The quest for pure truth (in food, anyway)
By Ranajit Dam
On the face of it, Shenzhen might seem like one of the most difficult places for a Muslim person to have a decent meal.
After all, pork is the staple meat in Chinese cuisine. The character “rou” (肉) or meat in the name of a dish implies pork by default, unless stated otherwise.
Pork, as we all know, is taboo among Muslims. And many Muslims won’t order other meat in regular restaurants, unless they are certain that the meat has been slaughtered in the halal way.
From time to time, I get frantic phone calls from friends or colleagues who have Muslim guests in town. The guests refuse to eat at just about every restaurant they are taken to, leaving the hosts flustered and clueless as to what to do.
The truth is, Islam and China go back a long way. The first Muslims arrived here in about 650 CE, less than 20 years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
Evidence of the Muslim presence in China can be seen in the architecture of cities like Xi’an, in China’s significant Muslim population – particularly the Hui ethnic minority group – and in Islamic cuisine, which can be found in most parts of the country, including Shenzhen.
The Mandarin term for a Chinese Islamic restaurant is qingzhen caiguan (清真菜館). The name is derived from qingzhen (清真, or “pure truth”), the Mandarin word for Islam. These restaurants can be identified by Islamic motifs in their decoration, such as pictures of Islamic rugs and Arabic writing.
Shenzhen has a large number of Chinese Muslim migrants from the nation’s western areas, namely Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and Xinjiang and Ningxia regions.
To cater to these migrants, enterprising Hui people have set up small eateries across the city serving cheap Lanzhou-style lamian (拉面).
Lamian is a dish of hand-made noodles, usually served in a beef or mutton-flavored soup (汤面, tangmian), but sometimes stir-fried (炒面 chaomian) and served with a tomato-based sauce.
Literally, 拉 (lā) means to pull or stretch, while 面(miàn) means noodle. The hand-making process involves taking a lump of dough and repeatedly stretching it to produce a single very long noodle.
Other items commonly available in these restaurants are daoxiaomian (刀削面), or knife-sliced noodles, and Xi'an-style paomo (泡馍), which is steamed pita bread soaked in lamb soup. Also look out for chaomianpian (炒面片) which is fried noodles cut into small squares.
However, as ubiquitous and easily accessible these simple restaurants might be, they’re obviously not the best kind of places to take out-of-town guests to. But fear not, Shenzhen also has a number of more upmarket places to serve that purpose.
Of these, the Tarim River restaurant is highly recommended, not just for its great food, but also because it has dance performances by Xinjiang girls every evening. Zhongfayuan at the crossing of Jingtian Road and Lianhua Road is another favourite of mine, with its brightly lighting and modern decor. So the next time you are looking for a halal restaurant, either for yourself or for somebody else, you might want to look at one of these.
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Tarim River Restaurant (塔里木河大酒楼)
- Address: No 53 Binhe Xincun, Dongyuan Road, Shenzhen (深圳市东园路滨河新村53号)
- Phone: (0755) 2587 0698
- GPS: click here to see the location in Google Maps
22 32 22.13N, 114 5 33.52E
22.539481, 114.092644
Zhongfayuan Muslim Restaurant (中发源穆斯林餐厅)
- Address:
1/F Wantuo Building, Southwest corner of Jingtian Road and Lianhua Road, Futian District (福田区景田南路万托家园首层)- Phone: (0755) 8307 5126
- Reference: Shenzhen Daily Review: HTML PDF
- GPS: click here to see the location in Google Maps
- IslamiChina.com has published a long list of Muslim restaurants in Shenzhen here.
- Also, check our small page of Muslim resources in Shenzhen here.
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