A delicious, affordable and romantic set lunch near the city, this seafood meal will help you beat the Monday blues
Fast food and grab ’n go lunches might be a sad fact of the working world, but a whole week of packed lunches is a sure-fire way to burn out. So get out of the office and pamper yourself to a proper lunch! And if there’s one place that’s currently ranking high on our must-try list – this place did score a Brunch of the Month with us earlier this year – it’s The Pelican Seafood Bar & Grill.
Located a stone’s throw from the CBD, this waterside resto at One Fullerton boasts nautical-inspired décor – adorned with lots of brass, warm wood furnishings and a heavy metal diving helmet for good measure. Sure, the air-conditioning inside might be attractive, but park yourself in the outdoor area instead where you can pair its pocket-friendly ($38) three-course lunch with a lovely waterfront breeze.
The folks at the Pelican love their seafood, so picking a starter here was a no brainer. I opted for the oysters Rockefeller – the dish consisted of three plump oysters on the halfshell, baked just long enough to give its herb butter crust a nice crunch. Want a vegetarian option instead? Order up the Japanese-style roasted pumpkin with feta cheese.
For my main course, I opted for the chilli crab linguine – thick al dente strands of pasta coated with a sweet, spicy chilli crab sauce and chunks of fresh crabmeat. Chilli crab pasta is nothing new, but there are plenty of examples of the dish elsewhere where the sauce is just too sweet and lacking in spice. Pelican’s rendition, fortunately, toes the line between sweet and spicy expertly. Of course, chilli crab linguine is a rather heavy dish, so if you’re watching your waistline or just want something lighter, opt for the baked salmon fillet. The succulent slab of baked salmon comes served with peas, cucumbers and a light but tasty vegetable stock sauce and anchovy mint butter. Who says light on calories means light on flavour?
But we hope you’re not too obsessed with the calorie-counting, because you really don’t want to miss out on dessert here. You’ve got three choices: An ice cream of the day (rather pedestrian, but definitely quality ice cream), bay leaf crème brûlée and a sweet potato cake. The third dish was what really blew me away; it was a dense brown cake with peaks of light purple sweet potato cream. After something as heavy as chilli crab linguine, you don’t want something rich and cloyingly sweet, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cake and cream didn’t taste as intense as it looked. Definitely a winner in my books!
Enough said? Go on, give yourself a break from the office and fuel up for the rest of the day with this hearty CBD lunch deal. You know you deserve it!
The Pelican Seafood Bar & Grill, #01-01, One Fullerton, 1 Fullerton Road, Singapore 049213. The 3-course set lunch is available on weekdays 12pm-3pm.