Gaotai sits squarely on the ancient Silk Road, and its food tells that story with every bite. The lamb here is exceptional — slow-braised or skewered over charcoal and dusted with cumin and chili, it carries the smoky, spiced DNA of Central Asian trade routes. Start your culinary wanderings at the morning market near the old town, where vendors ladle out bowls of steaming noodle soup before sunrise and the air smells of sesame oil and freshly baked flatbread.

The local specialty you simply cannot skip is Gaotai's hand-pulled noodles, known regionally as lamian, served in a rich bone broth with a tangle of slow-cooked beef and a scattering of bright green scallions. Pair that with a dish of vinegar-dressed cold cucumber or pickled mustard greens, and you have a lunch that will carry you through a full afternoon of sightseeing. Small family-run noodle shops clustered around the main street charge next to nothing and consistently outperform any glossier option in town.

For something sweet, hunt down a stall selling Hexi corridor millet cakes — sticky, golden, and faintly nutty, they're eaten warm with a drizzle of local honey. Night markets come alive around 7 p.m., drawing locals out for grilled corn, spiced offal skewers, and cold bottles of Xinjiang-style yogurt drinks. The atmosphere is convivial and unhurried, a reminder that in Gaotai, eating is less an errand and more a communal ritual worth lingering over.