Seafood Alley

During my recent visit to Hainan, I went to a really fun kind of restaurant. Technically it wasn't actually one restaurant, but more an indoor market square with lots of small businesses that could each prepare the seafood you had just bought at the market. So, to get started, you would first buy some fresh shrimp, crab, and fish at the market, then give them to a kitchen/restaurant of your choice to prepare. 

Kind of a big place. All the signs hanging from the ceiling indicate the location of different restaurants.

The signs explain how much it costs to prepare the seafood, for example for each fish or pound of squid. 

At the market in the back you buy your seafood. 

Crab.

Lobster.

Sea urchin.

Squid.

There are many sellers to choose from. 

When you are done buying, you move back to the restaurant area, plop down at a table, and give the kind ladies in the kitchen your goods.

This lady is cooking up our shrimp.

Crab on my plate.

Over dinner, our table quickly turned into a battlefield. 

I just got home with my veggies from the store. Who is going to cook those for me today?

In het Nederlands: Tijdens mijn recente bezoek aan China's Hawaii-achtige eiland Hainan--helemaal in het zuiden en dus lekker warm--heb ik een avond ook heerlijk 'seafood' (vis, garnalen, krab, etc.) gegeten. De ruimte waar we aten was een overdekte hal met heel veel eetgelegenheden. Om te eten moest je eerst zelf je vis (of iets anders) kopen, waarna het restaurant het allemaal voor je klaarmaakte. Lekker en gezellig. De prijs op de borden in het restaurant geeft dus aan hoeveel het kost om zo'n vis klaar te laten maken. De vis zelf had je op de markt al betaald.