Our next stop after Nanjing was the city of Xi'an… and boy was I excited! With over 3,000 years of recorded history, along with being the beginning of the Silk Road headed west and of course the Terracotta Army, Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. And by coincidence we visited three (along with Nanjing and Beijing) of the four on this trip. Also by coincidence, our visit to Xi'an last year was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road….. this year we visited Istanbul (Constantinople) the western end of the Silk Road! What didn't make me so excited was watching this guy smoking a cigarette on the runway in Xi'an….. guys do love smoking in China.
We caught the bus from the airport to a hotel downtown, then a cab to our hotel, the Ibis Hotel near the South Gate of the city walls. Lucky for us, the Missus's Mother had a classmate who had moved to Xi'an right after college. She provided us with great info and recommendations, and one of them was Ibis Hotel, which was one of the nicer hotels we stayed at all trip….it looked new….
And once past the plumes of cigarette smoke in the lobby, the rooms looked sparkling clean……though it reminded us of a Ikea showroom. The best thing? The price at about $17 a night!
There was even a "portable" police station right outside the hotel!
After dropping off our bags we took off for our lunch destination. Xi'an is known for it's Muslim Quarter and the abundance of lamb and mutton dishes. The first thing I wanted to try was Yang Rou Pao Mo….. and we were given a recommendation of Tong Sheng Xiang. Lao Sun Jia is probably more well known, but we went with the local's recommendation.
The restaurant is easy to find…… we walked (it seemed much longer than we thought) to the mall right across from the Bell Tower, which is strangely trapped on what looks like a traffic island.
What made most of our trips much longer were the underground passages across intersections….. you go down the stairs and end up in "Grand Central" with six or sometimes eight different ways to go! We'd always choose the wrong way and end up directly across the street from our destination. After a couple of tries we managed to end up on the correct side of the street. Like many other places we dined at on our trip, Tong Sheng Xiang was a multi-level restaurant.
You enter on the south end of the building, go up a flight of stairs lined with photos of folks I assume are VIPs until you enter the dining area. It looked pretty fancy for a place selling mutton in broth with unleavened pancakes…..
We ordered a couple of other dishes with the Yang Rou Pao Mo. I really enjoyed the Jellied Mutton:
Like a good head cheese, cut with the Black Vinegar and soy sauce.
The Missus didn't care for the Mung Bean Noodles.
Too much sesame paste for Her.
On this trip, if we saw Baihe (lily bulb) on the menu, we'd order it for sure.
Baihe with Gingko is one of our standard dishes nowadays……
As for the Yang Rou Pao Mo…. if you've never had it before it's quite an interesting dish. First a plate of pretty hefty discs of unleavened bread is placed on the table…..
Along with a large bowl……
Your job is to break the bread up into bite sized pieces….. it was pretty tough going at first since the bread is very dense. How much bread? Well, I guess that depends on your appetite…..I saw a young man break up almost the whole plate! Considering how heavy this stuff was, I could only imagine how that would weigh you down after eating….
Bowls of chili paste, cilantro, and some really yummy pickled garlic is placed on the table….
And my bowl was whisked away…..leaving me wondering what evil deeds were being performed on my pieces of crumbled bread.
The bowl returned….. the bread had been covered with a thick broth, almost like gravy, the scent of mutton so thick I could cut through it. Some fatty slices of mutton, toothsome, but oh so deliciously gamey had been placed on the top.
Can you tell that I really enjoyed this?
Hearty and substantial, this would keep you going for a while after a hard day's ride on the Silk Road. Of course I hadn't travelled to Xi'an on camel, but I could imagine, right?
The Missus got a kick out of what came back after we paid our check. We were given change in what She said was "old style money". Pretty neat, huh? Old currency after eating a rustic meal in a historic city at the end of an ancient trade route……
