The waterfront boulevard running along Keelung harbour has a stretch of sit-down seafood restaurants that operate in a different register from the night market stalls. These are proper restaurants with tanks of live shellfish and fish at the entrance, picture menus that let you point at what you want, and tables that fill up on weekend lunches with Taipei day-trippers who make the trip specifically to eat. The food is good and the prices are significantly lower than equivalent restaurants in the capital.
The standard approach is to choose your fish or shellfish from the display tanks, agree on a price per weight, and specify your preferred cooking method — steamed with ginger and soy, fried with basil and chilli, or in a broth. The kitchen handles the rest. Arrive before noon on weekends if you do not want to queue. On weekday evenings the restaurants are quiet enough to sit and watch the harbour without feeling rushed. The waterfront development has made this stretch more pleasant than it used to be, though it still operates as a working harbour rather than a tourist promenade.