[Belmont, MA] Xi'An Rougamo #3

Xi’An Rougamo #3 is located in Belmont, MA and was a pleasant pandemic find which we are continuing to enjoy via delivery (Grubhub, but they’ve recently updated their Web site for online ordering). They offer a variety of rougamo (often compared to a burger from what I’ve read and seen on travel shows, but seems to be stir fried things in a split flat bread). The flatbread from Xi’An Rougamo has a delightful, crispy lacy quality to it that I love. My favorite is the shredded potato one (seems to be potatoes and long horn peppers), but I have enjoyed the cumin lamb one as well. They also do a well prepared, five spice spiked pork and cabbage dumpling (steamed). You can also get this dumpling in a hot and sour soup (nicely balanced flavors, no corn starch thickening).

There are all kinds of noodles, too. I have had the cold lian pi, both in their chilli sauce, as well as their sesame dressed one. There are nice puffs of wheat gluten in there, along with crunchy vegetables. A side order of cucumber and wood ear was enjoyable as well, dressed in vinegar and garlic. Wontons in spicy sauce (sesame based) have been consistently tasty and have traveled well in delivery.

The biang biang noodles also travel fairly well. BF favors the cumin beef ones, which I like too. My favorite to get is the simply named “hand pulled biang biang noodles with pork” which seemed to also have a little egg and tomato tossed in with them as well. You can get the egg and tomato on its own with noodles too, which I thought was good. I felt the tomatoes had a nice savory quality and held up with the dense noodles. Dan dan noodles had a great chew on the occasions I have ordered them, if that is your thing. A spiced egg can be added to most dishes for an extra $1.25.

The upgraded ordering site has seafood dishes that I’ve not seen on their GrubHub menu before, so I can’t speak to those.

I don’t have pictures of everything we’ve ordered there, but here are a couple (the cumin beef noodles and noodles with pork) from our last delivery.


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That sounds like an excellent find! Thanks for reporting it!

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Yes, sounds great. Thanks.

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I attempted yesterday to use the extended menu that was linked to upthread, with a fish dish among my choices. Delivery was set for 5:15 p.m. via a service called Qmenu. I called the restaurant after placing the order and they confirmed they had it, and that, yes, steamed rice would come with the fish. At 5 I got a text from Qmenu saying they were having trouble finding a driver – did I want to pick up or cancel? I called the restaurant and they said since Qmenu had not confirmed the order, they had not prepared it. I canceled on my phone. Five minutes later the restaurant called to say that they now had confirmation and were going to start cooking. I said I had already canceled. (We had somewhere zoomy to be at 6, hence the early dinner.) It took a few minutes to convince them. (We defrosted some spaghetti Bolognese and some fusilli with broccoli rabe and spicy sausage in the microwave, and along with some salad greens and red wine ate and drank well before our event.)

Next time Grubhub, but their menu from the same place is different in many ways, not just less fishy.

Wow! Sorry to hear you had that experience. I have only ordered through GrubHub and not had an any issues thus far. I will hold off on using the new Web interface for now!

Thanks for the pointer! I didn’t know there was Shaanxi food in Belmont Center but also hadn’t been recently and figured it was new. Yes and no, it turns out; 30 Leonard Street is also Shine’s Fresh Asian and has been there a while. GMaps describes it as a “relaxed spot for sushi & Pan-Asian eats,” the kind of place I’d look at near home but generally don’t travel for.

Shine’s still offers Americanized Chinese and Asian fusion (gotta keep your regulars happy) but dropped the sushi in early 2021 and started focusing more on “a Northern Chinese menu in partnership with a chain from China called Xi’an Rougamo” and may be changing their name soon (per Yelp reviews). That explains my initial confusion.

We already had Saturday take-out dinner plans with an area friend so Shine’s / Xi’An Rougamo #3 was an obvious target. We ordered from their toasttab menu, which includes the Shaanxi offerings and a nice assortment of Sichuan dishes. Our order was ready when we arrived a good ten minutes before the 17:40 pick-up time (early dinnertime probably helped). Short form: we liked it and friend is already planning lunches from there.

For our Shaanxi sampler we went with a Cumin Lamb Rougamo (very good bread indeed, lamb a bit under-seasoned, will try a different filling), Ma Jiang Liang Pi (Spicy) (not very hot but good with lots of veg and sesame), and the Hand-pulled Biang biang noodle with pork (item as described above, minus the egg which we forgot; next time). My heart will always belong to Gene’s liang pi and hand-pulled noodles (I guess you never forget your first) but Shine’s are definitely worth exploring more.

Also, a hot day called for more cold dishes: friend was curious about the Mouthwatering Chicken and enjoyed it, and the Cold Noodles With Sesame Sauce (a comfort-food favorite) were deemed excellent and vanished in short order. I expect those will be a repeat item for us.

Lastly, the Fish Filets With Dry Chili Sauce were tasty; loved the mix of hua jiao, green & red chilis, and flavorful onions. I think our next fried target will be the Deep Fried Chicken With Spicy Capsicum, which I hope will have similar seasoning. Dan dan noodles are going on the “try” list too.

I rarely get pics before the food disappears but managed this one: fish fillets and liang pi.

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I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it! I haven’t had the King Rougamo or the pork one, buy BF has liked them. I really like the shredded potato one (it even has held up in the fridge for lunch the next day). I want to learn how to make that bread! I agree with you about the spiciness on the dishes - not too hot. I do enjoy that there is a lot of crunch vegetables in the noodle dishes.

I didn’t know they shared a space with Shine (the perils of doing most things via delivery!). I hope, if they are merging their operations, the quality stays up. Thank you for reviewing the Fish Filets with Dry Chili Sauce. I will have to try that!

Friend got lunch from there today and says the spicy pork rougamo has it going on: “spicy and sweet. dripping with chili oil, very unctuously porky”. Looking forward to trying one myself soon.

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Excellent news! That will be going on the list for an upcoming lunch soon. Thanks for the intel!

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Roujiamo (Rougamo) literally translates as “meat sandwich”. Shaanxi is my favorite cuisine and I’ll always try a Chinese hamburger but so many places take too many shortcuts that I’m usually disappointed. It sounds like Rougamo is doing it right. their menu is the most extensive I’ve seen for Shaanxi food. Can you please ask them to open #4 near me. Thanks for the great review.

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