Jahunger

I bet you have never tasted noodles like these, so I want to introduce you to the man behind some of the only Uyghur cuisine you can get in New England and one of the top noodle makers in America. Subat Dilmurat is the passionate chef and owner behind Jahunger restaurant.

Jahunger opened up in Providence, Rhode Island a few years ago, and then they just recently opened up a new spot right here in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they have a different kind of specialty here that is from a specific area of Central Asia. The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority in China, and they have a culture that dates back to the Silk Road. So this cuisine is influenced equally by Arabic culture and Chinese culture, and when you combine these distinct cultures into one pot of food, you end up with some of the most unique and delicious flavors you could possibly imagine.

The number one reason people come to Jahunger is for the hand pulled noodles. Subat is a true master of this ancient art. Every single day, they make their own dough from scratch. Each one of these noodles is stretched by hand. So he takes the dough and then you stretch it in your hands as far as your arms will go, and then smack it right down on the table. When you're sitting here in the dining room, you can actually hear them, you hear that? That's them making the noodles back in the kitchen. From there, it goes into a nice, hot bath. You're boiling those noodles, and you gotta keep stirring them that way, none of those fresh noodles stick together. And once they're cooked, they go directly into an ice bath. The cold water helps firm up those noodles, and it makes for some of the finest, most delicious noodles in America, period.

The signature dish here is the Jahunger Noodles and this one is worth traveling for, no matter where you're watching this from. So these noodles are sort of flat, like a fettuccine noodle, if you will, that's cooked up in the wok with some thin, sliced beef. They throw in some chives that a little bit of freshness and flavor, and the key is the szechuan peppercorn oil that goes in this. It adds so much flavor. All the elements of this dish are amazing, but what really gets you is the texture of the noodles. They're slightly firm, slightly chewy, pretty dense and just ridiculously delicious.

The biggest dish on the menu here at Jahunger is actually the ultimate Uyghur comfort food dish: the chicken stew. This is just an enormous entree big enough to feed a table of four, and so it takes a massive wok to cook this thing in. So you're talking about chicken that is fired up over high heat. It's cooked along with some potatoes and peppers and whole cloves of garlic, some of their homemade sauces and chili oil. Of course, the base of this dish are those incredible hand pulled noodles. In this case, they are very long, very flat, almost like a pappardelle kind of pasta. Between the texture of those noodles and just all those flavors coming together, this bowl is unbeatable. Now let's back up and go to the start of the meal and check out some of their appetizers.

Now here's a dish you're probably familiar with scallion pancakes. They come out extra crispy, extra flaky. Just dip them into a little bit of that soy sauce on the side, and you will be in Jahunger heaven.

Now let's talk about dumplings. These are the traditional lamb dumplings. So the dough, obviously, is made fresh air every day. Inside, you have a mixture of some lamb and some spices. What puts it over the top is the chili oil on the side, They actually make their own homemade chili oil. It's truly a delicious dumpling with a serious kick.

This is another kind of dumpling. This one is called the Samsa. Basically, it's your standard turnover that is stuffed with a filling. But this thing is anything but standard. Piping hot lamb meat inside really flaky kind of buttery crust. Trust me on this. You gotta try it. Pretty much every dish here is full of spices, like this stuff is fiery, so if you're overloaded with spice, you might want a little something sweet.

So get dessert. To really cool things down. Get their homemade yogurt. It's cool, it's creamy, and they serve it with some crushed walnuts and a little drizzle of honey. Number one dessert you gotta try here is the honey cake, or as they call it, Not Your Typical Honey Cake. It is layered with caramel and some cream cheese. Comes with a scoop of coffee ice cream on the side. I don't know if this is an authentic Uyghur dessert, but frankly, I don't care, because it's phenomenal.

One thing about this place, they make you feel welcome, and when you're dining here, it's like you kind of know about a little secret, you feel like you're in the know, like more people should know about it, but they don't. But they should, but I guess now they do. So if you want to try something deliciously different and you're ja-hungry, you should definitely go to Jahunger.