Set up in 1954, it is a restaurant of Northwest China flavor offering Moslem dishes and Mutton (or Beef) and Bread Pieces in Soup.

  Mutton (or Beef) and Bread Pieces in Soup is a featured snack from Northwest China with a history of three thousand years, and is praised as “the First Bowl of the World”. Laoxi’an Restaurant, as one of the first restaurants offering this food, integrated the cooking methods of the Old Sun’s Family in Xi’an and Tongshengxiang Restaurant. The soup is delicately made with well chosen mutton and more than 20 “Secret” ingredients boiled together. The food is not ready until the pan-helmet-like bread is break off and well boiled with the soup, water and vermicelli, and served with caraway and sugared garlic. The mutton is tender and spicy, the bread is chewy and soup is mellow and thick. In October 2, 1956, Chairman Mao, accompanied by Marshal Peng Dehuai came here for this delicious food. During his stay in Beijing, Chairman Mao seldom had chance for a dinner in restaurants. According to the staff of that time, it was his only time during the decades when Mao was in Beijing, and Xi’an Restaurant had this honor. The sofa used by Mao in his dinner and the oil painting Chairman Mao comes to Xi’an Restaurant made by the Central Academy of Fine Arts according to the memory of relevant persons are still on display in the restaurant.

  Apart from Mutton (or Beef) and Bread Pieces in Soup, Laoxi’an Restaurant also offers over hundreds variety of Moslem dishes.

   Featured dishes: Mutton (or Beef) and Bread Pieces in Soup, Maw Pieces in Spicy Sauce, Sautéed Pawn with Nuts and Chili, Braised Fruit Roll with Sugar