🍽️ Urumqi Ban Mian

Wide noodles with tomato-lamb sauce.

Urumqi Banmian, or pulled noodles, is the most representative everyday noodle of Urumqi, Xinjiang. Hand-pulled thick round noodles are plunged in cold water and served on a plate, alongside a separate plate of stir-fried lamb with green pepper, tomato and long green chilies; diners toss them together at the table. The noodles are springy and smooth, the topping sweet-sour and savory, the lamb tender and free of gaminess. Dough-pulling skill and stir-fry heat matter, and the ban mixed style means noodles and stir-fry arrive separately to be combined. People across Xinjiang eat it for lunch, often with raw garlic. Urumqi is lined with banmian shops; a heaping plate is hearty and unpretentious, the most robust bowl of home-style noodles at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.