Eating in Xi'an
People visiting Xi'an must be surprised by the numerous historical sites and interesting places, as well as being left with a deep impression of the food of the city.
Xi'an's food, generally speaking, is served in large portions, is inexpensive and each dish has its own story.
- Large Portions: On a downtown street, everywhere one can see signs, including "Old Sun Family's Paomo (steamed bun soaking in mutton soup), "Old Ma Family's Mutton" and "Old Liu Family's Hulutou (a local snack)". At the food street, food stands one after another stretch several hundreds meters. At night, temporary food stands fully line both sides of the street. Everywhere, there is a smell of delicious snacks.
- Inexpensive: On the street, small restaurants and temporary food stands serve very cheap snacks. A bowl of hulutou costs only three yuan. Many temporary stands sell Chengdu's hot specialty, 20 cents per cube. With so many rich snacks, a lot of local people do not prepare meals at home and are willing to eat at food stands.
- Each Dish with a Story: There are three most famous restaurants--high-class Xi'an, average and lower-class Tongshengxiang and Defachang--among the city's restaurants. A variety of snacks in Xi'an have three restaurants gather many together.
In the front hall of the Xi'an Restaurant, a buxus board is carved with the story of the restaurant. When the attendant serves you a dish, she will tell you briefly a vivid story. For instance, she will tell you that this is a dish of chicken that Empress Dowager Ci Xi liked best, and the other is a dish of fish Chinese singer Wei Wei liked. Almost every dish has its own allusion.
After being rebuilt, old Tongshengxiang and Defachang restaurants stand highly at the most flourishing Zhonggu (bell and drum) Street. One meal costs more than ten yuan. In addition, there are feasts costing several hundreds or even thousands of yuan.
Tongshengxiang is known for its Niuyangroupaomo (steamed bun soaking in beef or mutton soup). It has become very popular as a dish for entertaining foreign state leaders. In 1983, the dish was moved from the restaurant to the national banque, and in 1993, Chinese traditional painting master Huang Zhou wrote an inscription mainly desctibes its appetizing taste. Because of this the dish becomes more and more famous. If you come here to taste it first, you do not eat too much because it is very filling.
Defachang has many special dishes, but the dearest is jiaoze made of Shark's fin. Another kind of jiaoze as big as a small fingertip filled with chicken meat. It is called a pearl jiaoze and is boiled in a hotpot of chrysanthemum soup. About this, there is a vivid story that when Empress Dowager Ci Xi came to the city she asked her cook to provide her with a new taste, and the cook prepared this kind of jiaoze to please her. It was well received. She ate three, six or nine in number, which is regarded in China as meaning good luck. Today, the words are different, for having one jiaoze, means to go off smoothly, two jiaoze for double happiness coming at the same time. When having jiaoze, you can listen to the story and receive a beautiful blessing.
Xi'an cuisine has a good, hearty style that should never let you leave the table hungry. Noodles and dumplings are the staples of the local food and these are almost always filling and warming.
- Yangrou paomo: Baked Bun Soaked in Mutton Soup is the most famous folk foodstuff of Xian. There is a particular way of eating the Baked Bun Soaked in Mutton Soup. When the customers are served, the restaurateur will first offer the kind of hard dried pancake and the customers will break the pancake into small pieces, then give it back to the restaurateur for cooking the shredded pancake with mutton in delicious soup. The finished dish is steaming hot with an unusually has a sweet smell. Yangrou Paomo is a tasty Xi'an specialty that consists of a mutton soup served with wheat flour flat bread. The hard bread is broken up and added to the soup. Then the mixture is eaten along with pickled garlic cloves. It makes for a hearty, filling meal that is not very expensive. This Xi'an specialty can be found at several restaurants that have become famous for their delicious Yangrou paomo, as well as a small "mom and pop" restaurants throughout Xi'an. Xiguan Beef and Lamb Paomo Restaurant, Tongshengxiang Beef and Lamb Paomo Restaurant, and Chunfasheng Paomo Restaurant are all good places to go for this tasty meal.
- Dumpling Feast: Yet another interesting culinary experience to be had in Xi'an is the Xi'an Dumpling Feast. This concept, introduced in 1984 by the Xi'an Dumpling Feast Restaurant on Jiefang Road, offers up to 108 different kinds of Chinese dumpling (Jiaozi). Also worth trying are the Defachang Restaurant and the Baiyunzhang Northwest Style Snack Restaurant.
Some other Xi'an snacks and special dishes include: Sour Soup Dumplings and Guantang Steamed Baozi.
- Roujia Mo: Fan's Pancake with Stewed Lazhi Meat. As a famous snack of Van, Fan's pancake with stewed meat was first created by Fan Bingren and his son Fan Fengxiang, with a history of nearly 80 years. Prepared with high quality meat, Lazhi meat is well stewed with broth of the preceding years.
- Hot Pot: Zhu Yuan Cun (Village of Bamboo) Hot Pot Restaurant is one of the local famous-brand enterprises. With its many outlets, it is popular with locals who often line up for seats. The decoration style is unsophisticated with a spacious and bright dining environment. Service is hospitable and food is delicious.
- Vegetarian restaurants: With the fashionable dining style, vegetarian dishes also spring up in Xian and are popular with Xian people. But the cost is more than meat dishes presently.
- Fast Food: There are about 20 KFCs in Xian. The branches on Nan Dajie and Dong Dajie near the Bell Tower are the two most popular. In addition, it is easy to find KFCs in almost every commercial block in the city. There are presently only two McDonald's in Xian, both in the city center. One is in the northeast corner of the Bell Tower Square, the other in front of the Drum Tower on the roadside of Xi Dajie. Kenny Rogers Roasters' three restaurants offer traditional American-style food.
The cheap fast food restaurant in the May First Hotel is good for travelers who want to taste local Shaanxi food, including many kinds of dumplings, noodles, porridge, casseroles, ravioli, soybean milk, etc.
It is easy to find Yong Ming Qishan Noodles Restaurant near the Nan Men (South Gate). Serving traditional fast food in Xian, it is popular with local people. The noodle is pliable and thin, served with sour soup and savory minced meat. The flavor can't be expressed in words. The restaurant has many branches around Xian city.
- Western Restaurants: Customers line up outside a Pizza Hut branch opened recently on south Dajie opposite KFC.
In No. 6 on the east side of Huancheng Nan Lu Dongduan is the famous Xiaoshijie Restaurant (Small World Restaurant). Specialties include Italian pizza, pasta, sandwiches, hamburgers, beefsteak, fried chicken, pork chops, coffee, and cake. Decor is bold European; prices are reasonable, attracting foreigners who like to hang out there. The restaurant opens from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Aside from the five-star hotels and the KFCs, Xian has few purveyors of Western food; Highfly Pizza is an exception with its superb four-cheese and pepperoni pizzas, real oven-baked penne, tuna sandwiches, chocolate brownies, even Texas stew. There are vegetarian options; the kitchen is spotless; the entire restaurant is nonsmoking.