{"id":13613,"date":"2017-08-28T15:35:35","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T19:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=13613"},"modified":"2017-08-28T15:35:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T19:35:35","slug":"the-delicious-food-of-lanzhou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/the-delicious-food-of-lanzhou\/","title":{"rendered":"The Delicious Food of Lanzhou"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese cuisine is one of the best in the world. It’s incredibly diverse, with different regions having their own unique specialties. One type of restaurant that you’ll see all across the country is Lanzhou Pulled Noodles<\/strong> (\u5170\u5dde\u62c9\u9762 – l\u00e1n zh\u014du l\u0101 mi\u00e0n). Let’s learn more about this style of Chinese food and see what’s on the menu there.<\/p>\n

Where is Lanzhou?<\/h2>\n

Lanzhou<\/strong> (\u5170\u5dde – l\u00e1n zh\u014du) is the capital of Gansu province<\/strong> (\u7518\u8083 – g\u0101n s\u00f9) in northwest China. It’s on the banks of the\u00a0Yellow River<\/strong> (\u9ec4\u6cb3 – hu\u00e1ng h\u00e9) and is a major transportation hub and industrial center. Once upon a time, Lanzhou was an important link on the Silk Road.<\/p>\n

Lanzhou Cuisine<\/h2>\n
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Now THAT’S a good table of food!<\/p><\/div>\n

As with much of China, a majority of Lanzhou’s population are Han Chinese. The city is also home to a substantial number of Muslim\u00a0Hui people<\/strong> (\u56de\u65cf – hu\u00ed z\u00fa). Their influence on the cuisine of the city is clear, as you won’t find much pork on the menu. Instead, you’ll find plenty of delicious beef and mutton. Here are some of the most famous Lanzhou dishes. Get ready for your mouth to start watering!<\/p>\n

Pulled Beef Noodles<\/h3>\n

\u725b\u8089\u62c9\u9762 – ni\u00fa r\u00f2u l\u0101 mi\u00e0n<\/h3>\n
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Image by Gary Stevens from flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

First and foremost, Lanzhou is known for its pulled beef noodles. It seriously seems like there’s a Lanzhou noodle joint on every corner in China. A big bowl of these will fill you up and usually only costs around $1.50 or so. No wonder it’s so popular! While the noodles are amazing, there’s lots more to eat here.<\/p>\n

Cucumber Salad<\/h3>\n

\u62cd\u9ec4\u74dc \u2013 p\u0101i hu\u00e1ng gu\u0101<\/h3>\n
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A great starter.<\/p><\/div>\n

This isn\u2019t exactly a traditional Lanzhou dish per se, but it is widely available in restaurants all across China and it\u2019s always done well in Lanzhou restaurants. Cucumbers are smashed up with garlic, oil, vinegar, and a little bit of chili for an amazing appetizer. It will also help cool you down if you eat some seriously spicy stuff later in the meal.<\/p>\n

Grilled Naan<\/h3>\n

\u70e4\u9995 \u2013 k\u01ceo n\u00e1ng<\/h3>\n
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You’ll need plenty of this.<\/p><\/div>\n

As rice and noodles are staples in most Chinese restaurants, it\u2019s always refreshing to have some tasty, spicy, grilled naan bread to enjoy your meal with. You can dip it, cover it, or just eat it on the side. Make sure you order up a few plates of this stuff!<\/p>\n

Tomatoes and Scrambled Eggs<\/h3>\n

\u897f\u7ea2\u67ff\u7092\u9e21\u86cb \u2013 x\u012b h\u00f3ng sh\u00ec ch\u01ceo j\u012b d\u00e0n<\/h3>\n
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A perfect dip for your naan, and good for vegetarians as well!<\/p><\/div>\n

Again, this is a typical dish anywhere in China and isn\u2019t exactly exclusive to Lanzhou, but damn do they do it well! I\u2019ve tried this dish well over a hundred times in restaurants all over China, but my favorite version remains the one at my local Lanzhou joint in Beijing. With a bit of chili sauce, this becomes the perfect dip for your naan bread.<\/p>\n

Spicy Diced Chicken<\/h3>\n

\u8fa3\u5b50\u9e21\u4e01 \u2013 l\u00e0 z\u01d0 j\u012b d\u012bng<\/h3>\n
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Mmmm… spicy chicken.<\/p><\/div>\n

So far, this meal has been great for vegetarians<\/a>, but we need some meat! This dish is simple but amazing \u2013 diced chicken, green and red peppers, plus a spicy sauce. Many restaurants make this dish, but Lanzhou joints do it the best.<\/p>\n

Twice Cooked Beef<\/h3>\n

\u56de\u9505\u725b\u8089 \u2013 hu\u00ed gu\u014d ni\u00fa r\u00f2u<\/h3>\n
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Cook that meat again!<\/p><\/div>\n

This dish gets its name as the meat is cooked twice \u2013 once on its own and again with the spices and sauce. \u201cReturn to the pot meat\u201d is a famous dish all around China, but it\u2019s usually cooked with super fatty pork. Since Lanzhou restaurants are Halal, they use lean, tasty beef instead, which actually tastes much better.<\/p>\n

Big Plate Chicken<\/h3>\n

\u5927\u76d8\u9e21 \u2013 d\u00e0 p\u00e1n j\u012b<\/h3>\n
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It sure is a big plate of chicken.<\/p><\/div>\n

The shining star of this cuisine and the main event of any dinner in a Lanzhou restaurant, the \u201cbig plate chicken\u201d is an epic dish. On one massive plate, you\u2019ve got thick noodles, potatoes, onions, peppers, and diced chicken covered in a delicious, spicy gravy. It\u2019s not just a clever name \u2013 it really is a huge plate of chicken. Usually, you can order either a small or a large portion. Unless you have at least 5-6 people, it\u2019s best to go with the small.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, you\u2019ll want to wash this meal down with a few cold glasses of\u00a0beer<\/strong>\u00a0(\u5564\u9152 \u2013 p\u00ed ji\u01d4) and perhaps a few sticks of\u00a0lamb kebabs<\/strong>\u00a0(\u7f8a\u8089\u4e32 \u2013 y\u00e1ng r\u00f2u chu\u00e0n) if you\u2019ve still got room. After such a huge meal, you might just need to be rolled out of the restaurant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Chinese cuisine is one of the best in the world. It’s incredibly diverse, with different regions having their own unique specialties. One type of restaurant that you’ll see all across the country is Lanzhou Pulled Noodles (\u5170\u5dde\u62c9\u9762 – l\u00e1n zh\u014du l\u0101 mi\u00e0n). Let’s learn more about this style of Chinese food and see what’s on…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":10189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[481545,127396,8119,292581,481546,481547,293753,271029,481542,481544,481543,127207,127213,127208,315505],"class_list":["post-13613","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-big-plate-of-chicken","tag-chinese-cuisine","tag-chinese-food","tag-chinese-restaurant","tag-hui-food","tag-hui-people","tag-lamb-kebabs","tag-lanzhou","tag-lanzhou-cuisine","tag-lanzhou-noodles","tag-lanzhou-pulled-beef-noodles","tag-real-chinese-food","tag-scrambled-eggs-and-tomatoes","tag-spicy-diced-chicken","tag-twice-cooked-beef"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13613"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13619,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13613\/revisions\/13619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}