The Blue Pelican — Restaurant in Dover

We had dinner at The Blue Pelican. This restaurant was recommended to us by Oxtale, a butcher from Kingsdown. This butcher shop is run by a top-notch professional and a foodie. Well worth the detour!

When the two of us entered and two others arrived after us, the woman who approached us was a bit confused. She thought there were four of us. I explained that there were only two of us and that the other two had arrived after us. However, she looked over our heads and first attended to the people who had come in after us. After a short wait, we were shown a table. We were very curious about the restaurant's cuisine. We ordered several dishes to share and both a fish dish. These dishes were exquisitely prepared and surprisingly captivating. The oriental touch was a real success. Despite this excellent cuisine, we were not satisfied with our visit to this restaurant. The service was very distant (almost apathetic). These people seem more concerned with their appearance than with the food and serving the guests. When we told them we'd come here on the butcher's recommendation, they reacted disinterestedly and pretended they didn't know who or where. This butcher, it turns out, is their supplier. How poor not to know this in a restaurant that claims to work with excellent local produce! We often inquired with genuine interest about the dishes and the wine, but we were left wanting. So I took a photo of the label on the wine bottle and looked up where it came from. The next day we visited the Westwells wine estate. Highly recommended! After our meal, a dessert menu was thrown on our table without a word. They ostentatiously started clearing the restaurant, even though it wasn't even 10:00 PM and the restaurant was still full. They didn't come back to ask if we wanted dessert, which we certainly would have ordered. This restaurant uses different reservation slots. We arrived at 8:30 PM for the second shift. We expect such an organization to keep the restaurant open past 10:00 PM. This time, we were back on the sidewalk within an hour and a half. The gulf between the excellent kitchen and the poor, unskilled team is enormous. If you want to savor delicious dishes with your eyes closed, feel free to go to The Blue Pelican, but if you're looking for a pleasant and engaging dining experience, you'd...

The Blue Pelican is an incredibly classy and exceptionally good Japanese style restaurant. I went here in August with my family and upon walking in the air of class hits you along with the amazing atmosphere that the Pelican which is extremely relaxed and welcoming. We were sat on the table right next to the chefs, and they were just amazing to see going through all of the processes of making the dishes that we were about to eat. The expertise was shining and made us all extremely excited for what was in store for us when we'd get our food. Their menu was concise and offered a wide range of punchy Japanese flavors accompanied with an amazing drinks list to refresh. The first dish that we tried were the crab croquettes which were fried perfectly to make it a crispy and flavorful exterior, and the inside being a cacophony of flavors that melt in your mouth and has a wonderful crab flavor running throughout. Next was one of the specials that was lamb, that was cooked in a way that allowed it too have a wonderful texture along with the fresh flavor, which accompanied the garnish of the peas and the other greenery that came along with it and furthermore matching the sharpness of the sauce underneath it. Then came the fish that was raw and had amazing flavors on it, with a certain simplicity to the dish that made it amazing to eat and allowed you to appreciate all of the different components of the dish as they hit the palette. Then the cooked fish came. We the prawns, which was amazingly cooked upon the fire grill that the chefs use, leading to an incredible smokey flavor complimenting the other flavors perfectly. finally, the katsu pork with the castlefranco to side which was just incredible. Again as expected perfectly cooked with the fat of the pork melting in your mouth and the pork meat itself tender. Overall the food served was sensational, and to sum it up I would say that it was the best food I have eaten in my life. Being able to see how the chefs made these dishes certainty added to the experience and allowed us to appreciate how these dishes were made. I couldn't recommend this restaurant enough, the service was incredible and friendly and honestly nothing to complain about....

We came here for my birthday, and it was indeed a special day but only because of the experience. The location and decor are very nice, the seaside is transmuted onto the walls. It's a bit tight but that's the vibe, you can choose to eat at the bar in front of the kitchen, but we didn't. What we did do was try a fair few dishes on the menu. The Japanese inspiration and flavours come through, it's was a fabulous menu, though I didn't take a photo and it changes so I'm going from memory - I know I'm gonna run out of adjectives.

The crab croquettes were marvellously delicate with varying textures, sauce and roe, a flavour explosion. Mackeral with squash was perfectly cooked, charred and went together so well. Dexter sirloin with daikon and fabulous daikon puree/sauce that had that charred flavour infused, was just amazing. Purple kale was great, beware that wasabi/mustard was strongggg! Potatoes, simple but tasty. And I didn't taste it but the chestnut creme caramel(I think that's right) was apparently the best dessert ever had...which is saying something coming from the sweetest of sweet-toothed baker sisters.

The service was very excellent as you would expect from a top-end establishment, perfect balance of friendly and attentive - also in places like this they need to know the menu - which wasn't the case on only one occasion but was promptly resolved with a quick trip to the kitchen. You know when you feel the 5 star review format should have an extra star for superstars, this is one of them, though I don't eat out as much as I used to, in the last year I've felt that for Fallow, Jin Kichi and Livingston - so the Blue Pelican is indeed a superstar and one I will hopefully return...