🍽️ Pita Bread Soaked in Lamb Soup

Torn bread soaked in mutton soup, rich and savory.

Pita bread soaked in lamb soup is Xi'an's premier comfort dish of Shaanxi. Diners tear the unleavened bun by hand into soybean-sized crumbs, which the kitchen then boils in a rich, milky mutton-and-bone broth with cellophane noodles, scallion and cilantro, served with pickled garlic and chili paste. The broth is deep, the mutton falling apart, the bread grains soaked through yet intact, savory, warm and substantial. Xi'an ritual demands small, even crumbs and a rolling, fresh broth; queues form at famous old shops. A headwarming winter staple, eaten with sweet pickled garlic to cut richness, and among the most ritualized meals of the ancient capital.