Halal Travel Guide: Tianjin and Tanggu — Mosques, Muslim Food and Autumn Streets
Reposted from the web
Summary: Tianjin and Tanggu — Mosques, Muslim Food and Autumn Streets is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: Author: Zainab. The account keeps its focus on Tianjin Travel, Halal Food, Muslim Heritage while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.
Author: Zainab.
One weekend in October 2021, I went to Tianjin to visit family. I ate Xinjiang-style Hui Muslim food cooked by my mom, had traditional Tianjin Hui Muslim breakfast at Jinjiayao, and went to Tanggu to see the sea and eat good food.
On Friday night, Mom made big plate chicken (dapanji) and braised beef steak. Our whole family helped pull the belt noodles (pidaimian). I really treasure these happy times together.
The big plate chicken (dapanji) at home is just delicious! I haven't had any as good as this at a restaurant in Beijing. The day before, I tried big plate chicken (dapanji) at a noodle shop on Nanlishi Road. The texture of the broiler chicken made me lose my appetite after one bite. Big plate chicken must be made with free-range chicken (chaiji). Plus, the seasoning was all wrong and it didn't taste like big plate chicken at all. I never want to eat it at a noodle shop again.
On Saturday morning, I went to eat breakfast at Wang's Sizzling Rice Dish (guobacai) in front of the Jinjiayao Mosque in Tianjin, which was recommended by a local friend (dosti). You don't have to wait in long lines like you do at Northwest Corner (Xibeijiao) here. They have a huge variety, and old-school Tianjin locals really love it. It is a living fossil in the world of sizzling rice dish (guobacai). The owner says this place has been around for over a hundred years. It is so rare to see this traditional water kettle sign (tangping) in the shop these days!
We ordered savory crepe strips (guobacai), water caltrop soup with egg (lingjiaotang chong jidan), double-topping millet porridge (shuangliao miancha), iron-pot soy milk with egg (tieguo nong doujiang chong jidan), cornmeal buns (wotou), egg fritters (jidan guozi), and fried bean sprout rolls (juanquan). You can tell from these dishes that this place has a very traditional taste. Eating savory crepe strips with cornmeal buns is a classic way to do it, and the water caltrop soup is packed with filling. The egg fritters, also called pouches (budai), are my favorite kind of fried dough, and they taste better than the stick-shaped ones (bangchui guozi)! It is just hard to find places that still make them.
Here is a funny story: we did not use the flatbread (jiaobing) to wrap our fried bean sprout rolls, but instead shared them piece by piece. The owner saw us and joked, 'You have to wrap the rolls to eat them, you guys just gave them a C-section!' He said it in a very funny Tianjin dialect.
Then we headed to Dongjiang Beach Park in Tanggu to see the sea.
At noon, we had lunch at Muyi, the most famous halal restaurant in the Tanggu area.
Muyi started as the Islamic Restaurant (Yisilan Fanzhuang) in 1994. Their halal license number is Binhai 001. In 2015, they opened the current Taifeng 80 Food Court, which includes Muyi Chinese Restaurant, Nuobona Western Restaurant, and WEAL. BAKERY. These were the first halal Western-style restaurants and bakeries in the Binhai area of Tianjin.
Muyi has a huge menu. They serve traditional Tianjin dishes, all kinds of seafood, Sichuan food, Cantonese food, and creative new dishes, so they can satisfy almost any preference. For my parents, who have lived in Urumqi for 50 or 60 years and aren't used to Tianjin or Shandong-style food, Muyi is a great choice.
We ordered green beans stuffed with lily bulbs, beef braised in a stone pot, Muyi house-style tofu, steamed flounder, stir-fried clams with scallion and ginger, and bamboo shoot slices in rich soup. My parents couldn't stop praising the meal. The flounder had a wonderful texture, and the bamboo shoot soup was very fresh and filled with various types of seafood. The stuffed lily bulbs contained shrimp paste. It was my first time trying this combination, and I thought it was quite good.
In the evening, we had lamb spine hot pot (yangxiezi) at Heqingzhai. The main Heqingzhai restaurant is in Yangfang, Changping, Beijing. Most of their other Beijing branches are also in Changping and Haidian, so I had never heard of them before. I found that a new branch opened downstairs from my home in Tianjin, so I went to try it out.
We ate lamb spine (yangxiezi) with lamb tail tips. The meat was decent, but the broth was not quite as good as the one at Muyixuan.
On Sunday morning, Mom made braised lamb chops, braised cod, stir-fried wood ear mushrooms, and asparagus lettuce. It was authentic home-style cooking from Hui Muslims in Urumqi!
Afterward, we went to a vintage market at Miansan in Tianjin and bought some pretty vintage earrings.
In the evening, we went to Danji Beef Pie on Nanbei Street for mixed lamb head meat, beef pies, and lamb offal soup. It tasted pretty good. Even though the family-run shop is quite small, many people come to eat there. The owner kneads the dough and grills the pies quickly on the spot. Also, it is quite rare to see Hui Muslims with the surname Dan!
