For various reasons, I’ve had to cancel three successive meals at Gingerboy – now I’m half-mad at my friends that I’ve been denied for so long.
Gingerboy is awesome. The narrow space is darkly sexy and very cool, with plastic piping echoing a tunnel made of bamboo sticks and red silk threads fringing elements of the space in an oriental touch. While they do two dinner sittings, we didn’t feel rushed through our meal. Most importantly, the kitchen is confident in its handling of Singaporean, Cantonese and Thai cuisine, presenting appetising dishes full of bold and punchy flavours.
The menu starts with a series of snacks and street food and we had been told by all and sundry that the must-try dish was the son in law eggs ($13.50 for 3). These don’t look that good to eat, but taste fantastic – an explosive softly poached egg covered in Thai spices and deep fried, offset by the zing of chilli jam. While I was instructed to eat it whole, I couldn’t fit it into my mouth and chew as well, so ended up with a splatter of yolk across my plate. (For those interested, a brief write-up on the intriguing name.)
Our other choices were some plump and fresh-tasting prawn and ginger dumplings with peanut chilli soy ($15 for 3) and the smashed green papaya salad with sticky rice ($14) which unfortunately tasted much the same as the salad base of our one of our main courses, the sweet and sour pork belly ($35).
Our second shared main was spicy penang chicken curry with tumeric, garlic and mint yoghurt. It looks like a bit of a sloppy mess in the fuzzy photo but the tender chicken matched with rice was my second favourite dish of the night after the son in law eggs.
I desperately wanted to try the dessert platter but my friends weren’t up to it, so I sallied forth alone with the steamed lemongrass pudding with white chocolate and chilli icecream. It was perfect combination of east-west flavours, and I particularly liked the chilli’s kick in the cold icecream.
With two drinks our bill came to around $50 each. So while Gingerboy is not your everyday dining venue, it is so good that I’m already planning my next trip to try the other parts of the menu.
- Gingerboy, 29 Crossley St Melbourne +61 3 9662 4200
Those son-in-law eggs look fantastic, and the white chocolate and chilli ice cream is VERY interesting! I’ve always been put off before because of the price…there are several other places where street food is available more cheaply, but $50 is not bad at all to try something out of the ordinary..
.-= Vee @ Munching (in) Melbourne´s last blog ..Strangers Corridor: High Tea at Parliament House =-.
Hi Vee
I highly encourage you to try Gingerboy – it’s high-class street food, not sit-on-a-stool hawker style stuff. The photos were a bit fuzzy due to the sexy low lighting, so you’ll have to see the dishes for yourself!
Jetsetting Joyce
i’ll have to keep in mind for a revisit. i remember enjoying it last time i was in melbourne
.-= Simon Food Favourites´s last blog ..Bairro Português: Petersham Food & Wine Fair, Petersham (14 Mar 2010) =-.
Twitter: simonleong
| March 15, 2010, 9:04 am
Hi Simon
Have you tried Teage Ezard’s other restaurant at the Adelphi Hotel? Equally fantastic, in a different way (and different price point).
Jetsetting Joyce
When I visit Melbourne this fall I know where I’m going. But I think I’ll start at the back end. The steamed lemongrass pudding with white chocolate and chilli ice cream looks too yummy to wait until the end of the meal.
- J