Xi’an :: All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for Xi’an

Xi’an isn’t Shaanxi

Sep02

Restaurant: Xi’an

Location: N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 275-3345

Date: December 12, 2021

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Better than I thought semi-Americanized Chinese

I’ve seen Xi’an on Canon for years but never even considered going into because it looked so Americanized and kitchy. But Yarom met the owner and she offered to make us a special “Chinese” menu.

The outside patio was mobbed.

But in the wake of the virus most people were scared off the inside.

The normal menu is pretty Chinese American. There are even a bunch of oddball dishes that aren’t Chinese at all like salads, edamame (I guess some Beverly Hills residents confuse China and it’s island neighbor).

They start off with plenty of sauces on the table though.

Drunken chicken. Very nice and moist.

Garlic ginger chili sauce. This is pretty much a traditional hainan chicken sauce.

Sichuan Style Chicken Wontons. Not bad, would be better with pork. No self respecting Chengdu chef would use chicken for this dish. Sauce was a bit sweet.

Tofu with chili and Century Egg. Somewhat bland version of this dish. Needed the sweet/tangy soy sauce.

Scallion pancakes. Could have been crispier.

Friend shrimp dim sum. Excellent. Hot and delicious.

Chicken lo-mein for a wus. For some unexplained reason, our esteemed leader sometimes invites people to Chinese who have no interest in real Chinese food — they order dishes like this because they won’t eat what everyone else does.

Miso cod. What’s this doing on a Chinese menu? Did it hitchhike over from Matsuhisa?
Peking duck. Hoison was excellent. Duck was a touch dry. But they had pancakes and rolled some of them for us.

The pancakes were a tough tortilla-like.

Chinese Broccoli with Chinese Sausage. Very good.

Salty egg fried rice. Nice.

Lamb stew with a bit of anise and black cardamon. Quite good. A touch gamey.

Shanghai Style Dungeness Crab with Shanghai Rice cakes. Great ginger/garlic sauce.

Southern Spicy Prawns. Not my favorite.

Hunan Style braised/steamed pork belly with preserved vegetables. Respectable version of this dish, although I have had better.

String beans. Excellent crunch, a touch under-seasoned.

Sesame Red Bean Buns. Chewy.

Fruit. This was ice cold and kinda nice.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by Xi’an. The meal was quite enjoyable. It’s not even slightly “Xi’an” as in having cuisine even remotely related to the capital of Shaanxi province, for that go here. And I wouldn’t be very interested in the regular menu, but what we had was pretty good. It was kind of hit or miss. I had the feeling the chef is solid, but out of practice seasoning dishes authentically given his Beverly Hills crowd. Some dishes were solid and many were middling — but I love Chinese food and even middling Chinese is quite enjoyable.

And they treated us like royalty. Overall a great time.

I didn’t bother photographing the wines.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Wine, Xi'an

Eating Xi’an – De Fa Cheng

Sep10

Restaurant: De Fa Cheng

Location: 28 Pingan Market, Bell Tower Square, Xi’an, China. +86 29 8767 6615

Date: August 2, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese Dumpling House

Rating: Really interesting if a bit “big”

When I came to China in 2008 I ate at De Fa Cheng and enjoyed it tremendously. That trip, it was one of my favorite meals and I always regretted only taking a photo or two (it wasn’t until 2010 that I started photoing every meal I ate). It claims to offer “authentic” Tang Dynasty dumpling feasts. I have my doubts as to the historicity of the food, but it’s sure good.

The place is located right across from the central Ming Dynasty Bell Tower and is at least 3 stories!

I remember this golden dumpling from last time and used it to locate the restaurant again this trip (by some creative googling).

Last time we had a big group and therefore some private rooms upstairs but this time we were in the “grand hall” on the first floor.

They have plastic models of dumplings.

There is a sauce bar you can make up your dumpling sauces at — unfortunately I only noticed after the meal!

We got tea, plum juice (which I love), and some weird herbal/fruit dark brown juice with a highly intriguing and not entirely pleasant flavor.

Cold dishes to start, including the world’s largest dates.

Wood ear mushroom with onions. Loved it.

Spinach, egg, and garlic.

Pickled veggies and meats.

Shrimp and cucumbers.

And super spicy crawfish.

There are many levels of dumpling banquet, varying from about $10 a person to several hundred! We got level 2 or 3, it was about $15, and was a staggering amount of food. There was even a custom veggie version for my wife.

