Local food
There is a restaurant area right next to the Shuijing Xiang Bazaar, in the center of the city, and throughout the evening and into the night there are many street stalls serving good food around Ximen and on the western side of Jianguo Road.
Mojia Market
The front end of the market has many small snack stands selling spicy ground meat birds egg pizza-style bing ¥3, spicier Liangpi noodle ¥4.5 and mouth cooling bowl-set yoghurt with a creaming texture and slightly sour/citrus flavour ¥3. Further into the market mounds of dried fruit and nuts from the region can be bought by weight.
Western food
KFC
There are a total of three KFC's in the city, but this is by far the most centrally located.
Western food options are very slim, but not bad for a city so remote.
Casa Mia
Great Italian restaurant in this otherwise western food oasis of Xining. The menu is expansive, and they even have brick-oven pizza. If you are craving decent western food, this is the place. Free WIFI.
Xining's main minority groups provide a large portion of the food on offer. The Hui, a broad term for Chinese Muslims, serve up spicy noodles, lamb kababs and flatbread bing. Tibetan food choices are concentrated around the train station, mostly small places the serve momos and noodles and seat guests on small coaches.