boy oh gingerboy

Gingerboy www.gingerboy.com.au

• 27 - 29 Crossley Street, Melbourne
• Dining at dinnertime
• Party of three

I would place Gingerboy in the same category as Chin Chin with a more, dare I say it, sophisticated ambience. It has a similar atmosphere but with better service.  It was a girl’s night out as two friends were visiting Melbourne and we were lucky to get a booking within a week, being so close to Christmas.  It wasn’t difficult picking a restaurant as I have always wanted to try Gingerboy, being the sister restaurant of fine dining establishment Ezard on Flinders Lane, created by chef Teage Ezard.  Although I am yet to have the Ezard experience, I have only had good feedback so it makes it on my list of restaurants to try.

Anyway back to Gingerboy.  We were seated and our friendly waitress came over to explain the menu, as is often done in these Asian style restaurants.  One stand out was the special of the day which sounded absolutely delicious.  The menu is broken down into two sections: ‘Snacks and Street Food’ and ‘Shared Dishes’.  We decided to select a few of the ‘Snacks and Street Food’ as entrees and then a couple of the ‘Shared Dishes’ – to share.

The first entree to arrive was the wagu and bamboo dumplings with cashew soy.  I’m no expert in dumplings (although I have certainly had my fair share) but I think I can tell a good dumpling when I taste one.  I have never had wagu beef in dumplings but I was pleasantly surprised.  The meat was juicy and flavoursome, and the skin was perfectly cooked with the right amount of chewiness.  What I am trying to say is that the texture of the dumpling skin is just as important as the flavour of the meat, and these dumplings did not disappoint.  To be honest, I could not really taste the bamboo as the wagu must have overpowered this and the cashew soy may have just been soy itself therefore this was not so memorable either.  Having said that, the dumplings were indeed a great start to our meal.

Next up, the son in law eggs, chilli jam and asian herbs.  This dish was recommended by friends and the waitress also made a point of suggesting it.  When I first heard of this dish, it did not sound like anything I had ever heard of and it intrigued me. The eggs – which are soft boiled - are coated in some sort of crust and fried.  Another waitress came over and tried to give us tips on how to combat eating this egg. It was advised to put the whole thing in your mouth and push your tongue up to the roof of your mouth where the egg would softly break in your mouth and the yolk would then ooze out then allowing you to chew the rest.  It was warned that if you did bite into the egg, it would explode and be a mess while not giving the full experience of the whole thing in your mouth.  I didn’t think it would work for me, so I attempted to bite the egg in pieces and think that suited me better.  It was definitely different and I would describe it as nice, but I would also say that if I were to dine at Gingerboy again, I probably wouldn’t order this again.

Our third ‘snacks and street food’ dish was the crispy duck and banana flower salad with ginger nuoc cham.  This dish was well flavoured and included vermicelli and chilli which gave it that great spicy kick.  The banana flower in the name of the dish didn’t particularly stand out so I am beginning to think that these “exotic” ingredients are placed in the name of the dish for the diner to perceive that they are ordering something new, different and perhaps exciting.  Having said that, this dish did taste good - which is the main thing.

Our final entree style dish was the special - a soft shell crab salad with lychee dressing - and a whole lot of other goodness.  It also had beanshoots, red onion and a great dressing with the perfect balance of sweet, salty and sour that this Asian style cuisine often strives for.  It is a shame that dish was only a special as I would go back just to have this. The crab had a crispy batter and was perhaps a tad salty but the one word I would use to describe this dish is - divine.

On to our shared dishes, we ordered only two but found the quantity of food to be ample.  The first was lime and galangal basted baby chicken, peanut and tamarind caramel.  The chicken was juicy and succulent, and as tamarind is very tangy, it was very well complemented with the sugar in the caramel.  We did find the joints of the chicken to be quite red.  Although it was not raw, we thought we would point this out to the waiting staff.  We were not making a complaint only making a point as we were not sure if it should be like that so we showed the waitress who said she would let the chef know.  The manager then came to our table on the defensive, stating that it was just a blood vessel in the joint and all the chickens in the kitchen had the same redness.  We did not expect anything at all for pointing this out so I was a little disappointed that he became so defensive.  That was the only negative thing about the service on the night but distracted me from remember how this dish tasted.

Finally, the best was served last.  Red braised pork, pickled papaya, pineapple and coriander relish is a dish made in heaven.  The pork was perfectly cooked with the most delicious flavour.  The relish was refreshing and naturally sweet from the pineapple.  It was a consensus that this dish was the hit of the night, there is nothing more to say except if you dine at Gingerboy and enjoy a bit of pork, you must order this dish. 

Overall, the Gingerboy experience was a great one, with food and service both being well executed.  We topped off the meal with a bottle of wine and therefore were way too full to tackle dessert.  But now that I know what to expect, if there is a next time, I will certainly ensure there is room to at least squeeze one in.