Comfy restaurants draw customers in Lanzhou

Customers eat Lanzhou beef noodles at a cafe-style restaurant in Lanzhou, Gansu province. [Photo/Xinhua]

The capital of Northwest China's Gansu province is famous for one thing more than any other, its noodles. Lanzhou has been serving up its signature hand-pulled noodles, known locally as Lanzhou lamian, since the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1912), with people packing themselves into small, simple restaurants to enjoy the dish.

As traditional as the art of pulling the noodles was the practice of piling into your local no frills eatery, sitting on the floor if you had to, to enjoy a steaming bowl of local lunch.

However, over the past few years things have started to change and shiny new, well-decorated restaurants have been popping up in Lanzhou serving the traditional fare. These restaurants are quickly gaining in popularity as eaters become more and more discerning about not just the food they eat, but the environment in which they eat it.

According to some restaurant owners, having a clean, comfortable and distinctive surrounding plays an ever more important role in where customers choose to eat, and it is the restaurants that listen to the needs of the market that come out on top.