This morning I came across something in my local supermarket that I’ve never seen in any Chinese supermarket before. They were lived and labelled as, and looked like 波士顿龙虾 (bō shì dùn lóng xiā), which are Homarus americanus, Boston Lobster. How they ended up here I’ve no idea. The tank held around a dozen of them.
Previously I’ve only been able to order them for delivery, usually 24 hours in advance being required.
The Chinese name for lobster is 龙虾 (lóng xiā), which literally means ‘dragon shrimp’. Be careful, though. The extremely popular 小龙虾 (xiǎo lóng xiā), meaning “small lobster” are crayfish. Often restaurants that provide English on their menus omit the “small”.
These real lobsters were on sale for ¥268 ($37 USD) per 500 grams (1.1 lbs). Unfortunately, they were in a dark corner of the store and my photos aren’t clear.
So, here’s one I had delivered at Christmas from my delivery app. It was slightly more expensive.
