A 2228 years old dish for $3.50
Xi'an Famous Snack, #36 Golden Shopping Mall
LOCATION:
41-28 Main Street, Flushing, Queens, NY 11355
RATING:
REVIEWS:
Thanks to Robert Sietsema, Serious Eats and recent NY Times article about Golden Shopping Mall, I feel an urge of re-educating my Chinese gastronomical heritage. Frankly, born in Hong Kong with strong colonial history and immigrated to U.S.A. when I was eighteen years old, I had not got a chance to trek deep into inland China- the only cities I have been to is Shanghai, Beijing, Han Zhou, Wu Xi and Guang Zhou China. That said, the dining experience at Golden Shopping Mall is totally alien to me.
As all the articles online suggested, the diverse regional cuisine this underground food paradise offers includes Wenzhou, ChengDu, Tianjin, Xi'an, Lanzhou, FuZhou and more. The stall that got my most attention is the Xi’an food stall #36 since the only thing I know about Xi’an (then called Chang'an) is the Terracotta Army and the city being the ancient capital of China with large population of Chinese Muslims (Hui people).
Situated in Shaanxi province and being the first main Chinese city on the Silk Road route, Xi’an cuisine combines the tastes of Central Asia and China. The "Liang Pi" 凉皮 ($3.50)- a 2228 years old cold dish that China First Emperor Qin Shi Huang loved. According to legend a severe drought caused the farmers unable to supply the rice (tax) to the government. Under the fear of being prosecuted one farmer invented this method of grinding the old rice with water into a solution, steam it and mixed it with various ingredients. The emperor tried it and loved it so much that he ordered a whole year tax relief for the farmers.
Dated back from 220 BC, Liang Pi is a cold dish with 0.25 inch steamed wheat or rice crepes strips mixed with bean sprouts, Chinkiang rice vinegar, red chili oil, wheat gluten, Szechwan peppercorn oil and cilantro. The dish is primary judged by five different aspects- white in color, shiny in the surface, smooth in texture, soft in mouth feel and bouncy in elasticity.
Another popular street snacks in Xi’an is 肉夹馍 “rou jia mo”, literally mean meat sandwich in rice pancake. The Bun with Lamb Cumin 孜然羊肉夹馍 “zi ran yang rou jia mo” ($2.50) is a “Chinese Hamburger” with sautéed lamb in cumin. It is one of the best things I have eaten lately.
On the menu also have Lamb Noodle soup ($4.50) and a dish call 羊蝎子 “Lamb Scorpion” ($5.50). With no idea how a lamb can copulate with a scorpion I do my search in Chinese and find out it’s originally a hotpot dish make with lamb neck/ spine. In this case there are no broth and the delicacy is in the bone marrow.
As all the articles online suggested, the diverse regional cuisine this underground food paradise offers includes Wenzhou, ChengDu, Tianjin, Xi'an, Lanzhou, FuZhou and more. The stall that got my most attention is the Xi’an food stall #36 since the only thing I know about Xi’an (then called Chang'an) is the Terracotta Army and the city being the ancient capital of China with large population of Chinese Muslims (Hui people).
Situated in Shaanxi province and being the first main Chinese city on the Silk Road route, Xi’an cuisine combines the tastes of Central Asia and China. The "Liang Pi" 凉皮 ($3.50)- a 2228 years old cold dish that China First Emperor Qin Shi Huang loved. According to legend a severe drought caused the farmers unable to supply the rice (tax) to the government. Under the fear of being prosecuted one farmer invented this method of grinding the old rice with water into a solution, steam it and mixed it with various ingredients. The emperor tried it and loved it so much that he ordered a whole year tax relief for the farmers.
Dated back from 220 BC, Liang Pi is a cold dish with 0.25 inch steamed wheat or rice crepes strips mixed with bean sprouts, Chinkiang rice vinegar, red chili oil, wheat gluten, Szechwan peppercorn oil and cilantro. The dish is primary judged by five different aspects- white in color, shiny in the surface, smooth in texture, soft in mouth feel and bouncy in elasticity.
Another popular street snacks in Xi’an is 肉夹馍 “rou jia mo”, literally mean meat sandwich in rice pancake. The Bun with Lamb Cumin 孜然羊肉夹馍 “zi ran yang rou jia mo” ($2.50) is a “Chinese Hamburger” with sautéed lamb in cumin. It is one of the best things I have eaten lately.
On the menu also have Lamb Noodle soup ($4.50) and a dish call 羊蝎子 “Lamb Scorpion” ($5.50). With no idea how a lamb can copulate with a scorpion I do my search in Chinese and find out it’s originally a hotpot dish make with lamb neck/ spine. In this case there are no broth and the delicacy is in the bone marrow.
More info:
Robert Sietsema review:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-04-22/restaurants/regional-chinese-fare-hits-flushing-like-a-ton-of-bricks/
Serious Eats review:
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/06/draft-golden-shopping-mall-in-flushing.html
More Xi’an cuisine (in Chinese with lotta pics):
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4b6a3a6e01008nvn.html
http://www.tiantianyou.com/tty-25-3/shequ/detail/40869.html
More history of Xi’an cuisine:
http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/3365
More on Hui cuisine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hui_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Islamic_cuisine
Robert Sietsema review:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-04-22/restaurants/regional-chinese-fare-hits-flushing-like-a-ton-of-bricks/
Serious Eats review:
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/06/draft-golden-shopping-mall-in-flushing.html
More Xi’an cuisine (in Chinese with lotta pics):
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4b6a3a6e01008nvn.html
http://www.tiantianyou.com/tty-25-3/shequ/detail/40869.html
More history of Xi’an cuisine:
http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/3365
More on Hui cuisine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hui_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Islamic_cuisine
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posted by: >K Hung
