The Pelican & Ocean Basket

Here's something new for a change : while I have always been the one to recommend about all the great things to do, see and of course, eat. I find it equally important to also point out the things that you should not do, because disappointments do hurt, very much. I mean, for me, disappointments leave a small tear in my heart especially when I happen to be hungry. Most of us could agree that there's not a worse situation than when you except some good food and get everything but that.

This post again will focus on the small coastal town of Paphos, on the Greek side of the island of Cyprus. If you're like me, you would look for at least one seafood meal if you're on vacation, on an island! I mean, it would make sense that having seafood is the logical choice when you do other activities like swimming, beaching, sun bathing and activities of this sort, but no avoid seafood here in Paphos.

The inconvenient truth about Paphos and Cyprus as a whole is that, there is no such thing as really fresh seafood. I have been told time and time again by local residents that Cyprus used to once (once upon a long time), have access to the freshest seafood in the Mediterranean Sea. It was simply down to over fishing that ruined the reproduction cycle of the seafood in the area. As a result, there is no real fresh seafood around, very sadly.

However, I am happy to propose to you all a very good alternative: eat loads of lamb here! I have mentioned this before in my other posts, but for some reason, they produce really high quality lamb meat here. The best ways to eat lamb around here include, but not limited to, a traditional barbeque or roast of lamb (souvla style) and in their really delicious stews. The stews often involve the lamb being cooked really slowly, and this ladies and gentlement, will result in the meat falling off the bone, like on one of those cooking programs where the meat just falls apart by itself. This can be a reality here in Cyprus! In addition, lamb from the grill is equally as good, since they're carefully seasoned, then brushed with the best quality olive oil from the very villages here in Paphos and near by.

But since this post really is about the places to avoid, let me go ahead and name a few. The first place that I would recommend is in an area of the town where there should really be good seafood. Now if you walk along the harbour, in Kato Paphos just in direction of the castle, you will come across a lane full of so called seafood restaurants. Like I said I would avoid eating seafood in Paphos, but if you really can't help that urge of yours, go ahead, but do not go into The Pelican. I find this place quite misleading because they happen to have a display of seafood and I don't know daily catches on ice. This would lead quite a few people to think, oh okay, we have a place with fresh seafood. But please, do not fall for this, like we did.

The restaurant is quite nice with a decent space for your outdoor dining experience, just on the water. This will give you a nice view overlooking the rest of the Kato Paphos harbour, given that the weather is on your side. The inside seating is so-so, I actually think it's quite chaotic with servers running around with orders, since it's the way to the kitchen. Anyhow, what was so bad about my experience that I would recommend this place?

I hold no grudge or anger towards the service or the ambience or the fact that we moved from our table on the terrace inside due to the bad weather. My negative experience is solely on the food and its quality Now there are two parts to my experience with the food. First thing first, we had ordered the platter of some sort with a bunch of seafood that we had assumed was fresh. The quality of the products on our plates was quite far from fresh. Credits to them, I don't think they mentioned freshness as a description on the menu, but we clearly expected more justice from a restaurant that displays seafood to attract in diners. My second point of concern other than the freshness of the product was the quality of the dish, or simply put, its taste. I mean having poor quality product is one thing, but it's another problem when the food leaves the kitchen with no taste. It seemed to us that there was a bigger problem, since everything lacked seasoning.

I mean, have a look at my photo. A part of it was the lighting and the other bit was probably my phone, but does this photo make persuade you that the platter was delicious? Now you could probably see the potential this platter could have had, had it been for a bit of love and care, and of course, some help from our friends, the salt and pepper.

I would hate to sound like one of those really stubborn and snob customers, but everything was bland. The salmon, which had the potential to be quite decent, was not exposed to a single pinch of salt nor pepper. I'm no chef but I think it's quite logical to season your salmon with salt and pepper, but maybe it was my particular dish that they didn't, but I would never know because I don't think I would return. Just to bring out the absolute extreme part of this meal, even the french fries that came with the platter were not seasoned, not even with a bit of salt, not a grain. I found this to be really strange. I was thinking, well, maybe the chef has this mindset of preserving the true flavours and purity of the fish and seafood, hence no seasoning. But for french fries. I just seem to make sense of the logic.

So those are the two reasons as to why I would not recommend this restaurant, however, you are more than welcome to try your luck. Judging by the reviews and comments on TripAdvisor (link is down below at the end as per usual), there seems to be little to no problems at this place. I guess it's disappointing that our experience was not so good, again considering what could have turned out. We had no problem with service or anything else in the restaurant. They have live Cypriot music performances here, which is the one man show playing his instrument. That definitely added to the already good ambience of the restaurant. And there we have it, The Pelican on the seafood side of Kato Paphos.

