By day, Wangfujing Road, located at the heart of Beijing’s Dongcheng District, is home to a cosmopolitan crowd of high-flying professionals, tourists, students and bargain-hungry shoppers. So packed are the pavements of this historic limb of China’s capital, that you eventually tire of apologising for knocking someone over amid the hustle and bustle. But it’s only when the sun goes down and the locals are asleep is when this slick city street truly comes alive.

Wangfujing Road is home to one of China’s most popular night markets. Selling everything from fried scorpions to snake on a skewer, hoards of tourists flock to this vibrant and colorful market every day to sink their teeth into a selection of Chinese delicacies. The day Ctrl.Alt.Shift arrives, we’re greeted by a line of stools each accompanied by a duo of assertive employees who’re just dying to sell us their homemade goods. We can’t blame them. Only hours before arriving, we spoke to a local who said that business had been a bit slow recently: “Westerners seem to fall ill every time they visit the place,” we’re warned.

Yet here I am, armed with a crisp 100 Yuen note (about £10), ready to get my mouth juices flowing. First up is fried starfish. I bite into its crispy shell before spitting out the contents. “It tastes like chalk,” I told the hard-bargaining sales lady. “You’re not meant to eat the shell silly man. You break it with your hand and suck out the meat inside.” Only 5 minutes in, and I can help but feel like a right plonker! I take her instructions, but I think I’d have been happier just eating the shell – starfish tastes like dog poo, not that I’ve tried it, of course.

Next up, fried scorpion with snake fillets. I hesitate a little before devouring the entire skewer. Verdict: not bad, but could have done with a bit more salt. By this time, I’m up for trying anything, so I scour around for more adventurous culinary delights. I eat squid, eel, shark (now officially my favourite type of sea food!) and some type of bug which looked like a beetle, but only it wasn’t.

At this point I’m full. I only have space in my stomach for one more, so I continue browsing until I get to this one particular stool. It’s a big one. Next up, is dog. That’s right, a man’s best friend, although at this moment, it doesn’t seem like it. I hand over the cash, wait for the meat to fry, hold it in my hand and take a bite...OH MY GOD! It’s one of the best things I’ve tasted in my entire life! Nice and chewy. It should replace chicken, honestly.

Right, time to wrap things up. Before I go, I drink an entire bottle of water to wash everything down. I climb into a taxi but before I can share my dog-eating experience with the taxi driver, I feel a deep pain in my stomach. I think I’m about to be sick...

Words: Bertan Budak