Justin · Yiwu

How we review

The evidence behind every listing.

Q: How do you verify halal status?

For the First-Timer: Each restaurant card shows one of four tiers — Amap halal category (a directory classification, not a certificate), Reported (two or more independent public posts call it halal), Cuisine-based · not verified (Middle Eastern, Turkish, Pakistani or Afghan kitchen, no certificate seen) or Not checked — with the basis written under the tag. After our visit the card adds what we actually did: certificate photographed, owner asked, menu checked, and the date. For the Veteran: If you know a tag is out of date, report it; we re-check on site.

This page is the rulebook behind every rating on NiceYiwu. If a review ever breaks one of these rules, tell us and we will fix it.

4halal tiers, one rule

— Justin, Founder, NiceYiwu · based in Yiwu

The rating

Five questions, scored separately

We do not publish one blended star score. Each of the five things visitors worry about gets its own answer.

Price Realitywhat we paid vs. nearby

1–5

Taste & Servicedishes, speed, menu language

1–5

Local Authenticitydo locals eat here

1–5

Halal Statustag + how we checked

tag

Getting Therewalk / taxi / driver card

1–5

Scores are 1–5. Halal Status is a tag, not a score, because "somewhat halal" is not a thing.

Where we are now

Public-source verified · in-person visits rolling out

Honest about the stage we are at: every card on this site today is built from public sources, and none has been visited by us yet.

Verified from public sourcesEvery restaurant, hotel and hangout card cites how many public Xiaohongshu (小红书) posts describe it and whether Amap (高德) / Trip.com lists it. The line under each card says exactly that: Not visited by us yet · based on N public posts + Amap listing.

Visited by us: 0First visits are planned district by district, starting with Exotic Street and the restaurants nearest the market. When a card has been visited it will say Visited [date] · paid ¥x instead.

You can speed it upReport a wrong price, a closure or a halal doubt on any page and that place moves to the front of the visit queue.

Halal tags

Four tiers, and exactly how each one is earned

Every restaurant card carries one of these four tags. The tier is decided by evidence we can show, never by how the place looks.

Amap halal Amap (高德) directory category 清真菜馆; no independent certificate has been checked by usReported at least 2 independent public posts (or 1 post + the shop sign) call it halal — our own check has not happened yetCuisine-based · not verified cuisine suggests options to investigate; ownership, ingredients and halal certification are not verifiedNot checked no halal evidence in public sources yet — ask before you orderNot Halal serves pork or alcohol — listed only so non-Muslim readers can find local specialties

Tag	What it means	Evidence required	Today
Amap halal	Amap directory classification; not an independent certificate.	Amap (高德地图) lists the place in its official 清真菜馆 (halal restaurant) category — checked against the POI record. A directory category does not establish certification or replace your own dietary checks.	Amap category only; certificate photos start with our first visits.
Reported	Independent public posts say it is halal.	At least two independent public posts describe the place as halal / 清真 / Muslim-run, or one post plus the shop’s own sign or registered name. We count posts; we do not quote them here.	Re-checked whenever the public-post pool is refreshed (last: Sep 2026).
Cuisine-based · not verified	Middle Eastern, Turkish, Yemeni, Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Pakistani or Afghan kitchen.	Cuisine is a discovery clue only. It does not establish Muslim ownership, ingredients, separate preparation or halal certification. Confirm directly with the restaurant.	The evidence label changes when new sources are checked; concerns are marked for review.
Not checked	No halal evidence in public sources yet.	Nothing in the Amap record and fewer than two public posts mention halal. Often a Chinese Hui / Xinjiang kitchen named by one visitor, or an Indian / Nepali restaurant whose supply we cannot vouch for.	Ask before you order. These are first in the visit queue.

The per-store working table (Amap category, number of public posts, posts that say halal, tier, basis) is exported as 清真档位表.csv and regenerated whenever sources change. Not Halal is not a tier: it marks a place that serves pork or alcohol, listed only so non-Muslim readers can find local specialties.

Research vs. review

What ‘visitor-reported’ and the Sources line mean

Before we can visit every place, listings are built from public visitor posts — mostly Chinese-language reviews on social platforms, rewritten in English by us — plus the Amap (高德) business record. On those listings:

Prices, opening hours and taxi fares carry a visitor-reported, Amap listing or web-reported label with the month and year. They are what someone else reported, not what we paid.
The halal tag follows the four-tier evidence rule above. Certified from an Amap category is still not the same as a certificate we photographed; the basis is written under the tag on every card.
The footer of each page shows Sources: N public visitor posts, last checked [date]. Quotes in “What visitors say” are attributed to the platform’s masked nickname and linked with nofollow; we never use a private photo without the author’s consent.
Pitfall boxes (“what visitors say went wrong”) summarise complaints that appear in several posts. One angry post is not a pitfall.

Every one of these listings is a to-do: we visit, pay, ask, photograph, and the labels change.

Our promises

Four commitments you can hold us to

These are policy, decided now, not facts we are still checking.

1 · Future visits will be self-fundedOur own restaurant, hotel and taxi reviews will follow paid visits. Current listings are public-source research. If a business ever sponsors anything on this site it is labelled Sponsored, sits outside the lists and carries no tag or score.

