Best Seafood Dishes Around The World

Octopus is one of my favorite seafood dishes and it can be eaten many ways; octopus sashimi, octopus salad or boiled octopus. The best octopus I have ever tried is the Greek Island specialty of Grilled Octopus.

Octopus has been eaten in Greece since ancient times and thus after years of experience they are experts at preparing it. The octopus is caught fresh daily, hung out to dry in the sun and then grilled on charcoal. The outside is blackened with a nice crunchy texture and the inside is chewy and juicy. The octopus is prepared so perfectly and so flavorful that it needs minimal dressing, and is served with a simple wedge of lemon.

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Although Germany is best known for its sausages, sauerkraut, and pretzels, German cuisine has much more to offer than that. In Northern Germany, seafood is a kitchen staple thanks to the region’s proximity to both, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. However, no dish is as iconic as the famous Fischbrötchen.

Fischbrötchen are a kind of sandwich popular in the city of Hamburg. A Fischbrötchen usually consists of a dinner roll stuffed with fish. Most commonly you can find Bismarck herring or souses herring, although varieties made with
fried fish or shrimp are also common. You can find Fischbrötchen most easily at the harbor in Hamburg, where locals and visitors alike gorge on this popular fast food.

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Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula has not always been known for its gastronomy, but at the turn of the century things began to change. Whenever we think of Baja cuisine we picture giant lobster and giant handmade flour tortillas. The best part of Baja cuisine is definitely the freshness. In spanish, “Del Mar al Paladar” means from the sea to your palate which is basically the motto.

Puerto Nuevo, just a few miles South of sunny San Diego, California is lobster heaven. It’s a small town known specifically for its delicious lobster. One of our favorite places to eat at is called Villa Ortega’s. The view and food will make eating in Puerto Nuevo a unique seafood experience.

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Paella de Marisco or the seafood paella is Spain’s national dish. It is the best seafood dish in the world because of its rich flavors. It’s made from fresh and carefully chosen ingredients cooked to perfection all in one pan.

This amazing seafood dish that represents Spanish coastal flavors, consists of fresh seafood and paella rice cooked in a wide pan or a paellera.

The dish can be made with a variety of ingredients, as it has evolved in many years. Mussels, shrimps, fish, clams, and lobsters are great choices for the Paella de Marisco. Garlic, onions, and bell pepper are sautéed in the pan for a couple of minutes. Tomato is added until it has a sauce-like consistency. Seafood broth with saffron is poured into the pan, and then the paella rice is added. The next step is adding parsley and seasonings and stirring for 3 minutes. Then the cooked clams, mussels and shrimps are added over the rice. The last step is to let it simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes until rice is done.

The goodness of an authentic Paella de Marisco can be tasted anywhere in its home country, Spain.

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On our last trip to Spain we spent quite a lot of time walking through Galicia – northern province boarded with the sea. There we had a chance to try different food including famous local dish – pulpo a la Gallega or Polbo á feira (its local name) which means “fair-style octopus”.

Melide – a small town in Galicia is where the dish comes from. Octopus is the main ingredient of the dish; first it’s boiled in a big copper pot for about an hour, then it’s left in the pot for another 20 minutes – it must be ready but not overcooked otherwise it gets tough and chewy.

When it’s ready it’s cut into small square pieces (2×2 cm) usually only tentacles are served, seasoned with salt, herbs and paprika and sprinkled with olive oil. The dish is served with white bread and local red wine (usually young wines). Special places that serve mainly pulpo are called pulperias and can be found in many Galician cities and town. Traditionally pulperias are not fancy restaurants rather local eateries. Nowadays many restaurants in Galicia serve pulpo a la Gallega as a starter.

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Often it’s the simple dishes are the most tasty and memorable. At Osteria Al Bacco in Venice’s Cannaregio district they make a pasta and red (tomato) sauce dish with lobster that I have been thinking about for the past 4 years.

Taglioni with lobster is the combination of home made pasta, just the right amount of fresh tomato sauce and pieces of just caught meaty lobster. The dish is topped with a whole langoustine for effect. Lobster can be easily overpowered when smothered in sauce but in this case the balance is just right. I can’t think of anything better than having a long lunch on the canals in Venice eating pasta with lobster.

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Also known as moqueca de camarao, brazilian shrimp soup is common in the northeast region of Bahia, Brazil and is considered a fall and winter dish.

A traditional moqueca recipe, is slow cooked in a terra cotta dish and each home has its own version. But in Bahia it most commonly reflects the Afro-Brazilian influence and always includes chile peppers, palm oil and coconut milk.

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Scallop carpaccio is a light dish that makes for an excellent starter. The idea behind this dish, as the name intimates, originated in Italy. To be enjoyed at its best and most delicious, scallop carpaccio requires high quality ingredients to be prepared just minutes before the dish is served.

Chef Marc Meurin, who holds two Michelin stars for his Le Meurin Restaurant, at Le Chateau de Beaulieu at Busnes in northern France’s Pas de Calais department. Chef Meurin and his team select scallops from the region and cut them after they have spent 20 minutes cooling in a freezer, so that they slice thinly and evenly. The sauce features oil from black olives and is seasoned with spices including Sichuan pepper corns. The flavour of the scallops zings but is not overpowered.

For lovers of gourmet cuisine this is a dish worth travelling to taste.

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Singapore Chilli Crab is one Singapore’s most iconic dishes, and alongside the Pepper Crab, the island nation’s best known seafood dish.

