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Uighur is popping up all over

carswell

By carswell
in Eastern Canada: Dining

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carswell

carswell

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Among the flyers stuffed into my mailbox this summer was one announcing the grand opening of Arzou Express (6254 Côte des Neiges, 514 731-2184), a restaurant featuring Uighur (also spelled Uyghur) cuisine. "Uighur?" you ask. Relating to the Turkic and largely Muslim people that comprise the largest ethnic group in Chinese Turkestan, now the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (yet another spelling!) in northwestern China and sharing borders with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan (for about 50 km, as per my atlas), Kashmir (the exact border is in dispute) and Tibet. Excuse the list but it's because the cooking strikes me as closer to Kabul than Beijing or Hong Kong: kebabs, noodles and dumplings and even a stuffed nan. Heavy on the red meat, starches and Muslim spices, nary a drop of soy sauce. My favourite dishes to date have been laghman (spicy lamb and red peppers served on hand-made noodles), pitir manta (wonton-like dumplings stuffed with minced beef and onions) and a hearty beef short rib and vegetable soup. Note, however, that my impressions are based on the food delivered to my door; I've been waiting for cooler weather to investigate further and actually visit the resto, though a friend who did summed it up this way:

made the trip up to the uigur resto tonight. not bad. kebabs are definitely the stand out dish, as are the home made noodles and the hot sauce. otherwise, lots of stewed lamb and onions and lots of mainland chinese ratcheting away.

The owner/deliveryman speaks little English and less French, but I believe he told me in August that Arzou Express opened last April and was Montreal and Canada's only Uighur restaurant. Apparently not the first, however, since Paul Gagné refers to a long-closed establishment on Sherbrooke West in his Voir review of Arzou.

And now it appears a second Uighur resto has opened. Yesterday a Chowhound post gave a thumbs-up to Restaurant Uyghur (1017 St-Laurent, 514 393-8808), with what sounds like a very similar menu.

So, has Montreal become a magnet for Uighur expats? And would that be due to the large number of Muslims from the Middle East and Northern Africa? Well, vive la diversité. And feel free to post any Uighur resto reviews here.

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onionbreath

onionbreath

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First of all we had eaten at the original Uigher Resto on Sherbrooke O. in NDG about 10 times. At the time there were appr. 30 Uighers in Montreal and they were there always, whole families looking straight out of a Genghis Khan photo shoot. They were really nice people, proud and independent and made insane homemade noodles served with broths and little stuffed raviolis served with yogurt. They lasted about 18 months I think and we were sad to see them go.

We went to Arzou Express in May, 3 people with a bottle of premium sake. They let us drink it and we let the waitress (owner I think) order for us. The meal was just about everything on the menu served for three and culminating wiith a whole chicken fricasse with vegetables. We ran up a $120.00 bill which left us speechless but of course it was our fault.

We ate an enormous amount of soups, noodles, salads, meat stuffed pasteries and the chicken. All was adequate, fresh ingredients and homemade. But the Uighers are herders and traders, not agrarian so there is it not a great variety of vegetables or seasonality to the cuisine. The food is not heavily seasoned but does have some nice flavours and textures.

The restaurant has been Turkish, Tamil, Phillipino, Vietnamese over the past 10 years and this is the best food to come out of that kitchen. It is family owned and deserves community support.

Edited by onionbreath (log)
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gus_tatory

gus_tatory

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a new cuisine in montreal! :wub:

they are most welcome, and i myself hope to go to one of the eateries mentioned this weekend (i am mailing some of my 'dining out' friends a link to this thread).

thanks carswell, onionbreath, et all for the heads up, and will report back if i can get there...

edit to add link to pictures and descriptions of 'plats typique Uighur' i found via Google...

Edited by gus_tatory (log)

"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the ocean."

--Isak Dinesen

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carswell

carswell

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FYI, a lukewarm review of Restaurant Uyghur was posted this morning on Chowhound. The poster found the food fairly good but unremarkable, the lighting too bright and the ambience next to nil. However, he did provide this interesting piece of news: the resto's a BYOB.

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carswell

carswell

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Bear in mind that I've only eaten food from Arzou, not Restaurant Uyghur. Anyway, definitely not gewurz. A savoury, warm but not too big red would do the trick (not too big because the meat is always well-done). A Côtes-du-Rhône or St-Joseph, say, or something from one of the Rhône rangers. Or maybe a Languedoc or Gaillac, especially if they had some syrah in them.

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skunkbunny

skunkbunny

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Another Uigur experience to be had on St Laurent south of Gauchetiere on the east side. Upstairs.

Used to be a not-very-good dim sum place.

We went in the early afternoon and the place was totally empty.

The dark red tea was nice.

The fried noodles were not so hot, my dining partner called them "Uigur Kraft Dinner".

Arzou express was better but we had much more from their menu. Happy to know that they deliver.

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oceanfish

oceanfish

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Dined at Uyghur on St. Laurent tonight, I was encouraged by the postings here.

Sadly, our meal did not live up to my expectations, nor did it wholly reflect the positive words of egulleters.

The wonton soup was by far the best thing i tasted--fresh and firm wontons, spicy broth and a generous bowlful. I ordered a small bowl to start but I am certain it must have been the larger size.

The noodles themselves were fresh and had a pleasing texture, but the accompanying meaty sauce was gristly and not very saucy--chunks of bell peppers which did not envelope the noodles in the "ghoulash" way that I had hoped. Our orders seemed to have been mixed up, as we had ordered lamb for the house noodle dish and beef for our dumplings, but it came the other way around. the dumplings, similar to pork buns, at least by description and appearance in the photos, were chewy, greasy, and gristly as opposed to soft and savoury. The winter salad was a disappointment as well. It could have been marinating on the street for a couple of days--soggy and composed mainly of inedible pieces of carrot and cabbage, saved only by a fair bit of hot pepper. Not what it was described as being.

Two neighbouring tables were indulging in some sort of fondue. As we were leaving I noticed a Hot Pot menu at the cash, and wondered why this had not been presented to us. It may provide more satisfaction.

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carswell

carswell

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Here you go: Turkish Toronto.

Speaking of the Star, they ran an article about Uighur food and <drumroll> a new Uighur restaurant in the Queen City just before Christmas. See Uyghur food finally arrives.

In the abovementioned China forum thread, my query re Uighur restos in cities outside Turkestan elicited no other candidates in North America. Wonder what it is about central Canada.

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skunkbunny

skunkbunny

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The Central Asian vibe continues: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/dining/18rego.html?ex=1138251600&en=f07e63d75695191e&ei=5070]http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/dining/1...695191e&ei=5070">ny times article</a>

And as to Turkish food in Toronto:

: <a href="http://foodzen.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_foodzen_archive.html]http://foodzen.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_foodzen_archive.html">amteurish blog write up</a>

:<a href ="http://www.anatoliarestaurant.ca/index.shtml]http://www.anatoliarestaurant.ca/index.shtm"> fab restaurant</a>

Edited by skunkbunny (log)

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