This venue has closed.
Please note that this market is due to close at the end of October 2016.
Conveniently located for those who love a shrimp cocktail, the Tongchuan Marine Market is found a plum stone’s throw from Caoyang Fruit Market. Cross over onto Tongchuan Lu and you’ll find both sides of an entire block crammed full of rows of stalls selling lots and lots of seafood. Unlike Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji Fish Market, there’s no particular need to visit Tongchuan at the crack of dawn – it remains bustling throughout the day, with customers roaming the street, and the large warehouses that lead off of it in search of the perfect catch.
Unruly and filled with all manner of weird and wonderful marine life, much of it swimming in large tanks lining the walls of each stall, the market is as much about spectacle as it is about shopping. Nevertheless, you can pick up salmon steaks for 55RMB/jin and Australian lobster for 400RMB/jin (cheaper Cuban varieties go for as little as 100RMB/ jin, but they’re not currently in season). Dotted in among the seafood stalls, there are also some vendors offering imported Australian beef, with rib eyes costing around 280RMB/kg and sirloin around 350RMB/kg.
And if you’d like someone to cook your catch for you, there are a handful of small restaurants tucked away among the market stalls such as Xinjiulong Tang (920 Tongchuan Lu, near Lanxi Lu) who’ll turn your purchase into a dish for small fee (price depends upon ingredients and cooking method). It’s not exactly Tsukiji, but Tongchuan is still worth a visit, even if just for the experience.
