Xin Jiang Restaurant

When we were contemplating where to go for dinner tonight, Jack asked, "Have you been to the lamb place at Metro Square?" And I was just like, "What the hell are you talking about?" And he replied, "Oh, trust me. Meet me there. You will die of double happiness." And so we did, and that's when I found out that the "lamb place" was actually called Xin Jiang, a restaurant that serves Xinjiang or Uyghur cuisine (and it's just around the corner from Chinese Dumpling House!). Jack did the ordering since he comes here all the time (and can actually read Chinese), and chose some signature Xinjiang dishes for us.

Spicy cumin lamb skewers

Deep-fried dough sticks with parsley and onions wrapped in pan-fried egg crêpes

Handmade noodles (shou la mian) with egg, onions, tomatoes, celery, and cabbage

I can't even describe to you the delectable deliciousness that are these cumin lamb skewers. I could seriously eat, like, ten of them (sadly, I only had two). And that's only because I might die of sodium overload or something. The deep-fried flour dough stick is a staple in many Chinese cuisines (especially at congee and dim sum restaurants), though I'm used to having them wrapped in rice noodle rolls; the version here is rolled in savoury crêpes that have been coated with egg and pan-fried to perfection. A most delightful version of the dough sticks I'm used to eating. And, of course, the handmade noodles — apparently, a classic Uyghur dish. The noodles are stretched by hand, boiled until very soft, and then mixed with meat and/or veggies. They offer soup versions of these noodles, but we opted for a stir-fried version in which the noodles are cut into small pieces and sautéed with egg and veggies. It proved to be ridiculously addictive, 'cause I could easily have had three more bowls of the stuff. Seriously, why have I not had more of this in my life? I will be back very soon to try more dishes. Consider me obsessed.


Xin Jiang Restaurant
3636 Steeles Avenue East
Markham, ON L3R 2Z5
(905) 948-9966