Silk Road Uyghur Cuisine...Now Open!

     It's rare that Kev gets super excited about a restaurant opening.  He likes restaurants. He eats in them much more often than I do.  But he doesn't get too worked up about them.  Until a new one took the place of a pancake restaurant (a location that flips owners/food about four times a year) on our local strip.

Silk Road Uyghur Cuisine

      Hello  Silk Road Uyghur Cuisine!   What?  Where?  Uyghur?  I share your confusion but Kev was in no doubt about this. The Uyghur [pronounced Wee-gur] region is the western most side of China just before you bump into Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Not easy to find on the map. Not exactly an internationally renown cuisine.  But therein lies its appeal.  We have scores of Asian restaurants on our main drag but none that evoke Old World mystery of the Silk Road. And we were there on Opening Night.

Traditional Uyghur hats

     It was obviously packed with family and friends bringing in flowers, plants, kids and Grandma to celebrate the occasion.  So few non-Asian faces that owner Askar knew who we were as soon we walked through the door. We joined the good will atmosphere as the staff--wearing shirts with the packet fold creases still quite sharp--found their way through a new busy service. We admired regional artwork and coloring of tablecloths and lights while waiting for menus.  And waited longer for our main dishes-mine came first and after a long wait Kev's came and after that his soup.  And we weren't fussed. Our role was to help the staff find their rhythm and taste the mysterious Uyghur offerings.

Uyghur Polo

     And it is clearly a mix of traders and marauders tastes on this part of the road.  Lamb prevails, rice has carrots in it, yoghurt drinks and spice enough for those who like it.  I ordered Polo, a traditional Uyghur rice with two skewers of lamb and salad.  The lamb was not too spicy (and easier to eat off the skewer especially where we were sitting) and the portions filling.  Kev ordered the Tawa Kewap, a lamb shank with bread, salad and yoghurt.   They hadn't mentioned that the lamb is fermented overnight in salt before being marinated and cooked.  This makes it a bit salty but the addition of bread, salad and yoghurt to the same dish was a first for the culinarily adventurous Kev.  Dessert was Kunafe, a Turkish cheese pastry soaked in a sugar syrup and served with ice cream. Again, a multi-regional blend that had never before tickled Kev's palate.  And let us include the traditional salty yoghurt drink--the sweet one was not available as they make their own yoghurt and had not made enough for both versions by opening night.  Happily, all of this food came at a reasonable price.

Where is Uyghur?

Here!

      Good food, happy atmosphere, affordable prices...what more could you ask?  Where's Uyghur?  Our Han Chinese waitress couldn't tell us but the wall at the entrance gives us a clue. A bit far for a meal.  Happily the Silk Road is nearby.