Yangrou Paomo: Tearing Bread for Xi'an's Soul Food

Yangrou paomo (羊肉泡馍, yángròu pàomó) is Xi'an's defining dish, and eating it is a participatory act. You're brought a bowl and one or two dense, unleavened wheat buns called mo (馍), and you tear them apart with your fingers into pieces the size of a fingernail — a process that takes ten to fifteen minutes and functions as a social ritual. Locals do it while talking, without looking. Then the bowl goes back to the kitchen, where the crumbs are cooked with rich lamb broth, sliced lamb, glass noodles, and coriander, and returned as something between a stew and a savoury bread pudding.

It's heavy. This is winter food, working-man's food, and a full bowl will end your appetite for hours. The flavour is deep and mutton-forward rather than spicy; the chilli paste and pickled garlic on the table are how you adjust it.

Two things worth knowing. First, the restaurant experience varies wildly: bright canteen-style halls with numbered tickets are usually better than tourist-facing places with English photo menus. Second, many foreign visitors are ambivalent on first taste — the texture of soaked bread divides people. Try it once at a serious place rather than grabbing a cheap version off a food street, and you'll at least understand why Xi'an is obsessed.

Where to eat it: Tongshengxiang (同盛祥饭庄) at the Drum Tower, ¥35-45 ($5-6), halal and busy. Lao Sun Jia (老孙家饭庄), Dong Guan Zheng Street (东关正街), similar prices. Cheaper neighbourhood shops around Dapiyuan (大皮院) in the Muslim Quarter charge ¥25-30 ($3.50-4).