The streets around the Dongguan Mosque form Xining's Muslim quarter — the centre of a large Hui community that has lived in this part of the city for centuries. The neighbourhood is dense with the specific texture of Muslim Chinese urban life: open-fronted noodle restaurants with men hand-pulling dough, spice merchants with sacks of cumin and chilli piled on the pavement, dried fruit vendors selling the raisins and apricots that come up from Xinjiang, and small teahouses where men sit over cups of eight-treasure tea (ba bao cha) for hours at a time.
The food here is among the best in Xining. The local speciality is hand-pulled beef noodles (la mian) in a clear broth with beef and green onions — simpler and cleaner than the Lanzhou version that has become a Chinese national dish, but excellent. The neighbourhood is most alive in the evenings when families gather and street food vendors set up. It is within walking distance of the city centre and the main bus station.