Muqam Uyghur Restaurant — Restaurant in Adelaide

LADY WITH AN UTTERLY BAD & RACIAL ATTITUDE !

Went there on a Monday around 6:45 pm. The place was totally empty not even a single table occupied and when asked if we could dine we were told that I should have rang and came otherwise we will have to sit and wait. Felt it was a bit rude reply especially when it was all empty. Sat anyways and ignored it.

After that we asked for the Flat noodles with chicken and checked if the chicken in flat noodles will be boneless and that is when the lady started arguing that nobody in Adelaide sells Uyghur style flat noodles with boneless chicken, wis not true because I have been an ardent fan of another Uyghur restaurant near Modbury hospital and have been eating amazing flat noodles with boneless chicken. And the sole reason why we went to this place is because that other restaurant is closed on Monday. Ignored this nonsense from the lady too.

We sat and realised that nobody came in to the restaurant even after 20-25 minutes by the time we got the food.

We finally got the order:

Lamb Dumplings 🥟 - (My rating 2.5/5 - the mix inside was very much below average) Stir fried lamb and canned mushrooms - (My rating 3.5/5 - Was okay) Stir fried boneless chicken with capsicum - (My Rating - 4/5 - This item was the only good one) Flat Noodles with chicken - (My rating - 1/5 - Extremely bad and wouldn’t recommend to anyone to waste $42 on this item - eat anything else but not this item if you are cursed to be at this restaurant)

On top of all this we were also told how to keep sauce bottles on the table as if we had arrived from some jungle and had no manners as to how to dine in a restaurant.

The atmosphere was filled with the lady’s bad attitude and toxicity and it came to a point that I asked my son to bring the water bottles from the car because I was just done with her and did not want to ask her even for water.

I am being generous and giving 2-stars in my review because this kind of treatment can be tolerated if you are serving good food.

When you are serving such average/below average food then customers will not ever tolerate such disrespectful attitude.

Additionally I did notice much later while eating and it appeared as if she was INTENTIONALLY BEING RUDE TO ASIAN/INDIAN CUSTOMERS while we was happily smiling and chatting to a white customer couple at the same time.

Utterly disgusting and distasteful.

NOT GOING...

Worse restaurant ever. Queue for a table, waited 15minutes. Ordered food at 7pm. It’s nearly 8:30pm now and food no where to be seen. I am so free that I am writing this bad review now. There are three other tables also waiting on their food. I don’t know what’s happening. Update: Received our food and the dapanji just tasted average. I would’ve thought since we are so hungry that the food would taste better. The lamb skewers had lots of tendon and hard to chew pretty much half of the skewers I had to spit it out. Awful restaurant. The gave us a glass of yogurt drink to try and “compensate” us for the long wait. Oh and I finally know why it took them so long. There was another group of 8 or 9 people that came after us and seemed to be their friends or perhaps regulars as I can see they brought some fruits to snack. They would walk around the restaurant and even go near the kitchen as if it was their own home. Surprise surprise, their food came out before ours. The kitchen had no clue what they are doing for food service. We ordered same food but people that came after us got it first and when we asked they said the kitchen is busy and that is their food first. Another customer also then went up and asked why too as their food also haven’t been served. Overall, this IS the worst restaurant i have ever been to in my life. Again, you may end up lucky and get your food first because the kitchen cooks whatever they feel like first. In summary, unless you are regulars or know the owners there, don’t even bother going. I wasted 2.5+ hours for an average dapanji and awful lamb skewers and there’s only about 8 to 9...

Authentic xinjiang style cuisine served with non of the polish and shine you'd find in typical restaurants. But there lied it's appeal. The food is humble, much like what you'd find if you were having a meal at your grandparents. For me, the highlights were the grilled lamb skewers, baked buns and the hand made noodles.

The lamb was grilled just right where the meat was wrapped in a thin layer of caramelisation but without charring. Each mouth full was a good balance of lean and fat cuts such that it was juice and tender without being overwhelmingly fatty or dry. The marinate too was sublime, with just the right touch of cumin, salt and chilli powder. Even the kids loved it.

The baked buns came out looking like pastries with their golden coat of shiny egg wash. The texture was like naan but more 'eggy'. Inside you'll find minced lamb and melted cheese. And oh so yummy.!

The noodle, I thoroughly enjoyed. Again, the sauce is simple but the hero is the noodle. They are handmade, each one consistent in thickness, cooked perfectly to their rustic equivalence of al'dente. I can't help but wonder what this will be like if I replaced it with all of my favourite pasta sauce.

Prices are very reasonable. Proprietor prefers cash payments but...