A Hidden Gem from Xinjiang: Shanghai's Friday Muslim Market
If you’ve ever been within a 5-block radius of Aomen Lu on a Friday afternoon, you’ve smelled that unmistakable scent of charred meat wafting from the roasting lambs, and you’ve felt the tingle of the grill smoke in the back of your nostrils. This isn’t just your standard chuar stall or outdoor market gathering; this is a once-a-week gift to Shanghai from the Xinjiang region of China that far too few people are taking advantage of.
The Muslim market in Shanghai actually used to be much bigger about three to four years ago, but the police shut it down for a while because of all of the complaints made by neighborhood residents who weren’t big fans of the thick grill smoke and throngs of noisy patrons.
The market reopened just a few months after it was shut down on a much smaller scale. Although it’s still fairly restricted, the market has begun to expand again in the past year to resemble more of what it used to be.
At the corner of Aomen Lu and Changde Lu, you are greeted at the entrance of the market by dead lambs hanging in a row, like walking into an open-air butcher shop, where all the meat swings in the wind.
For those of us who aren’t looking to purchase a dead ungulate in its entirety, avert your gaze and turn your body to the first main stall on the southern side of the street. This is the best dried fruit and nut stand in the market (and the entire city, in my opinion).
The friendly owner welcomes people passing by to sample from his wide array of roughly a million varieties of raisins (who knew that many kinds existed?!), dried figs, dried berries, dried apricots, dried dates, and tons of different kinds of nuts.
While red dates, or jujubes, can be found at nearly every wet market and neighborhood grocery shop in China, the red dates at the Muslim market are the biggest and fluffiest I’ve ever seen! If you haven’t gotten on the red date game yet, you should really give them a try.
Chinese people eat them as a snack, put them in their tea, put them in soups, put them in cakes, stuff them with things like nuts and sugar, and of course, load them up in their morning congee. My Chinese tutor even told me that, according to Chinese medicine, they are good for women - especially pregnant women - but I still haven’t quite figured out why. Either way, I’ll take them, they make for a great snack.
The price of the red dates varies based on their freshness and how big they are, but it’s worth “splurging” for the super fresh, massive ones at the Muslim market (roughly RMB 25-40 per 500 grams, or 1 jin) over the shriveled small ones usually found at the wet market. The quality makes all the difference.
But you didn’t come here just for the fruit, so continue walking east on Aomen Lu. A few stalls down, you will come across a massive pile of slow-roasted curry lamb where you pay by the weight (RMB 70 per jin). The meat just falls apart when you look at it, and is so flavorful with the addition of turmeric and cumin that adds the perfect kick of spice.
I highly suggest ordering a freshly rolled-out and tandoori-oven baked Uyghur flatbread to go with your lamb so you can eat it like a Xinjiang “sandwich.” Or, you can even purchase roasted or fried varieties with pieces of lamb baked right into the bread!
You can’t miss the industrial size woks filled with over 20 kilos worth of roasted rice pilaf, sweet orange and white carrots, and tender lamb meat, all coated in melted fat from the lamb. The rice takes on a chewy, supple texture from the lamb fat that you just can’t achieve in any other way.
My favorite snack at the Muslim Market can be found near the end (closer to Xikang Lu) on the southern side of the road.
I crave these pan-fried beef pockets all week long as I count down the hours until the next Muslim Market starts. For only RMB 4, you can enjoy a crispy fried bread pocket filled with the juiciest seasoned beef.
Like a double-sided potsticker, these beef pockets are fried to a crisp on both the top and bottom, with the middle remaining fluffy and pillowy, so each bite has the perfect balance of flavors and textures. If you want more of a noodle exterior, opt for the beef guotie potstickers (RMB 5 for 4 of them) that are filled to the brim with beef and broth. Since the entire market is halal, you won't find any pork products which is a nice change of pace compared to your average potsticker.
If you order only one thing at the Muslim Market, it has to be a grilled skewer of lamb chuar meat (RMB 5-15 each). Look for any stand with a long line, but truly, you can’t go wrong. They are all delicious, and all very similar. Seasoned with loads of cumin and chili pepper, each bite of succulent lamb will have you happily licking the grease off your lips and going in for a second round.
After all that spicy, salty, meaty goodness, you will be reaching for something more refreshing, so grab some sweet red date tea (RMB 5). Perfect for a sweltering afternoon, this tea/juice combo is served with a few dried red dates that have been floating and marinating in the juice so they are a pleasant surprise when they burst with flavor in your mouth.
For a sweet ending, there are numerous pastry vendors selling loads of delicious sweet treats at the Muslim Market. From spiced cookies with apricot to cold tiramisu cake, from walnut toffee to red bean and fig bars, from cinnamon swirls to baklava-esque treats, there is easily something to satisfy everyone’s sugar cravings.
All of the pastries use common ingredients like cinnamon, spices, crushed nuts, dried fruits, and date paste so you can’t go wrong. The pastries are charged by weight, so order a variety and find your favorite.
Every season there are a few other random stall owners selling everything from pumpkin dumplings in the Spring to tart raspberry jelly in the Fall to homemade cold yak’s milk yogurt in the Summer.
While the market focuses mainly on food, you will also come across a number of sellers touting jewelry, fabric, and small souvenirs, but nothing you can’t find in other markets around the city.
The market only happens once a week and in the middle of a workday, but it’s worth taking a long lunch hour or using a vacation day to pop over to this hidden gem before it becomes too discovered and crowded.
Stop in around 11am before the lunch rush starts to avoid long waits for food, or come when it’s busy to enjoy the market in all its chaotic glory.
Address: Corner of Changde Lu and Aomen Lu
Hours: Every Friday 10am-3pm
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