When it comes to Northwest cuisine, I believe most diners' first reaction is Xibei Noodle Village Restaurant. Xibei is the most successful restaurant chain in China, with more than 200 directly-operated restaurants across the country and annual sales of more than 3 billion.
Compared with many old shops in Beijing that highlight the local customs of the northwest, Shanghai's Xibei is a new store in the shopping mall's dining area. Most of these new stores opened in the second half of 2014, and the decoration style of the stores is uniform, there are no private rooms, and the transparent glass kitchen has a modern sense of style. At present, Xibei has more than 30 branches in major shopping malls in Shanghai, which shows the love of Shanghai customers for Xibei in recent years.
Like the mutton production area of the home in Tala Restaurant, Xibei's mutton also comes from the Xilin Gol grassland in Inner Mongolia. The Xilin Gol grassland is rich in many sheep breeds, among which only two breeds, the Uzhumuqin sheep and the Sunit sheep, can be indisputably called "Ximeng sheep", while the mutton used in Xibei is all from the Wuzhumuqin sheep. Uzhumuqin sheep has a light and fresh taste, after being slaughtered and cut in the place of origin, it is directly refrigerated and shipped to the stores, with the increase of refrigeration time, the mutton gas will also increase, but geographical factors are unavoidable, and it is difficult for all cities far away from the pastoral areas to enjoy fresh mutton in a cheap way.
Xibei's mutton is mostly made by the barbecue method, and grilled lamb chops, roast lamb sticks, and roast lamb legs are all representative dishes. The BCFAs fatty acids contained in the mutton fat are the main cause of mutton gas, and full pre-cooking can not only play a role in defatting and removing the taste, but also have a certain benefit in maintaining the tender taste of the mutton. However, the ingredients of grilled lamb chops are not stable enough, and some lamb chops have too thick fat layer, which is easy to produce a fatty feeling. Compared with grilled lamb chops, roast lamb sticks and roast lamb legs basically do not contain mutton fat, and the meat is lean and has no smell, which is more popular with female diners. Roast lamb loin has a strong flavor and is not acceptable to every diner, so it is recommended to choose carefully.
The yellow steamed buns and hollow noodles that appeared in the "Tip of the Tongue Series" documentary are the most popular noodles in Xibei. The yellow bun of red bean paste is fluffy and soft, and the taste is simple, and the product is especially stable. The hollow somen noodles are full and elastic, and the inside is soaked in tomato sour soup, which makes them very delicious. In addition to these two savoury dishes, Xibei's signature dishes of fish and fish and tomato sauce (some restaurants call it Tomato Noodles Wowo) are also worth trying. Some customers have always complained about the portion size of Xibei's food, but on the whole, for the bold Northwest diners, the small portion size may be a problem for all Northwest restaurants in Shanghai.
Compared with other Northwest restaurants in Shanghai, the service quality of Xibei is definitely superior. If it is the first time to arrive at the store, the service staff will make corresponding recommendations when ordering, and if it is a regular customer of the store, you can directly order through the QR code after taking a seat, which is more efficient. The restaurant has always had the slogan of "25 minutes to serve a good table", and from a practical point of view, most tables can be realized, and it is rare that the food has not been served for more than half an hour. However, it is common for stores in some major business districts to have a large flow of customers, noisy and crowded restaurants, and it is common to wait in line for meals.
