The Pamir Bar and Grill

I click on a web page. I figure I have a good hour or two to kill before it actually opens (slow Internet these days), so why not go out? I run errands around my neighborhood and before you know it, dinner time comes around before. I'm by myself and I'm in a hurry. So I go to the Pamir Bar and Grill.

Okay, that's not really the name. It's owned by Xinjiang Uyghurs, who are Muslims, and like me, they don't drink. So nix the "bar" part of the name. But they do grill lamb (the main meat of China, pork, is a big no-no at Muslim restaurants). So I ordered some lamb kebabs "to go." The Muslim barbecue gal with the headscarf is hiding; she didn't want to be in the photo. Today is the first time I've ever seen a woman grilling meat. It's usually a Muslim man.

You can go inside to sit at a table and order a variety of dishes, or you can just order kebabs-to-go outside. Today, I get six kebabs for five bucks. The price of kebabs has really gone up … almost doubled recently. I place my order from my e-bike. It's about the closest thing we have to a drive-up window here. (There is one novelty KFC in town with a drive up. I drove through it on my e-bike once, but didn't order anything, I just did it so I could say I'd been at a drive-up window in China. Foreigners who live here do weird things like that. It's a free form of entertainment.)

This is a fun place to live. I love the Pamir and all the other interesting stuff here.