2 · No paid listings, no paid tagsA restaurant cannot pay to be listed, to be listed higher, or to get a halal tag. Owners can send corrections through Contact; self-service claims and replies are not enabled. They they cannot edit the review or the tier.

3 · Corrections within one weekReport a price change, a closure, a moved shop or a halal doubt and we go and check (or call in Chinese) and correct the page within 7 days. If we cannot confirm in that time the card says under review until we can.

4 · Halal is verified the same way every timeOn each visit we (a) look for a certificate and photograph it, (b) ask the owner or manager in Chinese or Arabic who supplies the meat, (c) check the menu and fridge for pork and alcohol. The card then states which of the three we did and the date. We never upgrade a tier on a promise over the phone.

Price rules

Public-source prices now; dated receipts after future visits

Current restaurant and hotel prices come from public listings or visitor reports, with the source and available date shown. They are not our own receipts.
After a future in-person visit, a price labelled “what we paid” will show the receipt total per person and the visit date. Until then, keep the public-source label.
A price difference alone does not establish a “foreigner price”; any future claim needs supporting evidence.
Current taxi benchmarks are public-source or visitor-reported figures, not rides metered by us. Any future fare we record ourselves will be labelled with the ride date and evidence.

Close-up of an itemised Chinese restaurant bill with date visible

Listed prices

The $ signs and per-person figures on every card, before we have paid the bill

Until a local has eaten or slept there, the price on a card is a listing figure, not our own bill. Here is exactly where it comes from.

Restaurants — per person. The primary figure is the average spend shown on the Amap (高德地图) listing for the specific branch. Each card carries its own retrieval month; the latest matching listings were rechecked on 6 October 2026. This is a listing average, not a menu quote or our paid receipt. A price from another branch is not used. Where no listing exists we use a visitor-reported per-person figure with the month of the post. Dish prices, coffee prices and two-person packages remain separate. Where comparable per-person reports differ by more than 30%, the card shows a range.
Hotels — per night. The "Average Price From" figure on the hotel's public Trip.com page, read on 2026-09-15, with the lowest advertised rate as from $xx. Visitor-reported rates are combined the same way as restaurants.
Currency. Prices are shown in US dollars first, converted at USD 1 ≈ CNY 7.0 (rate as of Sep 2026), rounded to the dollar; the yuan figure in brackets is the listing value. Change the rate in one place and every page updates.
Tiers. Restaurants: $ under $8 · $$ $8–20 · $$$ $20–40 · $$$$ over $40 per person. Hotels: $ under $50 · $$ $50–100 · $$$ $100–200 · $$$$ over $200 per night.
Not reported. A card that says Price: not reported has no listing and no visitor figure; we do not guess. Meituan / Dianping pages are not scraped.
After our visit the listing figure is replaced by what we actually paid, with the date, and the source label changes to paid by us.

Revisits & corrections

How a listing stays true

You report a change
Price up, closed, moved, halal status changed. Use the contact link at the bottom of every page or WhatsApp. Online comments are not open yet.
A local goes to check
We visit or call in Chinese. No armchair verification.
The listing is corrected within 7 days
Our commitment: checked and corrected within one week of your report. If a visit is not possible in that week the card is marked under review rather than left wrong.
Popular places are revisited
Busy listings are re-checked periodically; the Last visited date on each page tells you how fresh it is.

Disclosure

Money never touches the rating

Future visits will be paid by us. Current listings use credited public sources; no complimentary meals in exchange for coverage.
Affiliate links (for example hotel booking links) may earn a commission and are marked. They do not change which hotels we recommend.
Sponsored placements, if offered, are labelled Sponsored, sit outside the ranked lists, and carry no score.
Business claims: owners can contact us with corrections to hours or menus. Self-service accounts and public owner replies are planned; owners cannot buy a halal tag.

Reader reviews

How comments are moderated

Online reader reviews, accounts and owner replies are not open yet. The guidelines describe how we plan to moderate them. You can currently send a correction through the contact page or WhatsApp. Full rules: Community Guidelines.

Report a change

FAQ

Questions visitors ask

How do you verify halal status?

For the First-Timer:Each restaurant card shows one of four tiers — Amap halal category (a directory classification, not a certificate), Reported (two or more independent public posts call it halal), Cuisine-based · not verified (Middle Eastern, Turkish, Pakistani or Afghan kitchen, no certificate seen) or Not checked — with the basis written under the tag. After our visit the card adds what we actually did: certificate photographed, owner asked, menu checked, and the date.

For the Veteran:If you know a tag is out of date, report it; we re-check on site.

Do restaurants pay to be listed?

No. Listings and reviews are free and unpaid. Optional sponsored placements are labelled and never rated.

How often do you re-visit?

We have not visited these listings yet. Future in-person checks will have their own dates; current pages show public-source dates where available.

How fast do you correct errors?

Within 7 days of your report. A local visits or calls in Chinese, then the page is corrected; if that is not possible inside the week the card is marked under review.

What does ‘visitor-reported’ mean on a price or a taxi fare?

That the number comes from a public post by another visitor, with the month and year shown, and not from our own receipt or meter. We show it as a sanity check until we have paid the bill ourselves; then it becomes ‘what we paid’, with the date.

Spotted a change (price, closure, halal status)? Report it — a local goes to check.