Restaurant: Dolan’s Uyghur Cuisine [1, 2]
Location: 742 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 782-7555
Date: April 14, 2024
Cuisine: Uyghur Chinese
Rating: Excellent execution, and closer to Afghan than Chinese
It took Yarom and I about 4-5 years to manage to come back here for dinner with a large enough group to order the whole roast lamb!
Dolan’s, which is a new Uyghur place celebrating the cuisine of Western China — the part above Tibet known as Jing Jiang. Perfect for lunch to as they are Halal and don’t allow alcohol.
The interior has a distinctly “western” style — and considerably more style than most Chinese places. While the building was probably some mid-century family restaurant they have added the Islamic style “windows” and tile.
Copper tea pots.
A big menu featuring lamb, lamb, and more lamb! Good thing we love lamb!
Naan stir-fried with Beef. Mostly fried bread. What beef there was had a lovely cumin flavor.
Garlic cucumbers. Nice and tangy.
Salad. Strong tangy dressing.
Beef Pie.
The shell was kinda greasy but addictive.
Another salad, mostly onions, peppers, and tomatoes. But the tart and quick spicy sauce was amazing.
Another stuffed pastry. I liked this one better and it had a strong beef and onions flavor.
Flakey pastry with beef. Very nice texture. Kind of Samosa-like.
Eggs and Tomatoes. Yarom can never resist ordering this one.
The whole lamb.
Revealed.
Super rich, tender, and delicious. Tremendous flavor.
We polished off that baby!
Big Plate Chicken with Wide Noodles. Star anise flavor.
Beef with the special round noodles. These were better noodles.
Lemon Cookie Gelato.
They fight over the leftovers.
Overall, not only was Dolan’s super interesting, but they were delicious as well. It’s related most closely to Western Chinese, but not totally Chinese in style (food-wise, decor isn’t Chinese at all). The kitchen was excellent though, and everything was extremely tasty — you better like lamb though!
For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.
