Monday, December 21, 2009

Muslim Quarter grub, Xi'an



Xi'an's Muslim Quarter is the place to go if you are interested in purchasing livers the size of small children or just doing some good eating.



Majiang Liang pi (麻酱凉皮) is a cold noodle dish made with black sesame paste. This dish is a speciality of Shaanxi province where Xi'an is located. Sometimes it is topped with cucumbers. Other times it is served in a plastic bag. We drank plum juice to wash it down.



Chinese dates  (also called jujube) on display. These things are all over the place, and they were also selling drinks on the street made from them.



A typical Xi'an Muslim Quarter restaurant. "Doors? We don't need no freaking doors." Uhmm....it's December in China.



The method of displaying meat was ingenious. "Ah, let's just throw it down and go inside and hope someone offers us money for it."



Yangrou Paomo (羊肉泡馍) is another Xi'an specialty. It's mutton soup with torn up flatbread in it. This was a perfect lunch on a freezing December day. It was delicious.



Chinese muslim dude selling eggs.



Look at the size of them livers. Gives new meaning to the term "street meat." This is the sort of thing you see a lot of in China and it is best to just be interested in an academic sort of way and go "hmmm" rather than  be disgusted and remember it when you are sitting down to a meal in a restaurant. I've eaten some pretty dodgy things here and have not gotten (too) sick. This suggests that one does not need to refrigerate meat or even keep it off the floor, that's just Western hysteria at work again.

2 comments:

  1. Does the food in this area taste generally like Chinese food elsewhere or is it more Middle Eastern/Indian? Sesame paste sounds Chinese, mutton and flatbread Middle Eastern. And it all sounds yummy. More details would be welcome.

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  2. yikes that really is very large liver; those eggs like ginormous too; merry christmas!

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