by MARK SLUTSKY

The Uyghur are a Turkic-speaking, Muslim ethnic group primarily residing in the Xinjiang province of northwestern China, an area most Uyghur prefer to call East Turkestan, and which was annexed by Chinese forces in the 19th century. It is a troubled region, where reports of human rights abuses by the state are common, as well as reports of alleged (and likely exaggerated) al-Qaeda activity.

But how’s the food, you ask? You can detect a mixture of influences in Uyghur cuisine: Chinese, Turkish and even Indian. It’s rich, thick and starchy food, quite appropriate for the onset of winter.

Restaurant Uyghur (pronounced WEE-gur) is a relatively recent addition to the Chinatown restaurant scene, situated in a former dim sum parlour on the second floor of a building on the strip just below de la Gauchetière. It’s a big place—no, make that an enormous place—with not much in the way of ambience, save for a stage at the back where a couple of traditional instruments were on display. On the night I visited, myself and my compadres were the only customers there, and the huge emptiness of the restaurant created a weird, quiet atmosphere of its own that I liked. Hopefully for the proprietors, that particular lonely atmosphere won’t last.

The restaurant’s menu is confusingly divided into three sections: “Daily Main Courses,” “Uyghur Dishes,” and “Uyghur Salads.” (I couldn’t really figure out why main courses and Uyghur dishes required separate sections, as the main courses seemed pretty Uyghur.) At the top of the main courses, however, you’ll find probably the most well-known Uyghur dish, laghman ($9.49), which isn’t to be missed. Fried vegetables, sliced mutton and glass noodles served on top of yet even more noodles (these thick and homemade), the dish is vaguely reminiscent of goulash, and it’s savoury and hearty in the same way good goulash is.

The shish kebabs ($8.99) are worth trying too, tender marinated mutton served on dangerous-looking steel skewers. The meat might be a little fatty, but it’s otherwise soft and succulent. Wrap up the chunks in some of the nan bread that accompanies the meal and you’ll be happy (although I’d have been happier if the bread had been a little fresher).

The waiter recommended we try the triangular, baked meat buns I’d been eyeing in one of the menu’s photos ($1.69 each). Filled with—wait for it—mutton and vegetables, they were tasty, if a little on the soggy side. Like the bread, I’m sure they’d do a lot better fresher. The Uyghur Winter Salad ($5.49 or $10.49) is a deliberately un-fresh dish, a root vegetable concoction (carrots, cabbage, garlic etc) pickled for two months and ending up somewhere between kimchi and coleslaw, in a good way.

The Uyghur dishes more or less all come in three sizes, and they’re largely vegetable-based, but all with that magical ingredient: mutton. Fried cabbage with mutton, fried celery with mutton, fried eggplant with mutton etc. We (somewhat at random) picked the eggplant dish ($13.99 on the menu, although the server mysteriously told us, “That’s $11.99 now,” $18.99, $29.99), and it was quite satisfying—thin slices of aubergine a tiny bit undercooked, but pleasingly, with lots of sautéed you-know-what. All in all we were quite pleasantly surprised by Uyghur, especially on a quiet night—I imagine a busier evening would see fresher and even better dishes.

Back in business

Earlier this year I wrote about the lamentable loss of spicy-hot and homey Chinatown favourite Niu Kee, whose proprietors had to leave for China for a while. They promised they’d be back, and now they are, in nicer digs a little bit off the Chinatown strip, on the northeast corner of Clark and Réné-Lévesque. Look for the smiling cow and don’t miss out on one of the neighbourhood’s best and friendliest restaurants, miraculously with us again.

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Uyghur
ADDRESS: 1017 St-Laurent (just below de la Gauchetière)
PHONE: 393-8808
HOURS: Sun–Thu 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.
BEST FEATURES: The homemade noodles in the
laghman dish and the savoury winter salad
ALCOHOL: BYOW
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: No VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Somewhat
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
NO-SMOKING SECTION: Yes
PRICE: $10–$15 per person, before tax and tip
RATING: ** and a 1/2 out of ****