First Glance: Jianghu Weidao, Beixinqiao
If you don't think your local chuan'r joint is upscale enough, Jianghu Weidao, the latest in Xinjiang restaurants, offers up Xinjiang-style dishes served by real Xinjiangren in a relaxing and slightly-more-upscale environment. As you walk up to the restaurant, you'll also notice the awesome atmosphere outside the restaurant; there's an oven outside and a naan chef baking bread right there.
Decorations on the inside are a little bit odd, but there's some cool graffiti on the walls making the restaurant feel like it's been there for much longer than it actually has. The barbecue and Paris posters stood out especially – having nothing to do with the restaurant, apparently.
Our chuan'r order included big lamb chuan'r (RMB 12), regular lamb chuan'r (RMB 3), roasted mantou (RMB 3), and chicken wings in various flavors (RMB 8). Although the price difference between the large and regular chuan'r was quite big, the difference in size and quality wasn't that noticeable. In fact, even the RMB 3 chuan'r had way less fat than side-of-the-road stalls, and there was a lot of meat. The chicken wings were not as impressive, as some of the meat was a bit bloody, and we couldn't tell the difference between the different flavors: all were covered in chuan'r-spices.
To supplement things-on-sticks, we got some Xinjiang liangpi (RMB 18), Xinjiang salad (RMB 22), fried noodle pieces (RMB 16), and fried cabbage. While the cabbage was quite spicy (with Sichuan peppercorns lurking in the folds of the cabbage), the dish was really tasty and probably even better than its close competition at Zhang Mama.
Both the liangpi and the fried noodles were full of taste, and not too salty, as Xinjiang dishes often are. The noodles were chewy and there was plenty of fried onion and pepper, while the liangpi was lighter and doused in a much spicier sauce. Beware with this one: there are chilies floating around in the sauce, too.
All this chuan'r makes you thirsty, thankfully they have cold Yanjing and also a dark Xinjiang beer on draft, for those into dark beers. All in all, becaue of the cleanliness and good range of dishes, see Jianghu Weidao as a good option for "my first chuan'r" and the perfect way to introduce your parents to Xinjiang food, as well as a good spot to maintain your dirty barbecue habit this winter.
Jianghu Weidao
Daily 11.30am-10.30pm. 26 Dongsi Beidajie, Dongcheng District (5710 8890)
东城区东四北大街26号
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Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
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Photos: Margaux Schreurs