Summary: Tianjin and Tanggu — Mosques, Muslim Food and Autumn Streets is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: Author: Zainab. The account keeps its focus on Tianjin Travel, Halal Food, Muslim Heritage while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.
Author: Zainab.
One weekend in October 2021, I went to Tianjin to visit family. I ate Xinjiang-style Hui Muslim food cooked by my mom, had traditional Tianjin Hui Muslim breakfast at Jinjiayao, and went to Tanggu to see the sea and eat good food.
On Friday night, Mom made big plate chicken (dapanji) and braised beef steak. Our whole family helped pull the belt noodles (pidaimian). I really treasure these happy times together.
The big plate chicken (dapanji) at home is just delicious! I haven't had any as good as this at a restaurant in Beijing. The day before, I tried big plate chicken (dapanji) at a noodle shop on Nanlishi Road. The texture of the broiler chicken made me lose my appetite after one bite. Big plate chicken must be made with free-range chicken (chaiji). Plus, the seasoning was all wrong and it didn't taste like big plate chicken at all. I never want to eat it at a noodle shop again.
On Saturday morning, I went to eat breakfast at Wang's Sizzling Rice Dish (guobacai) in front of the Jinjiayao Mosque in Tianjin, which was recommended by a local friend (dosti). You don't have to wait in long lines like you do at Northwest Corner (Xibeijiao) here. They have a huge variety, and old-school Tianjin locals really love it. It is a living fossil in the world of sizzling rice dish (guobacai). The owner says this place has been around for over a hundred years. It is so rare to see this traditional water kettle sign (tangping) in the shop these days!
We ordered savory crepe strips (guobacai), water caltrop soup with egg (lingjiaotang chong jidan), double-topping millet porridge (shuangliao miancha), iron-pot soy milk with egg (tieguo nong doujiang chong jidan), cornmeal buns (wotou), egg fritters (jidan guozi), and fried bean sprout rolls (juanquan). You can tell from these dishes that this place has a very traditional taste. Eating savory crepe strips with cornmeal buns is a classic way to do it, and the water caltrop soup is packed with filling. The egg fritters, also called pouches (budai), are my favorite kind of fried dough, and they taste better than the stick-shaped ones (bangchui guozi)! It is just hard to find places that still make them.
Here is a funny story: we did not use the flatbread (jiaobing) to wrap our fried bean sprout rolls, but instead shared them piece by piece. The owner saw us and joked, 'You have to wrap the rolls to eat them, you guys just gave them a C-section!' He said it in a very funny Tianjin dialect.
Then we headed to Dongjiang Beach Park in Tanggu to see the sea.
At noon, we had lunch at Muyi, the most famous halal restaurant in the Tanggu area.
Muyi started as the Islamic Restaurant (Yisilan Fanzhuang) in 1994. Their halal license number is Binhai 001. In 2015, they opened the current Taifeng 80 Food Court, which includes Muyi Chinese Restaurant, Nuobona Western Restaurant, and WEAL. BAKERY. These were the first halal Western-style restaurants and bakeries in the Binhai area of Tianjin.
Muyi has a huge menu. They serve traditional Tianjin dishes, all kinds of seafood, Sichuan food, Cantonese food, and creative new dishes, so they can satisfy almost any preference. For my parents, who have lived in Urumqi for 50 or 60 years and aren't used to Tianjin or Shandong-style food, Muyi is a great choice.
We ordered green beans stuffed with lily bulbs, beef braised in a stone pot, Muyi house-style tofu, steamed flounder, stir-fried clams with scallion and ginger, and bamboo shoot slices in rich soup. My parents couldn't stop praising the meal. The flounder had a wonderful texture, and the bamboo shoot soup was very fresh and filled with various types of seafood. The stuffed lily bulbs contained shrimp paste. It was my first time trying this combination, and I thought it was quite good.
In the evening, we had lamb spine hot pot (yangxiezi) at Heqingzhai. The main Heqingzhai restaurant is in Yangfang, Changping, Beijing. Most of their other Beijing branches are also in Changping and Haidian, so I had never heard of them before. I found that a new branch opened downstairs from my home in Tianjin, so I went to try it out.
We ate lamb spine (yangxiezi) with lamb tail tips. The meat was decent, but the broth was not quite as good as the one at Muyixuan.
On Sunday morning, Mom made braised lamb chops, braised cod, stir-fried wood ear mushrooms, and asparagus lettuce. It was authentic home-style cooking from Hui Muslims in Urumqi!
Afterward, we went to a vintage market at Miansan in Tianjin and bought some pretty vintage earrings.
In the evening, we went to Danji Beef Pie on Nanbei Street for mixed lamb head meat, beef pies, and lamb offal soup. It tasted pretty good. Even though the family-run shop is quite small, many people come to eat there. The owner kneads the dough and grills the pies quickly on the spot. Also, it is quite rare to see Hui Muslims with the surname Dan!
