Roadside stalls are an important carrier of life in Xi'an, scattered in all corners of the city, providing meals for neighbors and citizens day and night. Unlike most first- and second-tier cities, Xi'an is still at a high level of tolerance for roadside stalls. The influence of the city management department and municipal planning on the stalls is quite limited, so that the stalls can operate smoothly with the support of a large number of consumption, and then create many excellent roadside stalls with good flavor and reputation.
Retort cake is one of the representatives of Xi'an snacks, which has been popular in the central Shaanxi (Guanzhong) region for a long time, and is mostly eaten early. It is customary to use Jiang rice (indica glutinous rice), red dates, etc. as raw materials, and stack the ingredients in the steamer during production, and simmer for several hours to set and eat, and the taste has the characteristics of cotton, soft, sticky and sweet. Although the production of retort cakes is not complicated, the production of each batch is very limited, and most stalls are limited to supply every day, and the stalls are sold out.
The An Shou Chung Jiang Rice Red Date Cake Stall, which flows in the vicinity of Muslim Street, has been in business for decades, and its customer base is oriented to nearby residents and tourists, and its business has been stable all the way. The stall owner, An Shouzhong, is the third-generation heir to the stall and is well-known to the neighbourhood for his daily tricycle on his own stall. The rice here is sauce colored, fragrant, glutinous rice is sweet, jujube paste is sweet and delicious, not easy to eat and greasy, and the style of traditional retort cake is very authentic. It's a pity that the jujube processing is relatively sloppy, and occasionally large jujube cores will be eaten, which will affect the overall taste.
The area where the stalls are located belongs to the Muslim Street, and the surrounding restaurants are dotted, but the cake stalls operated in the form of wandering stalls are only one of An'an Shouzhong. The business location of the stalls is not fixed, roughly in the area of Dapiyuan-Xiyang Market-Gulou Square, and the stall time starts at 6 a.m. until the cake is sold out (about 1 p.m.), with a small portion of 5 yuan and a large portion of 10 yuan. The sweetness of the cake has long become an indispensable part of the memory of the taste buds of Xi'an citizens. If you're looking to delve into the unique flavours of local cuisine, retort cakes are a must-try.
