King of seafood

On my way out of Guang Zhou, I was ready to venture out of my tourist bubble and into some local-foreigner middle ground. On the outskirts of the city sits the largest seafood restaurant in the entire world (yes you heard it, and of course it would be in china...). In addition to it's mass, there is an inclusive seafood market smack in the middle of the restaurant. So, from bartering for live fish to dining on lobster, this restaurant caters to all.

We were on a time crunch so there was no time for messing. We sat down and ordered: a local fish served in black bean sauce, pan fried seafood noodles (chou min), scallops in a chinese garlic butter sauce, and like all traditional chinese meals we started with a soup.

Chinese soup to a chinese person is like grass to a cow (okay maybe not quite, but you get the picture), and we will drink it if you put it in front of us, without loking at whatactually has been boiling in our soup for a good half a day.

The soup that was brought to us was a broth made of pork, bitter melon, fish, and scorpions. It was a little on the thick side as the oil had not yet been skimmed (and i reminded myself i was in china not at home), but the flavor was still delicious. When boiled, the bitterness from the melon becomes mild, and when mixed with the other soup ingredients becomes a slight aftertaste. The overpowering flavor was of course the pork, and quite frankly the scorpions didn't trigger a single one of my taste buds.

The pan fried noodles that came were a hugeeee disappointment. The size and texture of the noodle was one similar to that of a bloated spaghetti noodle...now everyone who's had pan fried noodles knows that is unacceptable. My father threw a fit, called the managers, and threatened to email their boss as he 'says' he is a close friend. The shrimp were miniscule, and the noodles too oily. All in all, not worth valuable calories or chewing energy.

The fish was mediocre, nothing you wouldn't be able to find at the dinner table of a typical Asian home so I feel no need to elaborate.

The scallops were still attached to their shells, sitting in a bed of garlic butter, and garnished with vermicelli glass noodles. The presentation was clever, the sauce was nice, the noodles were delightful, but the scallops were a failure! Biting into one I had to ask myself if it was dried or cooked (the obvious answer is cooked) and someone obviously overcooked them! Cooked scallops should be served at a soft succulent texture, and ours were nothing close to being prepared correctly. Overall, this dish has the potential to be fabulous, but if you order, demand that your scallops are unde

rcooked rather than over.

Overall rating: A must have experience to a traveler in the area purely for the experience. Their food however was nothing other than mediocre. Bill was 311 RMB (but this could have resulted in part to the yelling of my father).

man man sik,

Elyssa Yuen