New life for old cuisines

Central Asian restaurants have made a place for themselves in Beijing's Russian district, and diners are licking their lips, Erik Nilsson reports. Erik Nilsson

The old Soviet Union is reuniting in Beijing - for dinner. At least its cuisine is. Central Asian fare has taken a central place at the table in the Yabaolu neighborhood's dining scene, as the city's "Russiatown" transforms into "Beijing-istan".

Natives of the "stans" are making culinary inroads into China's capital as the New Silk Road Economic Belt develops, while fewer Russian traders are frequenting the declining Yabaolu fur market that spurred the original development of the surrounding Slavic enclave.