I recently traveled to Taiwan for Lunar New Year celebrations & while I was there,  I visited Taipei’s Addiction Aquatic Development Center.

So let me begin by saying that this place blew me out of the water. I was expecting some Taiwanese seafood market so, on the real, my expectations were for the establishment to be a little dirty & questionable. HOWEVER, Addiction Aquatic Development was so clean, organized and something that reminded me of Pike’s Place Market in Seattle or Chelsea Market in New York. I was very impressed at the size and organization of this place & it makes me hungry thinking about it!

Let’s start with the layout:

You enter the center in the “Aquamarine” area where coolers of live seafood is kept. So, off the get-go, you know whatever you’re about to eat will be FRESH.

Then, there are many areas where you can buy packaged sushi, sashimi, salmon, tuna, to-go Bento Boxes, fresh fruits, sides and many more. You can eat the (consumable) purchased food on site, or take it home for later! There are also soo many packaged goods such as spices, desserts, alcohol to pair with your seafood, even flowers, home goods and so much more.

There are many different areas to eat, all with a substantial wait around dinner time, as you could understand:

• A Sushi Bar
• A Seafood Bar
• Tresors De La Mer (a la carte for group reservations)
• Oyster Bar
• Hot Pot
• Charcoal Grilled

At first, we wanted to try the Sushi Bar, but noticing the Charcoal Grill was a much better atmosphere for a similar price and wait, we opted for that instead. This was one of the best decisions of our trip. It was our last meal in Taipei & it was perfect–being such a romantic and unique dining experience!

We got to hand select our menu from the coolers while the waiter assisted us recording our choices on an iPad. Then, we got to wait under an open air dining room with pretty lighting & live music.

me very seriously making my choices

We had lobster tail, three jumbo shrimps, a beef skewer, two chicken skewers, veggies skewers, baked cod and four glasses of wine (oops) all for under $100! It all comes out cooked, they just transfer them to your own personal grill to keep things warmed.
One of the absolute best dining experiences I’ve had in the last six months. My mind was blown all evening at how AAD far exceeded all my expectations. A MUST-DO if you’re ever in Taipei!

I wish I could be more helpful with how to get there, but our hotel wasn’t far & we were hangry so we opted for a cab. Here’s the address & contact info though–I think they’re open to midnight most evenings:

Addiction Aquatic Development 上引水產
No. 18, Alley 2, Lane 410, Minzu E Rd, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 104
台北市民族東路410巷2弄18號
Tel: 886 2 2508 1268

Thanks for reading! Happy traveling xoxo