Pelican Seafood Restaurant 又一村海鮮酒家 (3rd visit)

FIRST POST ON PELICAN [HERE] AND SECOND POST [HERE]

What a traitor… I used to come here weekly, even more than once a week before I started trying new restaurants. Pelican is one my favourite Chinese restaurants because of their attentive and friendly service (never during dim sum but hey, even the ultimate highest end Chinese restaurant will give you subpar service during dim sum), cleanliness and mango pudding. Yes, mango pudding... I am quite an easy person to please. By the way, no relation to the person in the photo above.

Pelican is a cleaner Chinese restaurant with average prices, spacious seating arrangements, and the managers wear suits while the others wear a white button up with a vest. The restaurant is also open late night and if categorized as only a late night Chinese restaurant, it is the most comfortable one to visit with pretty good tasting food.

CRAB MEAT IN THICK PUMPKIN AND CORN SOUP ($12.98).

The soup tastes rich and has a nice thickened consistency with a hint of sweetness from the corn, as well as a flavourful pumpkin taste. In addition, there is a good amount of crab meat. I have tried most of the soups here and none has tasted bland, overly cornstarchy or salty.

1 1/3LB STEAMED ROCK COD ($28.95/LB).

The rock cod tastes fresh and has a nice meaty flakiness.

CLAMS WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE ($7.99).

The clams taste average and the black bean sauce does not taste overly saucy or salty. However, the sauce could have tasted a bit more rich. As for myself, personally I am not a fan of black bean sauce so I found it alright, not overwhelming, but most people may prefer a richer taste.

COUNTRY STYLE FRIED VERMICELLI ($12.80).

The vermicelli has a home cooked Cantonese style taste, with properly fused ingredients - dried shrimp, chinese sausage, green onion and a light soy sauce.

DRIED SCALLOPS WITH WINTER MELON ($14.98).

This is one of my must orders since dried scallop is apparently good for health. Plus, I like the dish. The sauce has a light flavourful dried scallop taste and the winter melon taste soft as well as refreshing.

COMPLEMENTARY MANGO PUDDING AND RED BEAN WITH TAPIOCA SOUP. 

The pudding has a flavourful mango taste without tasting watered down or overly sweet, and the condensed milk does not taste very noticeable but meh, the highlight is the mango pudding. By the way, the mango pudding is usually a koi fish or Hello Kitty, how cute eh? Next, the dessert soups are always pretty good here too. The red bean soup has a nice consistency, tastes slightly sweet with a good amount of red bean and a few tapioca pearls.

From a couple of weeks before this visit...

BRAISED SQUAB ($14.98). The squab had a nice crispy exterior and tasty meat, but was a bit too tough. I would not order it again. 

3LB CREAM AND BUTTER SAUCE CRAB ($12.98/LB) + YEE MEIN NOODLES ($?). The sauce had a nice flavourful balance of cream and butter, without one taste overpowering the other. As for the noodles, the yee mein tasted perfectly cooked and soaked up the delicious sauce. I always stick to the cream and butter sauce here.

BRAISED SLICED PORK WITH PICKLED MUSTARD ($13.98). The slices of fatty pork are quite large and the sauce tasted too salty. As for the lean portion of the pork, the meat tasted a bit too dry, although the fatty part tasted tender (of course).

POSITIVES

- Attentive and friendly staff

- Non Asian friendly

- Above average and consistent dishes

- Clean, comfortable and spacious seating arrangements 

- Reasonable prices compared to other restaurants with a similar atmosphere

NEGATIVES

- Gets busy during dim sum and dinner, I recommend reservations

- Dim sum is average, no complaints or raves (I do recommend the bean curd sheet rolls)

- Parking lot gets full fast during busier times

LITTLE THINGS

- First post on Pelican Seafood [here] (with more photos of other dishes in photo frames)

- Second post on Pelican Seafood [here]

- I speak the truth in all my posts but may be slightly bias as to why Pelican is one of my favourite Chinese restaurants. The dishes are consistent and above average, but it is also because of their service that wins me over, asides from the mango pudding. Plus, I go to certain restaurants for specific dishes and this is one of them

- Would I rather visit Sun Sui Wah or Kirin for dinner? Probably, since the restaurant gets really busy during dinner and the two mentioned restaurants are better (and pricier). However, I do frequently come here for a late night dinner 

Food: 3.5/5 (usually 4/5 depending on what is order)

Service: 4/5