Seafood Menzi

Seafood menzi is a street snack unique to Dalian: sweet-potato starch is cooked into a cake, cubed and pan-fried until crisp on both sides, then dressed with sesame paste, garlic and soy, and finished with stir-fried sea cucumber, shrimp and squid, crisp outside and soft within, richly savoury.

Menzi began as a homely Jiaodong and Liaodong dish of pan-fried starch; facing the sea with abundant seafood, Dalian added sea cucumber, shrimp and squid to the traditional starch cake, evolving it into "seafood menzi," the signature snack through which visitors first taste Dalian.

Pan-fried to order at street stalls and served in small bowls or on skewers, it is eaten hot tossed through with sesame paste and garlic, the crisp starch setting off the tender sea cucumber and squid, the most authentic Dalian street-style eating.

The marriage of crisp starch cake, intense sesame-garlic sauce and lavish seafood topping is what distinguishes seafood menzi from ordinary menzi.