgers are in America. You can find them on street side stalls for take-away, in little sit-down shops and even in fast food chain restaurants.
On our second day, we went to eat another specialty noodle of Xian – Biang biang mian. Biang biang mian can be found throughout Xian. We went to a restaurant at 80 Nanyuan Men (南院门). I asked Jing, "What does biang biang mean?" "It's from the sound the long band of stretched noodle makes when it hits the table 'Biang Biang!'"
Biang biang noodles are thick and wide wheat noodles and can have a variety of toppings and sauces. We had the House Special noodle (三合一面(招牌), 16RMB small bowl) with eggs and tomato, meat sauce and stewed pork. It was tasty and springy. A comforting kind of dish. The simplest topping for Biang biang noodles is vegetables, green onion, hot chilli oil, soy sauce and vinegar. "You'll have to come back again to try that." A familiar phrase during my two day visit.
Our final pilgrimage was to a location just outside the city to eat Lamb Soup (水盆羊肉, shui pen yang rou). The bus passed under the arches of the South Gate as we left the walled inner city. All around Xian there are reminders of its great history. These city walls are the only intact ones in China and were built during the Ming Dynasty. You can get on top of the wall and walk or cycle the whole 14km perimeter. It's a pleasant two-hour bike ride or a four-hour walk. Bicycles can be rented at the South Gate.
Shui pen yang rou is similar to Xian's famous yang rou pao mo, but without the bread. In a pao mo, you get a thick piece of bread that you tear into pieces and drop into your soup. Having tried this before on a previous trip to Xian, I found it a bit heavy. So this time we forewent the pao mo and opted for shui pen yang rou. Our destination was Liangji Jinhong Shui Pen Yang Rou at 24 Zhuque Dongfang (梁记锦弘水盆羊肉,朱雀东坊24号).
"Why shui pen?" I asked. Even Jing was flummoxed. She queried the restaurant owner who answered that shui pen literally means water dish and this soup has more liquid than pao mo. You can order the lamb soup Normal (普通, 16RMB) or Quality (优质, 24RMB) depending on how much meat you want. The owner will also ask if you want lean or lean/fat meat. Our bowls of lamb soup arrived quickly. It was a clear soup with rice vermicelli noodles, green onions and cilantro, similar to Vietnamese pho, but heartier. The thin slices of lamb were really good – soft, tender and tasty. There was some spice on the lamb, perhaps cinnamon or cloves. This was one of the most memorable things I ate during the two days in Xian.
Xian is a great place to go for a city break. Aside from the terracotta warriors, there are lots of tasty local foods to discover. Direct flights from Hangzhou take a little over two hours. The daily Z89 train takes 16 hours from Hangzhou to Xian with costs starting at 337RMB for a hard sleeper to 530RMB for soft sleeper.