Xibei Youmian Village brings Northwest to SZ
STEPPING into Xibei Youmian Village, you can be forgiven for thinking you have just wandered into a village courtyard. With corn, red peppers and yellow pumpkins piled high between tables, the restaurant reminds diners of harvest time in a northwestern Chinese village.
As its name suggests, Xibei Youmian Village offers dishes based on youmian, a flour made from oats. Credited with improving both nutrition and beauty (oats are rich in vitamin E which is good for the skin), the northwest food is now available in dozens of Shenzhen restaurants serving northwestern-style dishes, and Xibei Youmian Village is one of the most popular.
With its headquarters in Beijing, Xibei Youmian Village came to Shenzhen in 2004 and opened its second restaurant at Xiangmihu (Honey Lake Resort) in Futian District two months ago.
Xibei Youmian Village serves a variety of youmian dishes, many served with different dipping sauces such as stir-fried tomato and spicy jam. The restaurant also serves an array of traditional northwestern dishes including barbecued mutton, mixed vegetables and mixed vermicelli served with different sauces.
The noodles and mutton dishes including youmian yuyu, a soup made of small-fish-shaped youmian and mutton, are recommended. The vegetable salad includes shacong (沙葱), a kind of wild shallot that grows in northwest sand.
Qi Liqiang, general manager of the Xiangmihu restaurant, says “simplicity” is the main principle of the food in Xibei Youmian Village. The chefs usually boil or stew the ingredients to keep their natural flavor, like they did back in their Northwest China hometowns.
On their first encounter, people used to the delicate food of South China may find the northwest dishes coarse. It takes some time to get used to a new style.
While the restaurant serves typical northwest food in its spacious main room, its VIP rooms offer some off-menu courses cooked by their private chefs in private kitchens.
Xibei Youmian Village offers both northwest food and the culture of northwest life. On one side of the entrance, an elderly woman demonstrates the traditional craft of kneading dough into animal shapes. On the other side of the entrance, chefs are busy making the dough as big pots of mutton, fish and all kinds of spices boil away.
Every evening from 6:40 to 7:10 p.m., Northwest Chinese singers perform on a stage resembling the cover of a well. Singers will also sing requests, which cost 25 yuan (US$3.16) for each song.
Xiangmihu store
Add: Inside Xiangmihu Resort (香蜜湖渡假村内)
Tel: 8345-9999
Hours: 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.
5:30-9 p.m.
Average price: about 50 yuan per person
Chinese language website of the restaurant chain
Metro: Xiang Mi Hu Station (Honey Lake Station 香蜜湖站), Exit B
Bagualing store:
Add: 1/F, No. 7 Building, Bagua Yilu Road, Futian District (八卦一路七栋首层1号)
Tel: 8243-9282, 8243-8875
Buses: 212, 302, 333, 320, 322, 357, 360, 361, 365, 375, 379
