Like many other metropolises, Shanghai is a city of many sides which can transport you to different places. The Friday Muslim Market is one location which has the power to take you on a journey through fragrant barbecue smokes and generous samplings of traditional dishes.
Every Friday after the Jumah prayer, the Muslim community in the Huxi Mosque neighborhood rolls out their stoves and grills to treat visitors to a hearty meal. Both ends of the street are cordoned off by patrol police, allowing everyone to roam about freely and enjoy the atmosphere.
The preferred language of communication here is Uyghur, given that the majority of vendors come from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. A minute in and you can hear vendors cheering each other at the top of their lungs to keep the spirit high, while pop songs blast out of a nearby speaker. That said, most of the vendors also speak an adequate amount of English and Mandarin to manage a purchase. To find out what ingredients are used, we also depended on fellow visitors for advice, which did involve staring intently into each other's bowls.
Image by Mandy Tie/Urban Family
Among those visiting, many are residents returning with grocery bags, while small groups of tourists is also a common sight. And if there’s one thing that every visitor can identify with, it is no one leaves the market with an empty stomach. The generous portions reflect the vendors’ hospitality who openly welcome sampling. We enjoyed the Uyghur eats like mutton polo (tender lamb chops served with spiced rice; RMB30-35), samsa (minced lamb and onion inside a doughy parcel) and of course lamb kawap (or kebab). At the far end of the market, a Hui family dish up dumplings and baos with lamb, beef and garlic chive fillings (RMB5 each). After chowing down the meats and doughs, refreshing the palate with a slurp of zongza (yogurt mixed with shaved ice; RMB10) is widely appreciated.
Image by Mandy Tie/Urban Family
Equally impressive is the amount of satiable desserts sold between two stands. We particularly enjoyed the layered cheesecake filled with a generous portion of goat’s cheese (RMB50 per kilo). For a lighter bite, the moon-shaped cakes with a honey top are enough to satisfy a sweet tooth (RMB5 each).
The pinnacle of our experience remains the nang bread. This Uyghur-style flatbread sprinkled with nigella or sesame seeds is chewy in the middle with a crunchy crust (small RMB5; large RMB10). Spare a minute or two and watch the wife-and-husband duo make these from scratch. After the wife rolls out the dough and stamps its surface with swirly patterns, the husband stretches it on the back of a round rock before patting it onto the interior wall of a tannur stove to bake.
Nang and grizhder bread. Images via Dianping; Mandy Tie/Urban Family
So, take the time one Friday to go to the Muslin Market for the food, the fragrant smoke and most of all the welcoming faces that smile back, as you immerse yourself in this different side of Shanghai.
[Cover image by Mandy Tie/Urban Family]
