Ui restaurant – An introduction to Uyghur food

Uyghur food is neither common nor well known in Germany and therefore I was very excited to have a possibility for an introduction to this cuisine in Frankfurt. The Uyghurs are a people of Islam faith living mostly in the North-West of China, with its main city of Ürümqi in Xinjiang province, but also are spread throughout central Asia and other parts of China. With their substantial migration, also their cuisine spread and Uyghurs are famous throughout China to provide excellent street food. The Uyghurs also form a small diaspora in Europe and in a few large cities in Germany some families opened restaurants offering their ethnic food. Frankfurt recently has seen its own Uyghur restaurant opened and I had the pleasure to visit it.

The location of Ui restaurant is unfortunately a bit remote, half way between Gallus and Griesheim in between private garden lots, and at least during winter times feels secluded from the rest of the city. Not many visitors managed to make their way to this location on the night of our visit. However, during summer this might become different, when all surrounding gardens are filled with hungry potential customers. I wish a lot of success to this restaurant, especially since they offer such a rare cuisine, but also because the service was incredibly friendly and welcoming.

The menu focuses on a few dishes all unknown to me prior to this visit. It needed a few explanations and we learned that Leghmen are the national signature dish of Uyghur cuisine and also of Ui restaurant. Leghmen are hand-pulled noodles that are boiled for a long time and can be topped with different meat and vegetables. The restaurant also makes them hand made. We went for this obvious introductory choice and ordered the spicy version of the noodles. As another dish to try, we ordered meat filled dumplings called Benschir.

Our plates arrived quickly and we could start to delve into our first bites of Uyghur food. Indeed, it was quite tasty. The Leghmen especially are very different from any other noodles I know. The spicy option was actually spicy. The Benschir was also good, however less original than the Leghmen. Overall, it was a great experience to try such an uncommon cuisine. On top, we also had a surprisingly good glass of wine to finish our evening. There are more dishes on the menu that sound worth trying during a future visit in Griesheim.

Style: Casual eatery/Dinner

Cuisine: Uyghur/Asian

Location: Griesheim

Website: http://ui-restaurant.de/