The normal course we ordered came with what seemed to be “all you can eat” boiled pork dumplings, a comfort food I always enjoy. Each time our plate got low they just brought another.

The veggie course likewise had a plate of boiled veggie dumplings. She level got it low but I’m sure they would have replaced it too.

Each person then got one of each type of specialty dumpling. I’m going to have to guess for most what was in them because I couldn’t read Chinese. The brown ones were walnut dumplings. I dunno about the other.

There were duck dumplings and something else here.

A whole selection of veggie dumplings here.

And a second round of different veggie dumplings here.

Then some veggie and some other type here for us.

The orange ones were a touch sweet and really good. Maybe pumpkin.

These dumplings were in a soup with Szechuan peppercorns and hence had a nice numbing bite.

Fried pork dumplings.

Baked dumplings.

More rounds. I can’t remember what they were but the ones with the green edge were really good. Like meatball dumplings.

The middle ones were a strong tomato dumpling and I can’t remember about the outside.

Finally there was a wonton soup.

We got this whole story about the Empress Cixi and how this was made for her. It contained little wontons and the random number in your bowl denotes your fortune somehow.

Watermelon.

This was a fun meal and a great deal at $15 a head for an epic gut bursting feast. Light eaters could split a course. In fact we ordered 4 for 3 adults and the kids. The dumplings were interesting and flavorful. My only complaint was that sometimes the skins were a bit chewy/thick. I wonder what the hell is in the expensive banquets? I think they go up to 100 dumpling types!

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

De Fa Cheng is right across the street from the iconic Bell Tower

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese Food, De Fa Cheng, dumplings, Eating China, Eating Xi'an, plum juice, soup, Xi'an

Eating Xi’an – Jia San Soup Pau

Sep03

Restaurant: Jia San Soup Pau

Location: 93 Bei Yuan Men, Xi’an, China. +86 29 8725 7507

Date: August 1, 2018

Cuisine: Halal Chinese

Rating: Tasty!

After Beijing we move on to Xi’an, the oldest of China’s great capitals and the eastern terminus of the silk road. Xi’an, now a city of roughly 15 million, has been an important city for perhaps 5000 years! It’s the capital of Shaanxi province and of course home to Shaanxi cuisine.

In it’s western position in China it’s home to many Chinese muslims and a vibrant “muslim street” filled with restaurants and snacks.

Like random kabobs!

Or what the Chinese call “naan breads” (puffier muslim breads).

Somewhat afraid of the street meats we decided to have dinner here at this recommended, popular, and very colorful spot.

As far as I can tell, it’s name is Jia San Soup Pau.

It was so popular we had to go up to the 3rd floor to get a table.

Lazy susan etc.

They specialize in these western XLB, which are somewhat more akin to Afghan Muntoo. These were vegetable filled muntoo.

And mutton muntoo — no pork at this place, it’s halal. The lamb ones were delicious with a very delicate pasta, a nice pronounced lamb-quality, and tons of juice.

Sesame noodles. Had a bit of mustardy punch too.

Spicy Tripe. I’m not sure which animal’s stomach we ate here. Lamb? Maybe ox? It had that tripe texture and was a bit firm and not crazy chewy. The sauce was STRONG. An intense smack in the face of chili and sesame. Really good sauce. I could only eat so much tripe but I would love this sauce on noodles.

Ox tail soup muntoo. Amazingly good juice meat dumplings.

Steamed greens with a bit of soy and ginger flavor. Quite nice.

Fried chicken. With a bit of spicy powder.

Lamb, garlic, celery, poatoes, and pepper hand pulled noodles. Underneath this very homestyle dish was a pile of excellent hand pulled noodles. This is a very Shaanxi style dish.

Jia San Soup Pau was an excellent place. Good rustic food and hearty flavors.

Back out on the street time for snacks and dessert like this “spicy lamb burger” which in Chinese might be 肉夹馍, a name that sounds like “Rodger Moore” (maybe Rho jaa mo or something like that). This one was lamby, very salty, and liberally greased with chili oil.

My eye was drawn to this very interesting looking dry ice dessert steaming in the cauldron. I called them dragon balls.

It’s handed to you steaming too. Turns out they are just puffed rice balls, with no flavor, frozen in liquid nitrogen. You crunch on the ball, trying vainly not to freezer burn your mouth and exhale like this: