Pacific House (South Yarra) 03/2017

Pacific House has been around for a long time serving a large variety of Chinese food, especially sea food in a simple unpretentious environment. 

It's family friendly, always busy and noisy. It does empty out a lot and quietens down about 9.30 pm.

The walls are 'decorated' with menu items in Chinese.

We started with a simple soup  

which was nothing special.
Our next course, prawn dumplings,

were excellent. A good size, well filled with prawns and the pastry perfectly cooked.
Scallops in a pastry casing were also large and sweet,

however the pastry was a tiny bit undercooked and claggy.
Salt and pepper calamari were tender with a crunchy, spicy accompaniment.

Fried rice was what one would expect.

The best dishes we had were the whole fish. They had barramundi, mahwong, coral trout and parrot fish. Both the barramundi 

and the parrot fish

 

were perfectly prepared, moist and delicate. Could not have been better.

They have an indifferent wine list.

There is 1.5% surcharge for credit cards 

 Comments: A better than average quality suburban Chinese restaurant with a large menu served in simple surroundings.

Score:14 /20

Oyster House (Philadelphia) 01/2017

This is a barn of a place 

which is extremely popular, especially at their happy hour when they offer oysters at a dollar each, but only one sort, which is clearly not one of the expensive variety. They call it a 'Shuck a Buck' and obviously make up for any lack of profit by the sale of alcohol. Also, I think you can only get your oysters one at a time.

The decor is very simple with a large bar and quite a lot of seating at small basic tables. 

Reservations are only possible for large groups.

Walls are decorated with oyster or fish plates.

 

The menu, which fits easily on one page, is actually quite extensive. Apart from oysters they have a shrimp cocktail, half a chilled lobster and a selection of cold plates including shrimps, octopus, calamari, mussels, clams and soups, snapper turtle or chowder, as well as sides. Mains include sauteed flounder, grilled Bluefish, Maryland crab cakes, striped bass, Oh Burger and more. Wines at about $9 - 10 / glass are reasonable but unexceptional.

We started with a Manhattan clam chowder 

which proved to be much tastier than an indifferent lobster bisque we had, at nearly twice the price,

the previous night.

The menu offers 9 different oysters and two clams with prices from $1.5 to $3, most being $2.50.

We tried the lot and noted significant variation in taste but enjoyed them all. Starting at 6.00 o'clock the were: Chintoteague, Cape May Salt (and they were salty) Ross Cove, Wild Fire Island, Salt Pond, Plymouth Rock, Well FleetLittle Shemogue and Kushi whilst the clams were from Littleneck and Cherrystone.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal here and would not hesitate to recommend it as a place to eat oysters. Their other dishes looked pretty good too and I would be happy to come for another meal.

Another happy customer!

Score: 13.75/20