About Da Pan Ji House
Da Pan Ji House is a Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken specialist — the kitchen serves the regional one-platter signature dish in its most-traditional form. The Big Plate Chicken (Da Pan Ji) is the Xinjiang dish that originated in the 1980s in northern Xinjiang and has since become one of the country's most-popular regional Chinese dishes: a single large platter of slow-cooked chicken (typically a whole chicken, cut into pieces) with potatoes, peppers, onions, and the regional Xinjiang spice blend, served with hand-pulled noodles added to the platter as the second-half course (after the chicken-and-vegetables are mostly eaten).
The signature is the Da Pan Ji at ¥120-180 per platter (sized for three-to-four diners) — the platter arrives at the table with the chicken-and-vegetables in the regional broth; diners eat for thirty minutes; the kitchen brings hand-pulled noodles to add to the leftover broth as the second course. The premium Premium Da Pan Ji (¥220) uses free-range chicken and additional peppers; the family-style Big Plate Chicken Banquet (¥350) for six diners adds two side dishes and the regional Xinjiang dessert.
Beyond Big Plate Chicken, the kitchen serves a small Xinjiang side menu — samsa, naan, lamb skewers, regional vegetable dishes. The format is built around the Big Plate Chicken; most diners order one platter for the table and add small side dishes.
The room is functional Chinese-restaurant style. Sixty seats across two floors with bay windows facing the Tianshan District, standard restaurant-style table seating, low pendant lighting. Walk-ins always work outside Chinese-tourist peak weeks; reservations are useful for groups of six or more. Cards are accepted; the staff speak Mandarin and basic English.
Best Occasion Fit
Team dinners with visiting colleagues — the Big Plate Chicken sharing-platter format absorbs three to six and the regional-dish narrative gives the meal a built-in cultural anchor. Birthdays for groups of four to eight — the multi-course Xinjiang format scales for larger gatherings. As a first date with food-curious partners, the unfamiliar regional one-platter format is conversation-starting.
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