Restaurant Aisyah Review: Xinjiang Hand-Pulled Noodles And Dumplings Near Bugis

Restaurant Aisyah has Xinjiang hand-pulled noodles near Bugis

Home to China’s largely Muslim Ughyur population, Xinjiang has a unique cuisine that blends Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and Chinese influences to great effect. You can try said cuisine right here in Singapore, at the famous Restaurant Aisyah along Arab Street.

The Muslim-owned restaurant has been earning rave reviews since it opened in 2020—at the time of writing, it has an impressive 4.5-star rating with over 1,000 reviews on Google Maps. It was high time we reviewed it, so we dropped by one fine afternoon to see if it lived up to the hype.

Food at Restaurant Aisyah

We started with one of the eatery’s signature noodle dishes, the Butterfly Brisket Noodles ($16.90++). Each noodle dish can be customised down to noodle type and spice levels,  but we decided to go with what our waiter suggested: with fine noodles and the standard level of spice.

Here’s a word of warning—these noodles are seriously spicy. Upon slurping on the noodles, it didn’t take long for the heat to set in, but whatever pain we felt from the spice was largely overshadowed by how amazing it tasted.

Infused with a beefy yet piquant broth, those silky noodles were jam-packed with flavour. As far as beef noodles go, the robust soup here is certainly up there.

The rest of the dish consisted of radish, hard-boiled egg, and of course beef brisket. The last of these was a bit of a letdown, as most pieces of beef brisket were too tough for our liking. If they were just a tad bit more succulent, this would’ve been a perfect noodle dish.

We moved on to the Tongue-Tingling Spicy Dry Beef Noodles ($16.90++), a dry noodle dish featuring garlic chilli sauce. We opted for the hand-pulled noodles here, hoping to add a different texture to our meal.

This dish was superb as well. The chewy sheets of hand-torn noodles were wonderfully chewy, while the fragrant and tantalisingly spicy garlic chilli sauce was super flavourful. We also found the beef slices here tender and succulent. Again, we have to warn that the spice levels here are no joke—so approach with caution.

Now, on to the sides. The first one we ordered, the Spicy Sauce Mutton Dumplings ($15.90), was possibly our favourite dish of the lot.

The combination of its juicy mutton stuffing and savoury chilli sauce just went together so well, and crucially, the mutton itself was fresh and not overly gamey.

And then there was the 5 Pcs Mutton Skewers ($19++). Thanks to their balanced seasoning and well-grilled mutton, we found this to be one of the better renditions of chuan chuan we’ve tried. If we hadn’t already been full from all the food that came before, we probably would have ordered a few more servings.

Ambience at Restaurant Aisyah

Being located in a two-storey shophouse means Restaurant Aisyah can accommodate a decent amount of diners. Its simple wooden furnishing and no-frills interiors, coupled with a few Chinese lanterns and paintings here and there, make the place comfortable enough for you to enjoy some delectable Xinjiang dishes.

Restaurant Aisyah is a seven-minute walk from Bugis MRT Station.

The verdict

Restaurant Aisyah offers some seriously delicious dishes from Xinjiang. If you’re a fan of Chinese cuisine or gloriously spicy food, then we highly recommend you check out this eatery.

For  $6 Lanzhou la mian, crispy Chinese burgers and more in Clementi, read our MEET Noodles review. For a look at China’s largest clear soup hotpot chain that recently opened in Singapore, read our Chamoon Hot Pot review.

Address: 25 Arab Street, Singapore 199724
Opening hours: Daily 11:30am to 9pm
Tel: 8900 0783
Website
Restaurant Aisyah is a Muslim-owned eatery.

Photos taken by Marcus Neo.
This was an independent visit by Eatbook.sg.