Shaanxi Provincial Government Restaurant: Hearty Food Lacking the Love it Deserves

If Xinjiang cuisine is the perfect accompaniment to hazy summer nights accented with cheap beer and lamb and fragments of cumin lodged deep under the nail to be excavated the next day, then Shaanxi food is the hearty reward for rheumy eyes and reddened faces after stomping through a frigid and gray Beijing. During those wintry months, nothing can beat eagerly pulling your gloves off to cradle a roujiamo dripping with gravy, or devouring a steaming and mountainous bowl of biangbiang noodles.

Sadly, the Shaanxi Provincial Government Restaurant near Panjiayuan is unlikely to be the place you’ll want to partake in such simple pleasures given that its yellow décor and curtains, used only to conceal bricked-over windows, do little to mirror the inherent wholesomeness of Shaanxi food and its unmatched soul-soothing abilities.

Of the dishes we ordered, the biangbiang noodles (pictured above) – long and wide bouncy tongues of never-ending carbohydrate bliss drizzled in chili oil, chili flakes, and garnished with the requisite too little, too late singular head of bok choi and a sprinkling of chives – was the most gratifying with its slow burn, but weighed in smaller than we’re accustomed to at family-run restaurants. Far more heinous was the fact that not a single table was adorned with the necessary chili or vinegar to be splashed around for ultimate flavor satisfaction.

The roujiamo here – what should really be the bastion of the entire Shaanxi Prov Gov brand – disappointed with a sad, albeit well-spiced, showing of meat and an encasing bun that had plenty of potential to serve as a sponge with which to soak up the juices of its sloppy insides, but was never given the chance, arriving and remaining a dry vessel for parched pork.

Unfortunately, where these two staples had somewhat succeeded in conveying the true spirit of robust, stodge-heavy Shaanxi dining, the standard vegetable and meat dishes left much to be desired. The dipicai – soft black fungus fried with scrambled eggs – had the unfortunate effect of mimicking the exact consistency of the eggs without adding any noticeable flavor, making for a spongy and unappetizing combination. The fatty pork with peppers didn’t fare much better, the spice from the peppers accounting for just about the only redeeming quality of an otherwise oil-drenched dish.

Given that the remainder of the menu consisted of items you could find at any old zhongcanting, you’d be advised to continue to head to your local noodle haven for your fill. They may be a little dirtier but then again, our waitress did hock a farewell loogie straight into the bin as we left.

Shaanxi Provincial Government Restaurant
Daily 10.30am-9.30pm. 103, Shaanxi Bldg, Huawei Li East Lane, Chaoyang District (5728 0858)
陕西驻京办餐厅：朝阳区华威里左安东路陕西大厦附属楼103号

This article first appeared in the Nov/Dec 2017 issue of the Beijinger.
Read the issue via Issuu online here, or access it as a PDF here.

Photos: Tom Arnstein