It’s a fact, Taiwanese people are seafood lovers, and this really shouldn’t come as a surprise because we are after all people of an island nation!

To address the need for Taipei city goers to get their hands on fresh seafood without having to drive out to the coastal ports, the Taipei Fish Market (台北魚市) was opened. However, after many years it became pretty run down and fishy and dirty. However, in the past year the famous Taiwanese food enterprise, the Mitsui Food and Beverage Enterprise Group (三井餐飲事業集團), rented out the old market and renovated the entire place. They also re-designed it to create a new concept. It is now more than just a market where you can buy some of the fresh catches of the day, it is also now a market where you can buy sushi, salads, fruits, drinks, and wait in line to eat fresh sushi at the stand-up sushi bar. Not only that, there is a hot pot restaurant on the second floor and an open air grill on the first floor patio, oh and did I mention a fresh juice bar?! They also renamed the market, and it is now appropriately named:  the Addiction Aquatic Development (上引水產).

I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos, I used my phone.

One of the best features and services is that after you choose your catch of the day, the staff will promptly cook it and cut it for you. On the day I visited we bought this huge King Crab:

But lets be honest, unless you are a professional chef it is very unlikely you have a large enough pot to boil this huge crab! And thus the service of cooking, cutting (so skilled that with one pull the entire strand of meat in the legs come right off!), and neat packaging is included in this giant’s price tag. This made it even more worth it! And the nice packaging which came with packaged vinegar and the crab’s egg placed in a sealed plastic container helped us plate it more easily, and the meat was very sweet, fresh, and tender. In the end we stir fried the crab egg with some tofu, soy sauce, and honey.

The supermarket area offered a wide selection of packaged sushi, salads, a Tuna sashimi bar (offering a range of tuna from maguro to the most expensive O-Toro), a hot meal area offering a range of cooked items from roasted chicken leg to fried rice. There was also frozen fish, fish head, shellfish, and various other seafood items as well as imported Japanese foods. There was also a flower shop next to it.

The meal with the king crab as the centerpiece along with sushi, ju-toro sashimi, uni, salmon roe, bamboo shoot, salad, shrimp, other crustaceans, and a roasted peanut and fish appetizer: all plated and ready to eat:

The seafood for the most part was all very fresh and quite worth the price especially for the freshest items that are cooked and packaged for you. It was a very satisfying meal and indeed one of the most exciting seafood feasts I have ever had, the process of getting the food always adds to one’s experience of eating it. We didn’t line up to dine at the stand-up sushi bar, but from looking at what other’s were eating, it sure looked tasty! I say it is definitely worth a trip when you visit Taipei, whether you like to eat seafood or if you simply want to check out just how much the Taiwanese love shopping for our food and in this case our seafood, for food as I have mentioned before is an essential part of Taiwanese culture and identity!

Addiction Aquatic Development(上引水產):

Address: 18, Alley 2, Ln 410, Minzu E Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族東路410巷2弄18號)