Egads, I'm used to FRESH ALASKAN CRAB. Since I've been here on the east coast, I've turned my nose up at the so-called Alaskan crabs more than not. Why? It's old, it's gone through various temps: It's not as fresh as one would get while on the west coast. So, I'm now eating East/South fish I never really had available to me on the West Coast. And loving the tastes of the newer-to-me fishes!
You may be correct. I think it’s safe to say that tilapia farm-raised in China is probably far from fresh by the time it reaches Ontario, where I live, or Maine, where I had it in a restaurant. Why they were serving farm-raised fish from China in Maine kind of mystifies me. I would think that flash-freezing it once and then keeping it that way until use wouldn’t affect the flavor too much. Strange that both times that I ate it, months and a thousand miles apart, it had the same odd flavor. I’ve never been all that keen on any of the cheap fishes with supposedly delicate flavors, though.