Sajinqiao Food Street in Xi’an: Where Locals Actually Eat & What to Try

In Xi’an, if you are looking for a place that feels more local and food-centered than Beiyuanmen Street in the Muslim Quarter, Sajinqiao Food Street deserves a stop. Nestled in the Muslim community around the old city center, this area is a lively maze of streets, alleys, and countless small eateries.

Here you can find the most authentic flavors of Xi’an. The signature dishes include the mutton soup with crumbled flatbread, marinated beef hamburgers, thick spicy soup with beef meatballs, sweet steamed glutinous rice with dates, sour soup dumplings, and grilled meat skewers.

It’s best to allocate 1-2 hours for Sajinqiao Food Street if you visit for the first time. Go there early in the morning if you want to enjoy a local-style breakfast. Those who are more interested in barbecue and want to feel the hustle and bustle of local nightlife should go after 5 pm.

Sajinqiao at a Glance:

• Chinese Name: 洒金桥美食街
• Address: The area around Sajinqiao Alley in Lianhu District; located within the Muslim community of Xi’an
• Metro Access: A 400-meter walk from Exit B of Sajinqiao Metro Station on Line 1
• Business Hours: Not Breakfast stalls usually start serving very early (around 6am), while most restaurants are busiest between 5pm and 10pm. The operating hours of each restaurant vary.
• Time Needed: 1-2 hours

Content Preview

• What Is Sajinqiao Food Street in Xi’an?
• What to Eat in Sajinqiao?
• First-timers’ Choice
• Best Time to Visit Sajinqiao
• How to Get to Sajinqiao
• How to Eat Like a Local in Sajinqiao
• Sajinqiao Food Prices
• Sajinqiao Food Street FAQs

What Is Sajinqiao Food Street in Xi’an?

Sajinqiao is not a traditional food street with only restaurants and stalls. It appears more like a vibrant residential neighborhood that feels quite different from the main street of the Muslim Quarter.

Is Sajinqiao Worth Visiting?

Of course, it’s particularly suitable for those hunting for authentic Xi’an food and hoping to avoid touristy snack streets.

Sajinqiao vs. Muslim Quarter

If you visit Xi’an for the first time, the table below quickly shows how Sajinqiao and the Muslim Quarter differ:

	Beiyuanmen – Main Street in the Muslim Quarter	Sajinqiao Food Street
Vibe	More touristy	More local
What to Do	Go shopping, take photos, taste snacks	Enjoy an authentic meal as well as the snacks
Crowds	Tourist groups	Local residents
Food Prices	Some shops and restaurants have tourist prices	Overall more affordable
Suitable for	First-time visitors who want to check out the Muslim Quarter	Those who want to eat like a local

Therefore, for travelers trying to get a taste of very authentic Xi’an food, Sajinqiao is a better option.

What to Eat in Sajinqiao?

The best food in Sajinqiao is not the insta-famous snack combos, but hides in the time-honored restaurants nestled along the street. First-timers shouldn’t try to order everything. A better approach is to choose by meal—breakfast, main meals, or late-night snacks—and start your culinary adventure from the standout eateries below.

If there are two or three of you, you can order and share a few snacks to sample more Xi’an flavors in one go.

1. Mutton Soup With Crumbled Flatbread (Yangrou Paomo)

Recommended restaurant: Liu Xin Beef & Mutton Paomo & Xiaochao (No. 129 Sajinqiao)

If it’s your first time trying Xi’an style Paomo (mutton soup with crumbled flatbread), I strongly recommend Liu Xin. It offers both traditional and stir-fried (Xiaochao) versions. Unlike the traditional boiled Paomo, the stir-fried version is more heavily seasoned, tasting slightly tangy with a spicy kick. This restaurant enjoys a good reputation among locals, with an average cost of 28-30 yuan per person.

If you order the traditional version, you need to tear the bread into small pieces yourself and then hand them to the kitchen for cooking. It can be one of the most interesting experiences in your Xi’an tour. Be careful not to make your bread pieces too big, as they may not absorb the soup well. The ideal size is about the size of a soybean.

Perfect for: Lunch and dinner

2. Sour Soup Dumplings

Recommended restaurant: Ma Er Sour Soup Dumplings (No. 131 Sajinqiao)

If you don’t like to eat mutton, the sour soup dumplings are a good alternative. The dumplings, usually stuffed with beef and yellow chives, are served in a bowl of sour soup sprinkled with sesame seeds. They taste fresh, sour, and appetizing. Of course, you can also order other kinds of dumplings and share them with your companions. An order generally costs a little over 10 yuan, please check the menu for other options and prices.

This is a local snack well worth a shot, especially for first-time visitors. It has a real Xi’an flavor, but isn’t as challenging as some heavily flavored mutton dishes.

