Food and Restaurants

Tuck into delicious meat pies called daman or gosh girde in Uyghur. It's a Kashgar specialty and is great for breakfast. Pilau, rice with lamb and yellow peppers and shashlik kebabs are perfect for lunch. Hot-from-the-oven Uyghur naan flatbreads, which has over 50 varieties, sprinkled with sesame seed are made for tea. Finish off the day with laghman– wheat noodles in a thick spicy soup of chopped mutton, peppers and tomatoes for dinner.

That's just the menu for the first day. There are endless bagels, baked envelopes of meat called samsas and suoman (square noodles) to sample. The locals rely on mutton for protein and wheat as their staple. Strong Turkish influences are apparent in the ingredients and cooking methods. Check out the food stalls near the Id Kah Mosque just off Jiefang Bei Lu.

Kashgar is also a city of mouthwatering fruits. Countless varieties of nuts are found at the street stalls. Melons, apricots, peaches, figs, cherries, raisins and grapes are sold everywhere.