The Muslim Quarter is what most travellers remember about Xi'an. A dense grid of alleys spreading west and north from the Drum Tower, it has been home to a Hui Muslim community for over a thousand years — descendants of Persian and Central Asian traders who settled here when Xi'an was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road.
The food is the reason to come. Hand-pulled lamb noodles, mountains of skewered lamb grilled over coals, persimmon cakes fried in pans the size of bicycle wheels, paomo (a torn-bread-and-mutton stew you assemble yourself), pomegranate juice pressed in front of you, and roujiamo — the closest thing China has to a hamburger, made with cumin-spiced shredded meat in a flat wheaten bun.
Beiyuanmen is the busiest food street and the most touristed; Huajue Lane is calmer and runs along the back of the Great Mosque. Wander after dark when the woks are at full tilt and the alleys are full of steam. The quarter is also the best part of the city for souvenir hunting — silver, calligraphy, paper-cuts, jade.