Mandarin Fries

Our last dinner in Dalian, we went out to a local restaurant nearby with J's parents. This place serves excellent dishes, including familiar ones with a little extra pizzazz. For example, the sweet and sour pork (go lao rou) was sweetened not only with pineapple, but also a touch or orange. They also cut the pork along the edges which allowed it to be fried lightly and absorb more of the flavor.
My favorite dish at this restaurant, however, is quite simple, and my fav because I haven't seen it elsewhere (although I'm told it is available at other eateries); I absolutely love their pumpkin fries! They are almost like a potato "french fry" but made with a sweet squash. I think MaiDangLau (i.e. the golden arches in Chinese) should serve these and call them Mandarin Fries. I would super size them in an instant.
We also had a calamari with miso sauce dish and a shrimp and cloud-ear mushroom dish, which were excellent. Not to mention a couple bottles of SNOW Beer... a few days ago I wrote I thought this beer was called "Mons", until I realized I was reading it upside-down!
In any case, that is all for now for dispatches from Dalian. Tomorrow we are off to Shanghai, and then Seoul for a short stint. Maybe I'll discover some Canton Fries or Kimchi Fries along the way.