Grace Dent’s return to Guirong Wei’s cooking in The Guardian marked the beginning of another chapter in her London journey, this time with the opening of Dream Xi’an near the Tower of London.
By this stage, Guirong had already built a distinctive culinary identity through Xi’an Impression and Master Wei. At Dream Xi’an, she expanded that vision with a broader exploration of Shaanxi cuisine, from biang biang and liangpi to paomo and other traditional dishes rooted in the food history of Xi’an. Dent recognised the same bold combination of savoury, spicy, sweet and vinegary flavours that had become closely associated with Guirong’s cooking.
For Guirong, Dream Xi’an represented a further step in sharing the depth of her hometown’s food culture with London. The review reflected how her work had moved beyond introducing individual dishes to creating a wider understanding of Xi’an and Shaanxi cuisine through each new restaurant.