Urumchi Uyghur Cuisine — Restaurant in Mississauga

This location was once one of the neighbourhood’s favourite Chinese restaurants, Shanghai House. It was infamous for its Hot Braised chicken known by many locals in the area. However, without any official announcement, Shanghai House closed down for good after 30 or so years of business. Being in business for that long really shows how popular this spot was. Definitely hard to see it go as it was also a family ran restaurant. It will be missed by many locals, myself included. So I had to try this new restaurant a couple of times before I gave a review. And I am very happy to say Urumchi is the good replacement. First off, it is a family ran business. I am pleased that this location didn’t get turned into a Subway or some franchise. You can tell immediately that the new owners really want to have a good start. Now let’s be real the dining area of the former Shanghai House was old and dirty. Ever since covid they stopped dine in all together. Urumchi really made the effort to renovate the entire place to make the environment clean, welcoming, and comfortable for dine in. I could hardly believe it was the same place as Shanghai House. When you come into the restaurant you are greeted immediately. The owner and staff are super friendly and hospitable. You are served with a nice hot tea. They have a good size menu with not too many options which is a good thing in my books. Uyghur food is new to me so the waiter was very polite and suggested some dishes. He also tried to describe Uyghur cuisine as a mix of Chinese and Turkish. I ended up ordering the medium chicken plate, stir-fried beef noodles, and the lagman (picture missing for the lagman as it was a dish my friend started eating before I could take a picture). This was shared between two people but I would have to say one or two dishes would have been enough. The highlight dish out of the three was the chicken plate. It was very similar to Szechuan food but there was an element setting it a part that I could not figure out. There are handmade flat noodles in a spicy broth underneath all the chicken, peppers, and potatoes. The noodles had a good chew and the entire dish was perfectly spicy and savoury. The only issue was that the potatoes were slightly undercooked but this could be easy fixed if the chef takes the feedback. As for the other two dishes. I would describe the lagman similar to thin hand pulled noodles in a black bean sauce. The noodles were amazing and you can tell that they were made by hand. The sauce and meat could be improved on with a bit more seasoning and less oil. But overall it was very good. The stir-fried noodles were similar to Shanghai noodles but in a lighter sauce. I actually preferred this dish over the typical Shanghai noodles. I didn’t ask for confirmation if these noodles were also handmade but the noodles were still perfectly chew and evenly coated with the sauce. I’d be impressed if they hand pulled these noodles as well. After the meal was finished the waiter and owner asked for our feedback and they were open to knowing about what we thought about the food. As of writing this review the restaurant must be in their first or second week of business and I hope their recognition grows. I can confidently say that I had a good experience and there is a lot care put into the food and service. I will definitely be coming back to try other items on the menu since Uyghur food is new to me and the menu is...

April 20, 2025 - 2nd visit 4/5 stars The food at Urumchi Uyghur Cuisine was good and flavourful.

The Parmuda (Samsa) was good. It reminds of a good flavourful meat bun. Would definitely recommend.

The Uyghur Mantu was okay. It’s like a giant soup dumpling. It was rich in flavour but very heavy.

The Lamb Kebab was awesome. Perfectly cooked seasoned with no lamb gaminess. Would definitely recommend.

The Uyghur Salad was good. The salad was made out of cucumber, green onion, and tomatoes.

The Medium Plate Chicken was good. The chicken was tender and flavourful. Only downside is to be careful of the pieces of chicken bones.

The Fresh Watermelon Juice was good.

— Nov 27, 2024 - 1st visit 4/5 stars We checked out Urumchi Uyghur Cuisine to try some traditional Uyghur food and were pleasantly surprised. The food was good and richly flavourful.

The yogurt dish with honey and dried fruit was good.

The lamb kebab pieces were perfectly cooked and packed with a unique spicy umami flavour. The portion sizes were generous and the lamb was juicy and soft :)

The stir fried beef noodles (small size) were good. The noodles were dense but were surprisingly great in texture and went great with the flavourful sauce. The beef was savoury and soft, just perfectly cooked.

The Pilov with Lamb Shank was good. The lamb was soft and melts in your mouth. There was no gaminess to the lamb shank. Their rice was good and paired well with lamb.

We wanted to try their Parmuda (Samsa) and Uyghur Mantu which is their baked meat bun and dumplings but they were sold out :(

Overall, Uyghur food was unique, rich in flavour, and very filling. Would recommend to check them out if you’re looking to try a new cuisine :)

Heads up, they seemed to be short staffed but the owner was friendly and...

My husband wanted to try a new cuisine and this restaurant had a very high rating so we gave it a try. The restaurant is quite small and only has about 9 or so tables, and it gets quite busy during dinner rush. The restaurant was bright and clean. We got to pick where to sit and we scanned a QR code to order the food via our phones. Ordering through our phones was convenient, but the foods didn't have any description of the ingredients or whether it was spicy, so we had to ask the waitress about each dish. Majority of the menu is lamb, which is fine, but there wasn't many options for chicken or beef. We ordered 5 non-lamb dishes, and all of them tasted great. This is the first time I've had Uyghur food and it was delicious. The cuisine is a bit spicy but the restaurant was able to accommodate us because we had a toddler with us. My husband and I really enjoyed the spices. My fave dish was the beef and naan. My husband liked the chicken dish, and my son liked the beef noodles and beef fried buns. The restaurant was busy and the owner was really sweet and kind, he came over to apologize to his customers and offered some fresh fruit on the house. The waitress could have been a bit nicer and tentative, but she was the only waitress and it was really busy. Overall i enjoyed it, i would definitely reorder all the...