Although seafood can be found in most downtown restaurants, your best bet is to head to the seafront or the luxury hotels. One of the best restaurants on the seafront is the New Orient Seafood City, which serves possibly the best crab cooked by chefs from the popular Cantonese food chain, Bifengtang. Of the hotel restaurants the Shang Palace in the Shangri-La is highly recommended. For those with a bit of time on their hands, head to Lushun (Port Arthur), a city about 20km from Dalian, which does some of the freshest seafood dishes in this part of Liaoning.

For those not particularly after seafood, Tianjin Street (Tianjin jie) is the place to visit. It is littered with stalls and restaurants that will serve the usual Chinese fare, and also the local Dalian fried dumplings and pancakes. The Donglaishun Restaurant on Changchun Road also does good hotpot dishes for inexpensive prices. Western food is all over the area, especially KFC that has taken the town by storm, but you are probably better off heading for the Greenery Beerhouse on Renmin Road which offers a wide variety of Western style snacks at affordable prices.

A more exotic experience can be had by heading for the Jinshan Restaurant, that serves medicinal food, mainly turtle or snake, apparently good for body and health. Visitors to Dalian should also not forget to sample the fruits that are produced locally, such as apples, pears and cherries.