Pacific Seafood BBQ House

Shop 1, 210 Toorak Road, South Yarra. (03) 9826 3838
Score: 35/40
My brother runs a bar, so it’s rare that my family get to see him for a Jewish Friday night dinner. So when he got the night off, we zipped him straight into one of our Chinese faves for some pork and seafood. Go figure!

It was brother’s special, with a few requests from me on the particular night we headed over to Pacific Seafood & BBQ in South Yarra. It was heaving, as usual, and the food was fantastic, as usual.

As soon as you’re seated in this loud, bustling, colourful restaurant, they stick a bowl of lovely meaty broth in front of you, as an amuse bouche. It’s quite warming and delicious.

After perusing the menu and rejecting both deer meat and crocodile, feeling they weren’t really in the spirit of Cantonese dining, we started off with a combination meat platter of char siu (sweet barbecued pork) and crispy-skinned duck ($14). It was fantastic. So much so that I had to bat my family away with my chopsticks to procure a reasonably-intact photo.

Next up was my request – the jellyfish ($15.50). It’s one of my great favourites, being a fan of variations in texture. It is seasoned with sesame oil and served with mustard, and as pointed out by our waiter, served cold. This comment upset me a bit, because it assumed that we knew absolutely nothing about Chinese food. When I told him, in fluent Mandarin, that we’d eaten it many times, given that I had grown up in HK and my parents both still lived there after almost 30 years,  and we’d always found the taste and temperature quite adequate, he laughed, apologised, and on we pushed. It was delicious.

Next up was the eel served in XO sauce ($22). I’m far more used to having the eel Japanese style – in fact I think the only other time I’d had eel in a Chinese style was steamed in a hollowed piece of bamboo on the outskirts of Beijing. Well, this dish was quite lovely. The eel was tender and juicy and the XO not overpowering.

As soon as we spotted dou miao, or snow pea shoots ($17), on another table, we jumped on the bandwagon.  This is my family’s favourite vegetable, but it isn’t available all-year-round, so when we see it we grab it. The shoots are so soft and delicate and you can eat kilos and kilos of it without breaking a sweat. On this occasion we were served sautéed garlic, with a little bit of dou miao. I mean, I’m a fan of garlic, but this just took it way too far. I would suggest asking for a little bit less if you have this particular dish any time soon.

I was a little surprised when my bro ordered the deep fried scallops in salt with spicy salt and chilli ($24) and the deep fried soft shell crab ($15). Did everything we eat have to be deep fried?! But actually, for something trying to watch their weight like I have been, it was like a trip down naughty lane; a trip I have to say I quite enjoyed.

The scallops were crispy outside, succulent and delicious inside and so fresh. The soft shell crab just melted in your mouth. Seriously good dishes. We also had a large-sized special fried rice ($9) on the side, ostensibly to soak up all the oil, and more than a few Tsingdao beers.

Overall a really fantastic meal. This is a place to come with family, friends or workmates you don’t really want to talk to (it’s loud enough that you can ignore each other without uncomfortable silences). Great value, great food. What more do you need?

Atmosphere: 9/10
Service: 8/10
Value for money: 9/10
Food: 9/10