Marathon eating is my motto, but last summer’s media fellowship to China took things to another level (or should we say another stomach?) Travelling with seven journalists and the Canadian Chinese Business Council, I visited five cities in eight days, eating in countless restaurants — each table piled higher than the last with every imaginable dish. I was so excited to try anything and everything! Consulting my iPhone notes post trip, I realized during the week I consumed: fish stomach soup (delicious), chicken feet (weird texture but good flavour), frog legs (amazing), duck tongue (nope) and the infamous century egg (somehow I don’t remember eating, but there’s a picture).

Goubuli restaurant in Tianjin was the third stop on this whirlwind tour. Thirty minutes by high-speed train from Beijing, this coastal city is home to a gorgeous river promenade, historic buildings (it used to be a major trading port) and 15 million people. On our first night in Tianjin, we were scheduled to eat at Goubuli restaurant and I had no idea the adventure I was in for. Stepping out of the minibus, I tried to get an Instagram shot of Goubuli’s blinding exterior which looked like it belonged on the Vegas strip. But it was too big. Too shiny. Too glorious.