‘Uyghur food is art’
In Providence, Jahunger is this unlikely chef ’s taste of home
PROVIDENCE — sitting in a booth in the back corner of his restaurant, Jahunger, subat Dilmurat explains he never really wanted to be a chef. He moved to the United states more than a decade ago from Xinjiang, China, where his family operated three restaurants that eventually inspired his own.
Growing up, he watched his parents work grueling hours behind kitchen lines, greet guests in the front of the house, and crunch numbers over food and labor costs into the night.
Dilmurat knew that running a restaurant could be demanding, and focused on other professions. He attended Johnson & Wales University where he studied hotel management, but eventually obtained his real estate license.
But in 2016 he saw an opportunity to bring the Uyghur cuisine he grew up on to Providence. He and his wife, Nadia Paerhati, opened Jahunger on Wickenden street in 2017. A year later, they were forced to close due to a fire. they worked on rebuilding, and almost gave up, but reopened in 2021. And it’s paid off.
In January, the semifinalists for the 2024 James beard Restaurant and Chef awards were announced, Dilmurat made the cut for the best Chef: Northeast category. He’s one of 20 chefs across New england in that category, but the only one representing Uyghur food. that fact makes Dilmurat emotional, and while leaning against the bar inside his restaurant, he looked down and said, “I know how much work it took to get here.”
Getting recognized in any way “makes me just want to keep going. those have always been my plans,” said Dilmurat. “It’s never been about making money. It has always been about letting people know this cuisine.”
The James beard foundation will announce which chefs and restaurants made the nominee round on April 3.
For Dilmurat, sharing the story of Uyghur food and culture is an unfinished project.
The restaurant spans two stories in a building that was previously a home built in 1900, according to real estate records. the outside of the property is painted a navy blue, but the inside of Jahunger is a minimalist space. the dining room is white with a few framed prints and sporadic decor hanging on the walls. the bar isn’t where customers sit, but merely a place for storage during service. there’s less than 50 seats in the restaurant, but Dilmurat has someone working there most days — even when they are closed — to handle the never-ending job of pulling noodles by hand.
They hired a chef from China, who was able to temporarily stay in the United states with a visa. “but then we found out he had to leave,” said Dilmurat. “I was never interested in working in the kitchen. but when he had to go back to China, I spoke to my parents, and they said ‘you have to do it. you have to take over the kitchen and cook.’”
His mom wrote her recipes down and sent them to Dilmurat. today, the restaurant’s menu includes traditional fare, like kavap lab skewers, hand-pulled laghman noodles, and meefen with spicy house-made chili paste. they serve lamb dumplings, samsa (a savory pastry bun stuffed with lamb meat), and specials thrown together in a wok. on any given night, university students from China, including Uyghurs, fill Jahunger’s tables, said Dilmurat, along with locals and visitors from around New england who are just discovering the cuisine for the first time.
Dilmurat and his wife are also expanding. they purchased a pizza place — Dimi’s Place on brookline street in Cambridge — and will be transforming it into the second Jahunger in the United states. the restaurant will open sometime this year, and it’s coming after a long battle for the couple to expand their empire.
“I don’t have a loan. I went to a lot of banks, and I couldn’t get a loan because of how risky restaurants are,” said Dilmurat. “I had to use my own money.”
For many owners, the restaurant business is a labor of love. for Dilmurat, he and his family have put “everything” into the business, that they envision having multiple locations moving forward.
For some Uyghur Muslims, going back to China is a death sentence. News organizations and nonprofits have documented the systematic oppression of Uyghurs in so-called “reeducation centers.” Reports claim prisoners can be brainwashed and tortured.
Dilmurat didn’t provide details as to why he has not returned to China in years, to a land where many say a genocide of Uyghurs is ongoing. because of this, Dilmurat has not been able to taste the texture of his mom’s noodles, or cook alongside her in her kitchen. His son was 12 when he last visited his grandparents a few years ago, when he spent days eating at their restaurants — the very ones that Dilmurat grew up in. His son returned to Rhode Island and said the Jahunger noodles that his father made “tasted exactly like hers.”
“The Jahunger noodle is the base and the benchmark of what we do here,” said Dilmurat. “As long as we get that right, the rest will just follow.”
“To me, Uyghur food is art,” added Dilmurat. “We’ve overcome obstacles as a culture, and my family has overcome a lot to run this business. showing the world Uyghur food is what I was meant to do. slowly, I think, we’re getting there.”
333 Wickenden St., Providence, jahunger.com.