Now, with that humility out of the way, please sit back and laugh as hard as I did, perusing this dinner menu from a Chinese restaurant in the Bund district of Shanghai.
- Violence against women!
- Love this so much :)
- So very comforting. (EEK!)
- Um… Frankenstein’s plot?
- Poor, fragile, pair!
- Downright Sci-Fi.
- Ugh. No thank you.
- At least they’re honest.
- Sounds like a monster.
- This is actually poetic.
- What. The. Heck.
- KABOOM! With flowers.
- But I want a result in my dinner!
- Delicious for a vampire.
- Ribbit…. sizzle!
So which dish would YOU order? :)

The author, Lillie Marshall, is a 6-foot-tall National Board Certified Teacher of English, fitness fan, and mother of two who has been a public school educator since 2003. She launched Around the World “L” Travel and Life Blog in 2009, and over 4.2 million readers have now visited this site. Lillie also runs TeachingTraveling.com and DrawingsOf.com. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media!
ChinaMatt
Monday 4th of May 2015
My favorites were from a restaurant in Guilin--the menu was almost poetic. They served "yellow cooks in a covered vessel the beer chicken" and "randomly cooks."
Lillie
Monday 4th of May 2015
That's AMAZING.
Suki W.
Wednesday 7th of January 2015
Oh my gosh, I loved this so much. "Mustard orchid explodes pig belly"... Priceless!
samantha
Monday 16th of September 2013
Some of the food names in Mandarin literal mean what they translate to English like stinky tofu in mandarin actually means stinky tofu in English. Although I think the crud is actually a very bad typo I hope :P
Lillie
Tuesday 17th of September 2013
Yes, we hope!
Stephane
Saturday 25th of August 2012
The live chicken looks delicious, however the pig blood looks interesting. The mustard orchid explodes pig belly dish....does the explosion occur inside a pig's belly? Some of these dishes should be on the Night Market.
Lillie
Saturday 25th of August 2012
Hah! You must be referring to this article: https://www.aroundtheworldl.com/2012/02/26/toan-eating-bizarre-foods-at-the-beijing-night-market/ :)
Raymond Wu
Sunday 17th of June 2012
These dishes are very weird, but I might want to tasted the soup. I don't need the chicken in the soup, though.