Friday, September 25, 2009

Grilled Lamb Sticks, Muslim Street in Xi'an China

Blink and oh, Hari Raya is upon us already! Oops, it just passed. BUT hey, one can smell the celebration in the air still. Yup, the lemang stalls are still around. Afterall it is still the Syawal month.

So my halal post specially dedicated to celebrate my Muslim friends' grand celebration is still not too late. =P

When in Xi'an, we frequented this area once during the day, twice on nights.
Browsing through tourist maps and websites, this will be pointed out as one of the top attraction spots in the walled city - The Great Mosque.

Though the unique Chinese building styled mosque (with no dome nor tower) is still very much a popular prayer house among the locals, tourists need to pay entry fee ranging from RMB15-25 per person depending on season.The heaving day and night street market surrounding The Great Mosque offers almost everything, eats, homemade attire, trinkets to spices.
But what do you think was our main draw here, which kept us going back 2 nights in a row? They have plenty of roadside stalls hawking fruits, cakes, cooked dishes but only this made us drooled. Succulent Grilled Skewered Lamb (Gau-Yang-Rou in Mandarin).No doubt, the Muslim men doing the manual work looked good too. Trust me. These are must haves. No strong 'beasty' smell. Spicy. On both occasions we savour them in our hotel room. *snap fingers* Now now, we are talking about the the grilled meat.

One of the shops doing brisk business was this.Maybe it's the never ending flow of customers, maybe it was the shorthanded staff or maybe (most probably) it was just the level of tolerance the locals have. We found the din and pile of leftovers on the tables and floor overwhelming so we ordered takeaways.

On normal days and nights, the area was already so busy.Can you imagine the marvellous chaos it's in now during this festive season?

*Clink* Sirap Bandung to a SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI!

Pity smooth traffic week has ended ..

For those map-illiterate as moi, when visitng at night, just look out for this beacon - the Drum Tower (Gu Lou) of Xi'an. One of the entrance into the Muslim Street is just behind it.
PS. Something memorable happened during the just long weekend ie the Raya holidays. I met up with 8 wholesome to goodness kindie/primary school friends whom I've not been in contact with for 2 decades and counting!
TQ so very much dearest Michael T for your generous time & effort!

17 comments:

sc said...

i want some grilled lamb sticks too!

HairyBerry said...

xi'an sounds like another world that is still very close to us hor? must pay a visit la. lurve lurve lurve mutton!

Kenny Mah said...

The Drum Tower looks amazing at night. Them grilled lamb sticks look good too... And I'll trust you on the men doing the grilling too. ;)

Little Inbox said...

All sinful dishes, but hey, how could one resist it? Haha...

Rebecca Saw said...

ahhh..finally i got all yr post in order.
Its better reading them following the sequence at ONE go! LOL

What a hol dear! And just back frm Perth? keep those posts coming!

choi yen said...

Did the mutton got gamey taste?

Tummythoz said...

sc, me too me too!

Nic(KHKL), me no lurve lamb oso craves for this. Ultimate yum with even big toes up!

Life for Beginners, delicious looking. Both. *err scout's honour 2 fingers or 3?*

Little inbox, it is my fast belief that grilled food means all fat burnt so very healthy. Ahem.

thenomadGourmand, u all well & skippity hop d? Take care, eat more!

mimid3vils, m scared of gamey smell/taste too but these were divine. Think it's the heavy spicy marination style.

UnkaLeong said...

Caught a program on TV8. Seems that there is a healthy Muslim community of Xi'an descent in Chiangmai wor...

Tummythoz said...

Unkaleong, a community with flawless fair complexion no doubt.

foodbin, TQ.

worldwindows said...

Grilled lambs in whatever forms are great food gamey or not. So many types!

backStreetGluttons said...

8 of us were in Xian some years ago where we tried a few night stalls with plenty Chinese beer. The ambience is exotic with the great historical aura but our top streetfood choice of all time is still Bangkok/Hadyai which is ranked no 1 followed by Saigon no 2

Tummythoz said...

worldwindows, a "yong-meh-meh" afficiendo no doubt.

backStreetGluttons, I believe you. Saigon, wait for me.

Selba said...

Wow! So interesting! I would love to visit that place someday!

Ciki said...

i get scared after i see posts on foods like these (after taipei). it means i might have to run to the loo soon! LOL

Lil' Monsters, Inc. said...

And I missed ALL this, sigh!

rokh said...

oo..looks like you have great fun and food!

Tummythoz said...

Selba, avoid summer. Else, be prepared to burn.

Cumi&ciki, can't wait to burn at your Taipei posts!

Lil'Monsters, Inc., & much MUCH more.

rokh, can be better if the weather's cooler & less cold dishes at the restaurants. =P

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