We will now move on to the exact opposite side of the harbour, so far along the road that it's not really considered the harbour of Kato Paphos anymore. First of all, this place is always jam packed with people, tourist, locals and retirees alike. We were kindly invited by one of our friends here in Paphos, who is someone of a massive seafood lover to say the very least, and a regular customer here, at Ocean Basket. The name is certainly better than The Pelican, but this and the huge crowd only led me to a bigger disappointment. To be fair, this place is the option I would take if I were to choose between this restaurant and The Pelican. Since this restaurant is located in a complex with other restaurants, a parking space is quite far and few if you're going for dinner. Our friend who invited us was actually so desparate for a parking slot that he chose to park on the pavement in the middle of the street, the one separating the two lanes.

We were seated, and greeted by a really friendly waitress, who had somewhat of an Australian or Kiwi accent. The service here is something that I really can't fault. The waitress that was responsible of our table was very friendly and attentive. She took our orders and brought the food at a timely manner, and catered to other requests really well. The menu here is quite extensive, with everything from fish and chips to prawns, oysters, calamari, mussels and even sashimi and sushi.

They do have an interesting selection of starters and main courses, in which I will give to them. The sides you can choose are your regular french fries, vegetables and something that I got, which was like a rice similar to paella, if not paella. Again the element in the way was the taste. Although the freshness is always a problem, so was the flavours. I must admit that this place tastes a lot better than The Pelican, but still nothing close enough the line you should wait in, the reservation list that you need to make, and not to mention the difficult parking spot that you need to find to get there.

We sort of just ordered a bit of everything to share, so I got a good idea of the overall taste. The meal was a so so for me, but nothing really major to point out. Once again the taste was no up to standard in our opinion, but I suppose it's a place you could go to if you're eagerly desparate for seafood while in Paphos. If you're interested, Ocean Basket also has branches else where, namely in Agia Napa, Larnaca, Limassol and of course, the capital, in Nicosia. Ocean Basket is actually a massive brand of restaurant that operates in various countries, such as Greece, Dubai, South Africa and many other countries with the African continent. Oh, and if you do end up wanting to dine here, you really should make a booking, their direct telephone number is 00 3572 696 1379.

And once again I hope that this post has been of good use for you should you ever be in Paphos, Cyprus. Like I mentioned, these are the two places that I would not recommend for seafood, but ultimately, I would recommend to avoid seafood here in Paphos if you don't want to be disappointed. Alternatively, head out and treat yourself to a delicious local meal. I have named a few places in my previous blog posts about great, delicious and awesome value for money eats here in Paphos. If you haven't checked them out, you should! But luck for you, here's a quick catch up :

- For delicious, traditional, family-style service and extremely fresh ingredients, head up the hills to Stavros Restaurant and Taverna, a place that you really cannot miss for their killer meze menu.

- For something along the road side of the busy Tombs of the Kings Road, but still along the line of delicious items from the grill, then head over to The Three Little Pigs, just along the famous road and not too far from King Avenue's Mall and Roman Hotel. - For another side of the great Cypriot cuisine, head over to the famous traffic light with Bank of Cyprus and gas stations, to Kourides Restaurant, where local residents and tourists like us alike pick daily food items from their display, then dine under the vine leaves in their outdoor terrace.

- For something completely different from the local Cypriot experience, one of the newest kids on the block is Baan Thai Kitchen, an authentic Thai restaurant with a strong menu, located just right beside the main mall of Kato Paphos, Debenham's and just minutes from the municipal parking lot and the harbour's main bus stop.

And there we really have, my honest opinion about the seafood culture here in Paphos, Cyprus and where to avoid, and I guess to an extent, where to go to if you're really desperate. It may also be interesting to find out about what tourists and local residents think about these two places, so I have linked the pages to the two restaurants on Trip Advisor for your convenience. With the comments and opinions of other people from Trip Advisor, I won't even go into the details of the ratings that I would usually do. With this in mind, all I have left to say is ''be the luck be ever in your favour! ''

Trip Advisor advising (warning) you about The Pelican Kato Paphos :

http://www.tripadvisor.fr/Restaurant_Review-g190384-d1722144-Reviews-The_Pelican-Paphos_Paphos_District.html

Trip Advisor comments from the Paphos locals and tourists alikeon Ocean Basket :

http://www.tripadvisor.fr/Restaurant_Review-g190384-d1811744-Reviews-Ocean_Basket-Paphos_Paphos_District.html

Ocean Basket Official Web Page :

http://www.oceanbasket.com/

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