The night market that sets up along the streets leading to Dazhao Temple in the evening is Hohhot's most concentrated street food scene. The stalls extend for several blocks and cover both Mongolian and Hui Muslim food traditions: lamb skewers on one side of the street, fresh yogurt cups on the other, with fried offal, hand-pulled noodles, and sesame flatbreads filling the gaps. The crowd is a mix of tourists visiting the temple area and local residents who come for the same food they always eat, which is the best evidence that the market is genuine rather than performance.
The market is best from around 6 PM to 10 PM in summer, when the heat of the day has eased and the temple grounds are lit up. A complete tasting circuit of the market costs almost nothing — a few yuan per item — and provides a better introduction to Inner Mongolian food culture than any sit-down restaurant at any price. The vendors near the temple gate tend to be slightly more tourist-oriented (higher prices, more English signs); the better value is a block or two further back in the residential streets.