Perfect for: Lunch and dinner

3. Marinated Beef Hamburgers (La Niurou Roujiamo)

Recommended restaurant: Yang Tianyu Marinated Beef and Mutton Shop

Xi’an is well-known for its Chinese hamburgers, called Rou Jia Mo by locals. In Sajinqiao Food Street, you can focus on a special variety—marinated beef hamburgers. Yang Tianyu Shop specializes in marinated beef and mutton. Such a hamburger costs around 20 yuan. You can choose the fat-to-lean ratio of the beef based on your taste before it is chopped and stuffed into the freshly baked flatbread.

Note that the marinated beef hamburgers here are halal — different from the pork-based Rou Jia Mo commonly seen elsewhere in Xi’an.

Perfect for: Breakfast, lunch, and walk-and-eat snacks

4. Thick Spicy Soup With Beef Meatballs (Meatball Hulatang)

Recommended restaurant: Lao Li Jia Mingming Meatball Hulatang

If you want the most authentic Sajinqiao breakfast, go for the meatball Hulatang. A bowl of meatball Hulatang plus a freshly-baked flatbread makes a classic Xi’an breakfast combo. This costs 10 yuan or so at Lao Li Jia Restaurant. The soup is thick, spicy and numbing, with chewy beef meatballs and sliced vegetables like potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. You can tear the bread into small pieces and let them soak up the soup.

The soup has a distinct peppery flavor. If you are not good with spicy food, ask for less chili oil, but you can still taste the numbing heat of Sichuan pepper and other spices.

Perfect for: Breakfast

5. Sweet Steamed Glutinous Rice With Dates (Jing Gao)

Recommended restaurant: Ma Wenzhang Pangzi Jing Gao

Jing Gao — glutinous rice steamed with red dates and beans — is a classic traditional sweet snack in Xi’an. It’s soft, sticky, and pleasantly sweet.

Around 6:00-6:30 in the morning, shops and stalls begin to sell the freshly-cooked Jing Gao. They close up as soon as it is sold out, usually still in the morning, so it’s better to get there before 8am or you may miss it.

Perfect for: Breakfast

6. Pan-fried Persimmon Cake

Recommended restaurant: Liu Ming Pan-fried Persimmon Cake (No. 144 Sajinqiao)

Pan-fried persimmon cake is a traditional dessert in Xi’an made from fresh persimmons and flour. The pan-fried outer layer is crispy, while the inside is soft, tender, and sweet. A persimmon cake is about 3 yuan.

It makes a great after-dinner snack or a sweet bite while you are wandering around the street. However, it’s a seasonal snack because persimmons, the main ingredient, do not last long. Whether it’s available depends on when you go.

Perfect for: Afternoon or after-dinner snack

7. Crispy Beef Cake

Recommended restaurant: Lao Ma Jia Crispy Beef Cake

If you’d like a casual snack you can eat while walking instead of sitting down for a full meal, try the crispy beef cake at Sajinqiao Food Street. A single cake costs about 5 yuan. It tastes best fresh out of the fryer, with a crispy skin and juicy beef and scallion fillings.

Compared with Paomo, the beef cakes are a better choice for travelers visiting Sajinqiao for the first time and hoping to try as many local specialties as possible.

Perfect for: Walk-and-eat snack, snack between meals

8. Grilled Meat Skewers

Where to eat in Sajinqiao: Barbecue stalls along Sajinqiao Food Street

The grilled meat skewers are not the signature dishes of a single restaurant in Sajinqiao. They are more of a local experience at the evening street stalls. From around 5pm, the barbecue stalls get busy and stay that way until midnight.

In front of the charcoal grills, the chefs skillfully flip the mutton and beef skewers, brush them with a secret sauce, and sprinkle cumin and chili powder over the skewers for a rich, smoky aroma. If you can’t handle spicy food, tell the waiter, “No chili, please” in advance. If there are two or three of you, it’s recommended to try a few skewers first and then decide whether to order more.

Perfect for: Dinner, late-night bite

First-timers’ Choice — If You Only Try Three Snacks

If you don’t want to spend too much time making decisions, just choose from the three combinations below according to your schedule:

• Breakfast: Thick Spicy Soup With Beef Meatballs + Sweet Steamed Glutinous Rice With Dates + Marinated Beef Hamburgers
• Dinner: Mutton Soup With Crumbled Flatbread + Sour Soup Dumplings + Grilled Meat Skewers
• One-hour Quick Bite: Marinated Beef Hamburgers + Crispy Beef Cake + a dessert or seasonal snack

If you are traveling with a large group, it’s highly recommended to share Paomo, dumplings, and grilled meat skewers with others, so you can save room for more snacks.

Best Time to Visit Sajinqiao: Morning or Evening?

One of the most distinctive features of Sajinqiao is that it feels completely different in the morning and evening.

