Snacks in Xian

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
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.

If you are looking for good western food in Xi'an, your choices are unfortunately less numerous. There are lots of places to get western food off Dongdajie. Also, on the northwestern outskirts of the city near the Flats of Renmin Hotel on Fenghe Lu, there are two restaurants that offer great western food for reasonable prices.

They are Dad's Home Cooking and Mum's Home Cooking respectively. Although the names might imply that they are of the same ownership, they are not. They are both great places to meet people and hear a story or two.

Roujiamo
Roujiamo is one of famous Xi'an snacks, which is made of mincemeat wrapped by griddle steamed bread. Before the mincemeat is made, the meat(with bones) must be boiled with wine, salt, rock candies, fresh gingers, shallot stems, and then a voile bag with more than twenty flavorings such as teasel nuts, cardamom seeds, cloves, cinnamons, aniseeds, prickly ashes etc is put into the boiler to cook with the meat for about 3 or 4 hours. Then the meat (May still with bones) is scooped up from the boiler and boned. When eating this food, the mincemeat is put into between two pieces of just-made (not ready-made) griddle steamed bread. It looks something like sandwich but very different from sandwich in flavor. And it is very rich in protein, fat and carbohydrate. The bread tastes tender and crisp. And the mincemeat is incarnadine, pure and savory when eating.

Chopped Buckwheat Noodles
Chopped Buckwheat Noodles are Buckwheat flour noodles chopped by knife. Buckwheat is one of good minor cereals of Northern Shaanxi Province. The cereal is high-protein and low-fat, and with high vitamin contents. It is very nutritious. Shaanxi people use this cereal make many traditional foods. Among them, the Chopped Buckwheat Noodles are the most popular. They can intenerate vein, protect the vision, reducing fever, reduce pathogenic fire, promote digestion, and prevent the blood vessel of brain from hemorrhage. It is extolled as "long-life" noodles.

The noodles can be served either hot or cold. If it is served cold, flavor it with salt, vinegar, mustard, garlic sauce and hot chili. If it is served hot, warm it up in the hot soup and scoop it up and top it with stir-fried vegetables and meat. Chopped Buckwheat noodles taste a little bitter but delicious and they are beneficial all the year round for its antipyretic nature.

Liangpi
Liangpi (cold noodles) is a famous summer snack (also sold in winter) in Xi’an. This snack is made from wheat flour (or other starch). It looks translucent and tastes cold, and known for its white color, thin shape, smooth surface, pliable texture, tender and savory taste. It is eaten along with garlic, ginger, pepper, sauce, vinegar, bean sprouts, capsicum flour, salt, sliced cucumber, caraway, chicken essence, sesame oil etc. Male is not so interested in this delicious snack, but female is crazy about it, especially the nice girls and the elder women who have past their prime.

Hulutou
Hulutou (Crumbled Unleavened Bread Soaked in Broth with Intestines and Tripe) is a great local delicacy in Xi'an. Its raw materials are hog fat ends, pork stomachs and hog chittering. Before being cooked, the rammish smell of the materials must be got rid of, and then the seasoning matters and crumbled unleavened bread are put into the soup cooked together. The soup of this delicacy is strong, flavorful, fresh and delectable. This food with high saturated fatty acid and high cholesterol, it is fat but not greasy and suitable for people of all ages.

The toothsome goldy and crisp Frying Persimmon Paste.

Frying Persimmon Paste
Frying persimmon paste is found in Lintong County. To make it is not so difficult, first of all, put the persimmons into the wheat flour and stir the mixture until it becomes the paste, and then put the paste into the boiling oil until its color turns golden brown. This food looks very flavorful and taste tender, sticky and sweet.

Kettle oil tea
Tea is a very common drink in China, but in different parts of this country this drink with its special local color. In Xi'an, people like drinking oil tea. When boiling tea, the wheat flour and all kinds of condiments are mixed up and put into the boiling water slowly. Then the almond, benniseed, the long-shaped, sauce, salt flour, pepper, and monosodium glutamate are put into the boiling tea soup at a simmer and stirred until the color becomes yellow. When the tea soup thickens up it is poured into a big tea Kettle for drink. Kettle oil tea is a very excellent refreshant and the local people and many travelers are keen on it very much.

Honey Jelly Cake
Honey Jelly Cake is made from kidney beans, crushed peanuts, stir-fried benniseed, bean paste, and the syrup curing green and red fruit threads. The cake is covered by the rose catsup and honey. It has an attractive appearance and is a delicious food for young and old. It is cold, sweet, savory, tender and smooth when eating.

Jujube cake
Jujube cake is a Moslem food in Xi'an, made with Jujube, wheat flour, eggs, white sugar, honey and brandies. It is a dim sum served the emperors in the old days. It can keep youthfulness and strengthen the body, lose weight, prevent losing hair, and relieve constipation.

Tasty kabobs will go beyond your imagination when you gobbling.

Eight-treasure Rose Mirror Cake
The eight-treasure rose mirror cake is a traditional Moslem sweet cake for breakfast, which has more than one –hundred- year history in Xi'an and is famous for its inviting color and aroma. This food is made from sticky rice, brown sugar, and Osmanthus sugar. When the cake being eaten it is dipped with the black sesame seeds and rose ketchup.

Kabobs
Travel in Xi'an you can taste many flavorful roasts such as the Brazilian cabobs, Japanese roasted meat, South Korea broiler and Turkey fried meat. But we give the local Xi'an kabobs a plug because they are inexpensive and palatable.
Xi'an kabobs were introduced from Xinjiang in many years ago but they are very different from the Xinjiang kabobs in flavor. Besides with the cumin powder they also with some chili powder and other many condiments so they taste a little hot. The meat such as mutton, beeves, pork, fish, kidneys, and so on can be the raw materials of the Xi'an kabobs. They taste crisp and tender, look oily but not greasy. When eating the kabobs, most travelers like drinking beer or soda water, undoubtedly, this is a not bad choice. You can try it when you visit this city.
To enjoy the kabobs, you can go to the Huis (nationality) Street or the street near the Drum Tower where the night market are very busy, many people often gather there to eat these tasty foods.

Rice Noodles in Earthen Pot

The Rice Noodles in Earthen Pot are very delicious, alible, and good in color, smell, taste and appearance. They are cooked in a pot with rolled meat, sea tangles, vegetables, mushrooms, bean curd, hams, smoked sausages, garlic stems, gingers and many seasonings. Usually, you can choose your own flavor according to your appetite. This food is not only favorite for local people but for the travelers.

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