A typical sight when I'm grocery shopping in Dalian, one of China's best known seafood cities.
This is at one of the biggest supermarkets in Dalian, it has everything from clothes, work supplies, phones and of course a huge food section. There are many markets like it in China, this is just the one I like to go to most often. They've got a lot imported staples for my kitchen that are easy to get at.
Once you get to the grocery department the fresh fish section is first. You can't get to any of the other food without first passing this spot. As mentioned Dalian is well known for seafood it being a coastal city, fresh fish can come to port year round making it easy to get a variety of live or super fresh seafood.
These fat bull frogs obviously are not seafood but they do fit into the live fish category I suppose. Frog isn't so bad if it's cooked right. Too many bones for me to really get interested but there a few popular restaurants here specializing in this delicacy.
Sting Rays with their spiky tail still included, the best part I'm sure.
And one thing I am surprised to have not yet tried is the soft shelled turtle. These like the frogs are farmed nearby rather than caught in the wild like much of what's here. I've mentioned before I'll try anything served to me and this just hasn't come up yet, or maybe ever, I'm truly not worried. haha
Let's not miss out on the variety of shell fish. Also probably farmed. From black mussels, to clams and some other shapes that I'm not sure their English name of at the moment. I have eaten all of these and would eat them all again.
Some small crabs that most people in the west wouldn't eat as they don't have much meat in them for the amount of work to get a morsel of a bite out of. I've also eaten each of these and they do taste delicious as they're usually fried in some type of sauce or spices. They don't do the straight up boil and drench in melted butter like I am used to.
You must eat a balanced diet and include vegetables. One type of seaweed just isn't enough to get all your dietary needs covered, plus the different textures and flavours, a different seaweed for each dish.
And there you have it. A trip by the fish market. If you really love fish and seafood Dalian is the place to get it. Almost every restaurant has some thing live or fresh even if it's not their thing. Some of the most popular and expensive restaurants specialize in seafood. One I went to had live Alligator and fresh Kangaroo tail. I will show you those photos in a future post.