China Part 5: Xian Food

Xian Food
In Xian the main crops are wheat and corn so a lot of dishes featured these as staples. It was still easy enough to get some plain meat and vegetables at most of the restaurants. There were four main specialties in Xian that we sampled, including a lamb dish, a noodle dish, hamburgers and dumplings. We actually ate pretty light in Xian because we weren’t there for very long, only one dinner.


Lamb Meat Float
Pieces of lamb floating in soup with little doughy things made of wheat. You can put the red chili paste and herbs into the soup for extra flavor. After eating the soup you the garlic and this is supposed to help protect from food borne illness if the lamb is not fresh. The restaurant serving this dish obviously serves fresh lamb cooked properly, but the tradition to have garlic after has been kept. I tried a piece of lamb and a bit of broth but tried to avoid the wheat. I ate the garlic after too.

Noodles
Spicy wheat noodles made using a special technique where you squeeze the flour into their noodle form. They are served with everything piled high and then you mix it up and slurp it. I didn’t sample this at all.

Chinese Hamburgers
Chinese hamburgers are little pacman looking things with minced oily meat inside. The meat was tasty but I avoided eating the bun. I love the greasiness of these, almost like a sloppy-joe.

Dumplings
The dumplings in Xian were so special they will get their own post.. 😉

Everything Else
Of course that’s not all we ate.. here’s a few more dishes from that dinner. I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of the final fruit. From the top to bottom, left to right: walnut, potato & spinach, dates, delicious spicy pork piled high over mung bean sprouts, fried fish, pig feet (yum!!!), greens, spring rolls.