The origins of Singapore Chilli Crab go back to the 1950’s, when Cher Yam Tian added chilli, instead of tomato sauce, to her family crab recipe. They loved it so much that Cher and her husband started selling it from a pushcart alongside the ocean.

And it was a big hit, and these days the dish can be found in restaurants and hawker stalls all over Singapore.

Despite the name and the look of the dish, Singapore Chilli Crab is not overly spicy. The mud crab is stir-fried in a thickish sweet and savoury tomato sauce with just enough chilli to ensure a medium heat.

The crab is served with the shell on, usually with a plate of fried mantou, and eaten with the hands. It’s always a messy experience, so large bibs and lots of napkins are always provided.

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Bacalhau Bras, a Portuguese cod-based dish, is one of the best seafood dishes I’ve tasted in the world. Bacalhau is salted, dried cod and for Bacalhau à Brás, as it is also known, the cod is shredded, mixed with onions and thinly chopped or shredded fried potato and it is all bound together with scramnled egg.

The bacalhau must first be soaked to allow for removal of the skin and bones. Once the Bras is cooked, it is usually served with a salad and black olives. And believe me, although it can sometimes resemble a scrambled mess, it tastes delicious and makes for a great lunchtime meal.

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We can’t talk about best seafood around the world without mentioning sushi, arguably one of the most iconic, ubiquitous – and delicious – of Japan’s cultural contributions.

Sushi is usually prepared with a base of vinegar flavored rice combined with a variety of ingredients, such as raw or cooked fish and other seafood and vegetables, with a touch of wasabi, a spicy, green spread applied to the rice. Sushi is frequently served in sushi bars accompanied with sake, Japanese rice wine. Although created in Japan, this is a dish that has found its way around all over the world from Asia to Europe to Africa and the Americas.

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This seafood favourite is synonymous with British takeaway food, where fresh deboned fish is smothered in a batter paste, and deep fried to give a full and fluffy batter. The battered fish is then served with big thick double deep-fried potato chips, and often with the optional flavourings of salt and vinegar and red sauce or brown sauce.

However this may be slightly different when eating fish and chips at restaurants, where they often offer an optional squeeze of lemon and a mayonnaise-like ‘tartar sauce’ fused with capers. There are also often three popular fish options on offer at chip shops, with cod, plaice and haddock, and as a seafood favourite, they are almost always best found through the seaside towns and villages of Britain and the U.K.

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When travelers think about eating in Spain they usually focus on the trifecta of paella, patatas bravas, and sangria. But there is so much more to Spanish cuisine than these three dishes.

In Andalusia, in Southern Spain, there is a fascination with fish, due to its enviable position along the Mediterranean. One dish that is not well-known outside of Andalusia is Cazon en Adobo.

Cazon is a white fish, normally a dogfish, which is marinated and tangy. The marinade keeps the fish super soft. Then, it is breaded and fried. A seamingly simple dish, but almost addictive. It can be found at most tapas bars in Seville and around Andalusia. It is one of the best tapas to eat in Seville, particularly because it is one that many people have never heard of before.

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Many people are familiar with the tasty dish pad thai, but most people enjoy this dish with chicken. However, while in Thailand last year I discovered shrimp (also called prawn) pad thai and it is so tasty!

While in Bangkok, I not only got to eat shrimp pad thai, but make it in a cooking class! This is a noodle-based dish is combined with egg, veggies and, of course, shrimp. The thing that really sets this dish apart is the sauce which includes amazing flavors like peanut, lime, soy sauce, and chives.

Some of the best pad thai is served on the street and often times for less than $1. How can you not enjoy that? (Side note: we dyed our noodles with flower petals in our cooking class, they’re not typically purple.)

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For a country normally famed for its delicious vegetarian curries and snacks, the seafood of Goa is a breath of fresh air and mouth-wateringly good to eat. After all, what could be better than a tasty meal with a beach-side view? In fact, Goan cuisine is often considered incomplete without fish, which is a staple of the local diet.

Fish curry in Goa comes in the form of either “shrimps curry” or local fish such as pomfret or kingfish. The Goan fish curry is sour and spicy in taste, and although recipes vary, include coconut and kokum – both characteristic of Goan cuisine. Our favourite place for a fish curry in Goa is Anandashram in Fontainhas, Panjim for their shrimp curry thali, or Dropadi on Palolem Beach for Fish Curry with a view!

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Gang Som is spicy curry dish typically found in the South of Thailand. It is recognisable by its intense orange colour as a result of the turmeric used. The dish is generally made with seafood; either fish or crab. Other ingredients include lime, chili, garlic and shrimp paste.

One place in particular to find Geang Som Curry is Koh Mook, Trat Province. However, it is also common to find the curry across other southern provinces such as Satun and Nakhon Si Thammarat. It is one of the most popular southern style dishes sold in Bangkok.

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Black Sea mussels are the best kind of mussels I’ve tasted during my travels, and they’re even tastier than the Welsh mussels I usually eat while at home.

I first tried them when I went to Sunny Beach in Bulgaria, eastern Europe last year. While Sunny Beach is perhaps best known as one of the tackiest tourist destinations in eastern Europe, as I soon discovered, it’s also home to a flourishing food and drink scene.

We managed to get a kilo of plump, juicy Black Sea mussels for just 15 Leva in our favourite restaurant in Sunny Beach, Djanny’s – that’s around £7.50! Doused in white wine with tonnes of garlic and parsley, they were so delicious that we polished off the whole platter within minutes – and used some bread to mop up every drop of the sauce, too!

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