Halal Food Guide: Urumqi - Two Small Hui Muslim Restaurants Worth Knowing
Reposted from the web
Summary: This Urumqi food note introduces two small Hui Muslim restaurants the author visited during the trip. It preserves the original restaurant details, dishes, flavors, and local food observations while keeping the English simple and direct.
Even though I was busy with night prayers (dua) during this trip to Urumqi, I still found time to visit two small Hui Muslim eateries. The first one was a childhood favorite of Zainab's: Hepingqiao Dumpling Restaurant. It is a rare, old-school Hui Muslim sour soup dumpling shop in Urumqi. It used to be called Yiqing Dumpling Restaurant, but after they were no longer allowed to use that name, everyone just started calling it Hepingqiao Dumpling Restaurant. The old-school Hui Muslim sour soup contains tomatoes, spinach, starch jelly blocks (fenkuai), vermicelli (fentiao), mushrooms, and sliced meat. Zainab said that while the taste hasn't changed much, they used to put a lot more meat in the sour soup when she was a child, but now they give too little. They have four types of dumpling fillings: onion and meat (piyanzi rou), cabbage and meat, celery and meat, and chive and meat, which are the most common types eaten by Hui Muslims in Urumqi. I ordered a small bowl of onion and meat dumplings, and the Sichuan peppercorn flavor really stood out, which is a signature feature of Xinjiang dumplings.
The second place was Xinshenghua, a Changji Hui Muslim meatball soup (wanzi tang) restaurant. When I first came to Urumqi ten years ago, I ate at Forty-Nine Meatball Soup, but later the taste there went downhill, and I hadn't had a really good meatball soup in Urumqi since. This time, on the recommendation of an older sister, we went to Xinshenghua Meatball Soup near the Normal University. It is a traditional Changji Hui Muslim meatball soup shop with a nice environment, an open kitchen, and good service, though the prices are higher than at typical small eateries.
We ordered a set meal that included meatball soup, a small portion of beef bones, and cold dishes, with all-you-can-eat steamed layered buns (youtazi). The meatball soup tasted quite authentic, though they didn't give many meatballs, which seems to be a common situation these days. The steamed layered buns were delicious. I missed them so much while in Beijing; the flavor from the rendered lamb fat makes them much more fragrant than regular steamed rolls (huajuan). The beef bones were also excellent, stewed until fragrant and tender, and they gave us a good amount of meat; a small portion was enough for the four of us.
Overall, Xinshenghua's meatball soup is pretty good. My family also recommended Ma Guilian Sisters Meatball Soup on Ying'awati Road, so I will try to go there next time I have the chance.
Summary: This Urumqi food note introduces two small Hui Muslim restaurants the author visited during the trip. It preserves the original restaurant details, dishes, flavors, and local food observations while keeping the English simple and direct.
Even though I was busy with night prayers (dua) during this trip to Urumqi, I still found time to visit two small Hui Muslim eateries. The first one was a childhood favorite of Zainab's: Hepingqiao Dumpling Restaurant. It is a rare, old-school Hui Muslim sour soup dumpling shop in Urumqi. It used to be called Yiqing Dumpling Restaurant, but after they were no longer allowed to use that name, everyone just started calling it Hepingqiao Dumpling Restaurant. The old-school Hui Muslim sour soup contains tomatoes, spinach, starch jelly blocks (fenkuai), vermicelli (fentiao), mushrooms, and sliced meat. Zainab said that while the taste hasn't changed much, they used to put a lot more meat in the sour soup when she was a child, but now they give too little. They have four types of dumpling fillings: onion and meat (piyanzi rou), cabbage and meat, celery and meat, and chive and meat, which are the most common types eaten by Hui Muslims in Urumqi. I ordered a small bowl of onion and meat dumplings, and the Sichuan peppercorn flavor really stood out, which is a signature feature of Xinjiang dumplings.
The second place was Xinshenghua, a Changji Hui Muslim meatball soup (wanzi tang) restaurant. When I first came to Urumqi ten years ago, I ate at Forty-Nine Meatball Soup, but later the taste there went downhill, and I hadn't had a really good meatball soup in Urumqi since. This time, on the recommendation of an older sister, we went to Xinshenghua Meatball Soup near the Normal University. It is a traditional Changji Hui Muslim meatball soup shop with a nice environment, an open kitchen, and good service, though the prices are higher than at typical small eateries.
We ordered a set meal that included meatball soup, a small portion of beef bones, and cold dishes, with all-you-can-eat steamed layered buns (youtazi). The meatball soup tasted quite authentic, though they didn't give many meatballs, which seems to be a common situation these days. The steamed layered buns were delicious. I missed them so much while in Beijing; the flavor from the rendered lamb fat makes them much more fragrant than regular steamed rolls (huajuan). The beef bones were also excellent, stewed until fragrant and tender, and they gave us a good amount of meat; a small portion was enough for the four of us.
Overall, Xinshenghua's meatball soup is pretty good. My family also recommended Ma Guilian Sisters Meatball Soup on Ying'awati Road, so I will try to go there next time I have the chance.
