Oat noodles (莜面, youmian) are the distinctive local starch dish of Hohhot and the surrounding region — made from hulled oats ground into flour and shaped by hand into rolls, whorls, or flat strips, then steamed and served with dipping sauces or in broth. The texture is denser and more chewy than wheat noodles, with a slightly nutty flavour. Oats thrive in the short-season climate of the Inner Mongolian steppe and have been cultivated here for centuries.
Several restaurants in the Xincheng and Saihan districts specialise in youmian, where the noodles arrive in bamboo steamers and are eaten with a sauce of stewed pork or braised lamb, sesame paste, or pickled vegetables. The most traditional format is youmian rolls (莜面窝窝) dipped in lamb bone broth — austere by restaurant standards but genuinely satisfying. These restaurants are largely patronised by local residents rather than tourists and prices are correspondingly low.