Xian Restaurants

De Fa Chang
Dumplings are raised to a high art form at this lively restaurant located next to the Clock Tower Square. Tasty xiaochi, or little eats, resembling flying saucers, mouse heads, and walnuts will come in steady stream to your table. The 18-course dumpling meal is a steal at ¥60 ($7.50).
Location Zhonglou Guangchang City Xian
Phone 029/8721-4060
Cuisine Chinese
Jiasan Guantang Baozi
Still the most famous of the Jia Brothers’ restaurants, you’ll know you’re there when you see the monstrous blue arch over the entrance and a wall festooned with photographs of Xi’an notables — TV hosts, writers, and musicians. The specialty dish is guantang baozi, with a choice of beef, lamb, or “three flavors” — lamb, mushroom, and prawn. The dumplings have piping-hot soup inside, so let them cool before testing your chopstick skills. This dish is best washed down with ba bao tian xifan, a sweet rice porridge filled with peanuts, sultanas, hawthorn, and medlar berries. Address Bei Yuan Men 93, Xian, Shanxi Province
Location 135m/450 ft. north of Drum Tower, on the east side
Phone 029/8725-7507
Cuisine Chinese
Lao Sun Jia
The original restaurant, opened in 1898, is still the best place to sample Xi’an’s most celebrated dish, yangrou paomo. There are now three branches, two of them on Dong Dajie. The branch with the best reputation at the moment is located inside a large hotel. On the first floor, you can dine with the masses — not recommended unless you want to be the main attraction. The second floor is a point-to-choose xiaochi (snack) restaurant. Recommended dishes include the lamb dumplings (suan tang shuijiao) and a local favorite, fenzheng yangrou, two steamed buns perched delicately to the side of a pile of mince and flour. Order yangrou paomo on the third floor. You will face an empty bowl and two steamed buns, as well as plates of chili, coriander, and cloves of garlic that have been marinated in vinegar and sugar for several months. Tear the buns into tiny pieces and pop them into the empty bowl. When you’ve finished, your bowl will be taken away and refilled with broth and noodles. Stir in the coriander and chili, and when your palate gets greasy, nibble a clove of garlic and encourage your friends to do likewise. If the star dish doesn’t fill you up, the stewed oxtail (hongshao niuwei) and bok choy with mushrooms (bilu za shuang gu) are recommended. Don’t bother with the fourth floor, unless you are entertaining a government official looking for a bribe.
Address Dong Guan Zheng Jie 78, Xian, Shanxi Province
Location From Dong Men, cross the road, walk 27m/90 ft. north, turn right, and walk 45m/150 ft. east
Phone 029/8221-2935
Cuisine Chinese
Fanji Lazhi Roudian
This is the most famous vendor of Shanxi’s most widely consumed snack — rou jia mo, finely chopped pork pressed between two halves of a solid steamed bun. Xi’an’s answer to the hamburger makes a perfect snack on the run, but you can almost feel your arteries clogging up as you wolf it down. Ask for the good-quality (youzhi) bun (¥4/50¢).
Address Zhubashi Jie 46, Xian, Shanxi Province
Location From Gu Lou, the shop is opposite, 45m/150 ft. south of Xi Dajie on the road’s east side Cuisine Chinese
Highfly Pizza
Outside of the five-star hotels and the inevitable KFCs, Xi’an offers little in the way of Western food; it’s a relief to find pizza (the four-cheese and pepperoni pizzas are superb), real oven-baked penne, tuna sandwiches, chocolate brownies, even Texas stew. There are vegetarian options, the kitchen is spotless, and the entire restaurant is nonsmoking.
Location Heping Men Wai Shengli Fandian City Xian
Phone 029/8785-5333
Cuisine Western