Yuanjiacun is a farming village in Liquan county, in the plain west of Xi'an, that decided at the turn of the century to make its living from food made the old way. The result is a village laid out as a working complex of workshops and small kitchens: mills, oil presses, vinegar vats, tofu sheds and noodle kitchens, each producing something in front of you and selling it a few steps away. It is entirely a commercial creation and it is also, in the plain sense, a good place to eat.
How the village works
The core is a lane of workshops and stalls where the products are made on site and sold hot: hand-pressed oil from rapeseed and sesame, rice vinegar drawn from clay vats, stone-ground flour, chilli paste pounded in a stone trough, tofu skin peeled off a simmering pan, small cakes baked on a griddle. Around it are courtyards of restaurants serving the standard Shaanxi repertoire - noodles served with chilli and vinegar, dumplings, mutton soup, bean jelly, steamed buns - and a scattering of shops selling the same products vacuum-packed for the journey home. Behind the commercial front there is still a village, and the original houses, courtyards and a small temple sit among the new construction.
Eating your way through it
The right approach is to buy small portions from many stalls rather than one full meal. Prices are fixed and printed on the boards, so there is no bargaining and no tourist surcharge worth worrying about, and portions are sized for the walk. The chilli oil, vinegar and pressed oil are the items most worth carrying home, and most stalls will vacuum-seal liquids for a flight. Nothing here is sophisticated cooking; the point is the ingredients and the fact that they are being made by hand in front of you.
Practical notes
Yuanjiacun is about ninety minutes from central Xi'an by road, in the direction of Xianyang and Qianling, so it works well as a lunch stop on a day that includes the Tang tombs or the Zhaoling and Qianling mausoleums. It is open all year and is at its most crowded on weekends, public holidays and during the Lunar New Year period, when the lanes become almost impassable. Arrive before noon if you want to watch the workshops while they are working. There are toilets, parking and a visitor centre, and the site is easy walking.
