Attendees: Beata, Emma, Penny, Andrew
For the first time in the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge there is no room in the inn. Twenty minutes is given as the approximated time and we decide to wait. This place is obviously popular so the food must be good. Pacific BBQ Seafood House is one of those places where the front window is a graveyard for BBQ ducks and pork strung up on hooks. Tantalising. As we loiter out the front we can watch the chef with a cleaver chopping up whole ducks at such as speed that we worry about his fingertips.
For the first time in the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge there is no room in the inn. Twenty minutes is given as the approximated time and we decide to wait. This place is obviously popular so the food must be good. Pacific BBQ Seafood House is one of those places where the front window is a graveyard for BBQ ducks and pork strung up on hooks. Tantalising. As we loiter out the front we can watch the chef with a cleaver chopping up whole ducks at such as speed that we worry about his fingertips.
People are crowded just inside in the doorway, waiting for both table and take-away food. Andrew goes inside to check on our table and is convinced a family has swooped in on our table while his back was turned. The waiter tries to move them but they are refusing. It’s a dog eat dog world when it comes to getting tables at Pacific House.
Never fear, within two minutes there is a table for us. When I say a table, I mean part of a table because everything is jammed-packed in here but it adds to the communal eating atmosphere.
I am dazzled by the fluoro signs covering the walls like a grand collection of flags. On these flags in black marker are both Chinese and English characters announcing different dishes.
As soon as we sit down small bowls of soup are placed before us. Excellent…we have food before we even have a menu! Getting a menu (or the waiting staff’s attention) is a little more difficult.
In the meantime I watch the folks around us, the vast majority of whom are of Asian descent. As a large bowl of saucy BBQed squares (pork? tofu?) lands on the table beside us, a granny attacks it with gusto, making swift movements with her chopsticks. She can’t get the garnish off quickly enough, lest it contaminated the food (assumedly).
There are no dumplings on the menu so we substitute spring rolls. They are crispy and plump and come with bright red dipping sauce. No complaints there. Number 27 (as a count down the menu ascertains) is vegetarian san choi bow. It has a pleasant BBQ flavour to it but as Penny says “it is missing something.” “Meat?” suggests Andrew. Alas there is no bacon in the steamed rice either.
As the girl next to me says, the Peking duck is “divine”. Succulent slivers of duck and spring onion in thin floury pancakes with a tangy hoisin sauce. Top stuff!
Off the wall we choose king prawn with king oyster mushrooms. Although the prawns are juicy, the gelatinous sauce lacks flavour and the wafer thin slices of mushroom may as well be tofu. Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce at $16 a serving is outrageous, especially as it is hard and stalky and the oyster sauce had slid off into wateriness.
I think this is one of those restaurants where you need to point to the table next to you and say “we’ll have one of those” because whatever the regulars were ordering looked the best. Or just stick to anything barbequed (like the delicious duck that beckons from the front window) as the restaurant’s name suggests.
Ratings
Spring rolls 7.6/10
Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce 5.1/10
# 27 (vegetarian san choi bow) 7.1/10
Daily special (King prawns with king oyster mushrooms) 6.3/10
Peking duck 8.8/10
Cost per person $25
Never fear, within two minutes there is a table for us. When I say a table, I mean part of a table because everything is jammed-packed in here but it adds to the communal eating atmosphere.
I am dazzled by the fluoro signs covering the walls like a grand collection of flags. On these flags in black marker are both Chinese and English characters announcing different dishes.
As soon as we sit down small bowls of soup are placed before us. Excellent…we have food before we even have a menu! Getting a menu (or the waiting staff’s attention) is a little more difficult.
In the meantime I watch the folks around us, the vast majority of whom are of Asian descent. As a large bowl of saucy BBQed squares (pork? tofu?) lands on the table beside us, a granny attacks it with gusto, making swift movements with her chopsticks. She can’t get the garnish off quickly enough, lest it contaminated the food (assumedly).
There are no dumplings on the menu so we substitute spring rolls. They are crispy and plump and come with bright red dipping sauce. No complaints there. Number 27 (as a count down the menu ascertains) is vegetarian san choi bow. It has a pleasant BBQ flavour to it but as Penny says “it is missing something.” “Meat?” suggests Andrew. Alas there is no bacon in the steamed rice either.
As the girl next to me says, the Peking duck is “divine”. Succulent slivers of duck and spring onion in thin floury pancakes with a tangy hoisin sauce. Top stuff!
Off the wall we choose king prawn with king oyster mushrooms. Although the prawns are juicy, the gelatinous sauce lacks flavour and the wafer thin slices of mushroom may as well be tofu. Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce at $16 a serving is outrageous, especially as it is hard and stalky and the oyster sauce had slid off into wateriness.I think this is one of those restaurants where you need to point to the table next to you and say “we’ll have one of those” because whatever the regulars were ordering looked the best. Or just stick to anything barbequed (like the delicious duck that beckons from the front window) as the restaurant’s name suggests.
Ratings
Spring rolls 7.6/10
Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce 5.1/10
# 27 (vegetarian san choi bow) 7.1/10
Daily special (King prawns with king oyster mushrooms) 6.3/10
Peking duck 8.8/10
Cost per person $25
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