Dami mianpi (大米面皮), a cool and refrehshing rice noodle dish, made a hit this sultry summer with its debut at Qinzhen Dami Mianpi, a new Shaanxi restaurant located in SOHO Xiandai Cheng.

With the unbearable sauna like temperatures these past few months, it was easy to lose one’s appetite. But dami mianpi, which is a cold dish that does not require any cooking, won back people’s appetite. If you arrived at the restaurant after 2 p.m., the cold noodles would likely be sold out, with a fresh batch not ready until dinner.

Mianpi (面皮), a specialty of the ancient town Qinzhen, in southern Shaanxi, was exported to the capital with the opening of the Qinzhen restaurant earlier this year. The new canteen-style restaurant is simple but clean and neat. Mianpi, a rice-based flat noodle is called pizi (皮子), in its own hometown. Every one in Qinzhen downs a bowl of pizi on market day, when villagers replenish basic household supplies from tissue paper to salt and sugar.

There are several huge porcelain bowls on the open counter when one enters the restaurant, an area is partitioned by a glass window. The most attractive bowl is filled with scarlet red chili oil, with loads of sesame seeds swimming on top. Chili oil is a main ingredient used in making pizi, and Qinzhen Dami Mianpi takes its chilis seriously. The chilis used at this restaurant come all the way from Qinchuan, a town in Gansu province, and the skin is thick and has a lot of meat. These chilis are sun-dried first before being grounded. The oil temperature is crucial in the process of making chili oil--it can’t be too hot or luke warm. If the flame is too hot it will burn the chili and make the oil taste bitter; if it’s not hot enough, it won’t bring out the fragrance of the chilis.

Blanched bean sprouts create a bed in the bowl for the snowy white mianpi. Then, several ladles of various condiments are added to the bowl before the dish is topped off lastly with scarlet red chili oil. Looks too good to eat.

Yu Shifu, the chef in charge of pizi making at Qinzhen, says that more than 70 percent of local people know how to make pizi back home. He also points out that xifan, or rice gruel, is served along with a bowl of pizi as standard practice. Pizi making is not complicated. But the kind of rice used is an important factor says Yu, a native of Qinzhen. The rice used comes from Anhui province because it has the perfect texture for steaming. Rice from other places is too sticky.

The rice has to be soaked before being put into the blender or stone grinder to make a thick rice juice. Hot water is then poured over the thick rice juice and mixed. Then the semi-solid mixture is poured onto a flat grid to be steamed. The skin is ready in 3 minutes. Once it’s ready, the skin surface has to be brushed generously with oil to avoid getting stucked together. When cool, the skin is then cut into noodle strips.

In addition to mianpi, Qinzhen Dami Mianpi offers a wide selection of Shaanxi specialties, including roujiamo-flat bread stuffed with pork, yangrou paomo-flat bread broken into small pieces and soaked in mutton broth, juecai youmian, or cold naked oat noodles. Another Shaanxi favorite is Qishan saozi mian, a noodle served in a broth with ground meat and diced potatoes and carrots.

Despite costing just between 4 to 12yuan per dish, the food here is delicious and good value.

Qinzhen Dami Mianpi is sandwiched between Chengdu Xiaochi and Annie’s at 88 Jianguo Street.
秦镇大米面皮
朝阳区建国路88号
address: 88 Jianguo Lu, Xiandai Cheng Xijie, Chaoyang District. Tel: 8589 5383 minor correction on the location, it's three doors north of Annie's.

朝阳区建国路88号现代城西街
Business hours: 11am-11pm