Dining out in Dalian: A Selection of the City’s Best Restaurants

Dining out in Dalian: A Selection of the City’s Best Restaurants
By Marcel Green , eChinacities.com

While Dalian is most famous for its seafood, at some of its best restaurants seafood only makes up one section of the menu. Nowadays, finding a good meal in Dalian requires you to consider a range of choices which illustrate Dalian's growing culinary diversity. From Japanese to Korean, Sichuan to Cantonese, German to Spanish there's a place for every taste. Below is a sampling of just a few of Dalian best restaurants.


 

Chaun Wai Chuan (川外川)View In Map
If your looking for authentic, unadulterated Sichuan food, look no further than Chuan Wai Chuan. Indeed, Chuan Wai Chuan brings the soul of Sichuan to the heart of Dalian. The picture menu offers a large selection of traditional Sichuan dishes including such classics as dry-fried green beans with ground pork (gan bian yundou) , "fish fragrant" eggplant (yuxiang qiezi) and spicy mapo tofu. Chuan Wai Chuan's most popular dishes, however, are those selections off its poached (shuizhu) menu, including poached meat slices (shuizhu roupian) and its signature dish poached fish (shuizhuyu). In addition, Chuan Wai Chuan offers a wide variety of Sichuan side dishes such as dandan noodles, bamboo rice and fried pumpkin cakes. True to its origin, most of the menu is fairly spicy; however, the restaurant has an extensive beverage list along with a complimentary bottomless pot of tea. The restaurant tends to get crowded in the evenings and on weekends, but if you arrive when there's a crowd the restaurant offers a 5% discount for waiting. 

Add: 160 Changjian Zhonglu, Zhongshan District, Dalian
地址: 大连市中山区长江中路160号
Tel: 0411 8259 0080
Opening hours: 10:30-22:00

Wanbao Seafood City (万宝海鲜舫)View In Map
Your first impression upon entering Wanbao Seafood Palace is that it is anything but a restaurant. The two story gilded lobby and grand staircase looks more like a hotel then an an eatery. The similarities don't end there. Wanbao provides a range of "hotel-like" eating accommodations from a romantic corner table away from the crowd, to a private dining suite equipped with the latest in audio-visual karaoke technology. As for food, Wanbao offers the widest selection of seafood dishes in Dalian. Dishes can be as basic as salt and pepper fried prawns, or as extravagant as garlic-infused abalone on a bed of salmon roe. Not surprinsingly, Wanbao is a favorite of the wealthy, and it is a popular choice for holding business parties and dinners. Nonetheless, there is enough variety to satisfy everyone. In the words of one customer, "If it's seafood, Wanbao will most likely have it."

Add: 108 Jiefang Jie, Zhongshan District, Dalian
地址: 大连市中山区解放街108号
Tel: 0411 8881 2888
Opening hours: 11:00-22:00

Pinhailou (品海楼)View In Map
Pinhailou offers a small-scale, family-friendy seafood restaurant alternative to Wanbao. What Wanbao offers in extravagace, Pinhailou makes up for in quality service and personal touch. In lieu of a menu, most of the dishes at Pinhailou are on display in their raw, uncooked form. You simply point to the dish that you want, and it is taken away and cooked according to the description, or as you like. For seafood dishes, you can choose your fish directly from a tank. Pinhailou's offers selectons from every class of seafood including fish, crab, lobster, clams, oysters and crawfish. Pinhailou also offers private dining options.

Add: 46 Beidou Jie, Zhongshan District, Dalian
地址: 大连市中山区北斗街46号二七广场(近工商银行)
Opening hours: 11:00-22:30

Da Qing Hua Dumpling Restaurant (大清花饺子)View In Map
Da Qing Hua specializes in northeast Chinese cuisine, and as the name suggests, its signature dish is dumplings. Da Qing Hua offers every type of dumpling from boiled (shui jiao,) to fried (guo tie), to steamed (zhengjiao). The fifty some types of fillings range from classic selections like pork and onion, to the more exotic chicken and carrot. In addition to its dumplings, Da Qing Hua offers a variety of Manchuarian dishes such as roast lamb ribs, stewed yellow croaker and pork-blood sausage. A unique aspect of Da Qing Hua is that the waitstaff is dressed in traditional Manchurian garb which provides an interesting aside as you enjoy your meal.

Add: 5 Wuwu Lu, Zhongshan Distrct, Dalian
地址: 大连市中山区五五路5号
Tel: 0411 8269 1525
Opening hours: 10:00-22:00

Yi Xin Barbecue (一心烤肉)View In Map
In the late 1990's, the most popular Dalian eating destinations were often the smoky lamb kebab (yang rou chuan) street stands and make-shift hole-in-the-wall restaurants scattered across the city. Yixin Barbecue changed all that by opening one of the first, formal sit-down restaurants in the city that combined Korean smoke-free barbecue techniques with traditional kebab ingredients. At Yixin, you do all the cooking. The menu is simply a list of the raw ingredients such as a plate of jumbo shrimp, sliced beef or a basket of fresh vegetables that you cook to your own satisfaction on the mini-barbecue sunk into the center of the table. A watchful waitress keeps an eye on the fire, adding hot coals as needed. If you're not into cooking, Yixin does offer a selection of complete dishes such as its cold noodles (leng mian), or you can have the staff cook your meal for you at your table. Additionally, Yixin offers a variety of both alcoholic and non-alchoholic beverages.

Add: 56 Yan]an Lu, Zhongshan District, Dalian
地址:大连市中山区延安路56号
Tel: 0411 8265 5878
Opening hours: 11:00-22:00

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Keywords: Best restaurants dalian best dining dalian where to eat Dalian top dalian restaurants

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