We recently saw a Munchies video on Vice about the lone Dungan restaurant in NYC, Lagman House (2612 E 14th St, Brooklyn, NY 11235), and quickly added it to our list of places to visit when we can travel again. The Dungan people are descendants of Muslim Hui Chinese who migrated to Central Asia over the course of centuries, and are now most commonly living in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. NYC’s Lagnam House is the only restaurant serving Dungan cuisine in the US, and is located in the neighborhood of Brighton Beach, which is heavily populated with immigrants from the former USSR. The family running this restaurant, the Azimovs, immigrated from the town of Zhalpaktobe in southern Kazakhstan in 2012, and family members act as cooks and servers.
The cuisine of the Dungan is imprinted by all of the different threads influencing the Dungan culture: Chinese, Islamic, Soviet and Central Asian. The signature dish is Lagman, hand pulled noodles (known as La mian in China) topped with beef, from which the restaurant gets its name. Handmade noodles are the stars of many of the dishes including Dappan Ji, noodles with fried chicken and peppers, and Ash lan fin, cold noodles with vegetables, bean jelly and eggs. The Central Asian and Russian influence can be seen clearly seen in dishes like Dungan samsa, pastries filled with beef and onion, and beshbarmak, a beef and noodle soup. Fortunately, you can still order from Lagman House on Seamless during the epidemic.
Eating The World 