Hai Dang Jia in Shenzhen, China

One of the new things in Shenzhen that has emerged in the past year or so is this idea of steamed seafood. Now, it's not just the steaming process, but rather the fact that you steam it on a concoction where they put grains of rice in a bowl underneath the steaming plate. So all of lovely juices from the steamed shellfish come dripping down into the bowl (and rice) below. The idea is that not only does one get a very pure taste of fresh unadulterated seafood above, but also the meal culminates in a creamy almost risotto-like porridge underneath, all cooked in a juice originating from a mixture of steamed seafood. What a brilliant idea.

To be sure, some of it was a bit cruel, as everything was so fresh that a lot of the creatures were steamed alive (basically, you had to cover the pot to keep them from jumping out). But at least you knew that they were fresh, and they tasted of it too. Now, I think I saw something similar at a new shop at the Grandstand in Singapore not long ago, but I have yet to try their version of it. Either way, this is apparently a very local thing to get, and I'm glad that the team brought us to an outlet of this chain tonight so that we could give it a try.