 

Time to Visit	What to Eat	Why to Recommend
6:00 – 10:00	Hulatang, Jing Gao, La Niu Rou Jia Mo	Enjoy a hearty breakfast like a local
10:00 – 16:00	Paomo, Sour Soup Dumplings, Street Food	Avoid peak dining hours
17:30 – 22:00	Grilled Meat Skewers, Paomo, Sour Soup Dumplings	Immerse yourself in the lively ambience

Morning: Try an Authentic Local Breakfast

Most breakfast stalls start to pack up before 10 am, so don’t go there too late. It’s best to arrive before 8 am.

Dusk to Late Night: Best for a Proper Meal

If your time only allows one visit to Sajinqiao Food Street, plan it after 5 pm, when the street is at its busiest.

How to Get to Sajinqiao

The metro is the easiest way to get to Sajinqiao. Xi’an Metro Line 1 has a Sajinqiao Station, quite close to the food street. You can easily get there from the old city center, including the Bell Tower and North Street areas.

Metro — A Hassle-free Way to Get There

You can take Metro Line 1 and get off at Sajinqiao Station. Leave from Exit B and then walk 400-450 meters to Sajinqiao Street.

One thing to note: English maps don’t always show the names of alleys consistently, so it’s a good idea to save the Chinese name and location of Sajinqiao Food Street before you go.

Get to Sajinqiao From the Bell Tower or the Muslim Quarter

If you are already in the vicinity of the Bell Tower, Drum Tower, or Beiyuanmen Street, it’s actually not necessary to take the metro. You can plan your walk as follows:

Bell Tower → Drum Tower → Beiyuanmen Street → Walk northwest along the alleys → Sajinqiao Street

This way, you can not only check out the popular tourist areas, but also explore further into where locals usually eat.

Sajinqiao Food Prices

One of the greatest advantages of Sajinqiao is that you can enjoy a local food tour with a relatively low budget. A walk-and-eat snack generally costs 10 yuan, a marinated beef hamburger 10-20 yuan, and a bowl of Paomo 20-40 yuan. If you want to sample various kinds of food, 60-80 yuan per person is a reasonable budget. Prices do vary by restaurant and dish.

Here is a simple budget guide:

What You Eat	Estimated Budget
A simple breakfast	¥10 – 20/person
A proper meal	¥20 – 40/person
Grab-and-go snacks	¥30 – 50/person
Check out a variety of snacks	¥60 – 80+/person

Some small stalls may not accept international credit cards, but Alipay and WeChat payment work almost everywhere, so international travelers should set them up before entering China.

How to Eat Like a Local in Sajinqiao: The Most Useful Tips for First-time Visitors

1. Don’t fill up on just one thing. It’s better to share with your companions. Two or three people splitting three to five snacks is a better deal than each ordering a big main dish.
2. Never judge a restaurant by its decor. If a humble eatery has a constant stream of local customers, it’s usually more worth trying than a beautifully decorated restaurant aimed at tourists.
3. Be prepared for the limited seating. Some eateries are really tiny, and you may need to quickly finish your meal and leave. Don’t expect the comfortable seating of a Western restaurant.
4. Learn some basic Chinese, for example, “不辣”(not spicy), “不要香菜”(no cilantro), “牛肉” (beef), “羊肉” (mutton), and “多少钱” (how much does it cost). This will make ordering much easier.
5. Pay attention to the halal sign. Sajinqiao is located within a time-honored Muslim community, where you can see many restaurants marked as halal. For travelers who strictly adhere to halal food, give priority to shops that clearly label themselves as halal, rather than relying solely on a “no pork” sign.
6. Be careful with electric scooters and bikes. Sajinqiao is not fully closed off—it’s still used by local residents to get around.

Sajinqiao Food Street FAQs

Is Sajinqiao Part of the Muslim Quarter?

Sajinqiao sits in a large Muslim community, but the “Muslim Street” or “Muslim Quarter” known to tourists usually refers to the main street of Beiyuanmen. They are not exactly the same.

What Is Sajinqiao Famous For?

The most noteworthy local foods are the mutton soup with crumbled flatbread, marinated beef hamburgers, thick spicy soup with beef meatballs, sweet glutinous rice with dates, and grilled meat skewers.

Is the Food in Sajinqiao Halal?

Sajinqiao is located in a long-standing Muslim community. There are many halal restaurants. If you follow strict halal dietary habits, please keep an eye on the “halal” sign and confirm with the restaurant before ordering.

How Long Do I Need at Sajinqiao?

If you go there only for food, 1-2 hours is appropriate. If you also want to explore the surrounding Muslim Quarter, Bell Tower, and Drum Tower, plan a half-day city walk instead.

What to See Near Sajinqiao?

Sajinqiao is close to lots of key attractions in the old city center. It works well to combine your food tour with nearby sights, including the Drum Tower, Bell Tower, the Muslim Quarter, and the Great Mosque.