Hainan Sanya: China's Hawaii Waikiki - part 2 food

Searching for places to eat is a bit of a challenge. The tourist places are definitely not cheap, and may even be on par with Shanghai prices. For the first couple of days, we went to the ol' McDonald's for breakfast/lunch. There is only one M in town, which is located at the Pedestrian Stree (行人徒步街). Later, we found some more authentic local vermecelli noodle shops near the First Agriculture Market (第一农贸市场). The "Baoluofen" 抱罗粉 (vermecelli with pig's guts and small crunchy bread bits) was really yummy. At the market, we also bought some locally grown tropical fruits such as jackfruit, rambutan, and mango. Fresh coconuts are also pretty ubiquitous, although we heard that a lot of them are actually imported from Vietnam.

The seafood is a must-try here. We went to a popular joint called Mingrun明润, which has one location on Binghai Blvd. To order the seafood, you go check out the various live seafood selection and they'll weigh them on the spot. They charge$6-10RMB/500g (一斤) to cook the dishes, any style. The bill should come out to be $50-$100RMB per person, if you didn't order too much exotic stuff. I really liked the deep-see jumbo shrimps, but the crab is not as good as the hairy crab varietal we get in Shanghai. There's this rare type of fish called "Su-mei"苏眉 that's supposed to be delicious but it wasn't in season when we were there. You can also have seafood dinner on fisherman's boat off the Hongsha Pier 红砂码头渔排 (to the east of Dadonghai) for $50RMB all-you-can-eat type, but we didn't get to try that either.

There's one nice western pub/cafe in Dadonghai called Rainbow. We went for brunch a couple times when we stayed in Dadonghai.

 

As Sanya develops into a world-class beach vacation spot, there should be a lot more opportunities for new restaurants of all kinds to move in. This is a town (city) that doesn't even have Starbucks yet! The local foods will be much more accessible and safer to eat if newer concept restaurants are opened.

 

See my part 1 write-up about Sanya's accommodations.