Gingerboy, CBD

Ahh Gingerboy - where do i start?

Gingerboy was, for a very long time, my absolute favourite restaurant. Gingerboy introduced me to 'real' Asian flavours, semi-fancy restaurants and waiters explaining the dishes as they are presented. I was looking forward to another meal at Gingerboy as i hadn't visited for awhile. 

The night didn't get off to a great start when we both left our wallets at home and had to return home, resulting in us arriving 30 mins late. Thankfully the staff were lovely and had kept our table. Gingerboy do a 6-6.15pm sitting and a 8.15pm sitting so i was worried we would lose our booking.

Vegos - you must ask for the vegetarian supplemental menu. The main menu has a couple of veg options but when you ask for the extra menu you end up with a choice of about 6 entrees and 5 mains - bonus! I don't understand why they don't advertise that menu more, i reckon they would get a much higher vegetarian patronage.

My lovely Dad offered to choose vegetarian dishes too so we could sample more of the menu. So to start we grabbed a couple of starters. Previously i had eaten the son in law eggs which are delicious - especially the chilli jam and i highly recommend it. Unfortunately i didn't order it this time because i wanted to sample some other dishes. First we started with sticky rice balls. These little balls were not sticky at all - obviously they were made from sticky rice however they were fried so they were super crunchy, yet were not oily at all. Dad commented they tasted like chocolate crackles minus the chocolate! The dressing was particularly delicious but the rice was very bland and there wasn't enough dressing to coat all the balls.

Sticky Rice Balls with Coconut and Turmeric Dressing

The next dish we got was a mutual favourite and something we HAD to order. The fried silken tofu is delicious - crispy on the outside just soft and silky on the inside. This dish would convert all tofu-haters. The chilli coating is amazing and not too spicy. I wish i could get hold of their spice mix!

Fried Chilli Tofu

Now onto the mains. Last time i had ordered tofu in XO sauce which still featured on the menu so i decided to get some different mains. First up was crispy singapore noodles. It was ok, but again the fried noodles were bland. The sauce and vegies underneath were nice but not mind blowing.

Crispy Singapore Noodles with Spiced Vegetables Soy and Sesame

For the other main we chose a curry. This was delicious but not all that different from your standard thai yellow curry.

Stir Fry Vegetables with Yellow Curry Sauce

Finally my favourite side, green papaya salad (made vego.) I ordered this on my very first visit to Gingerboy and have ordered it every time since. I still love it however since visiting Vietnam it doesn't quite compare.

Green Papaya Salad

On to drinks and dessert - probably the biggest rip off was my pot of ginger and lemongrass tea which turned out to be some ginger and lemongrass in boiling water. The teapot was cute but hard to pour, especially when the lemongrass clogged up the spout.

Ginger and Lemongrass tea

Dad and i chose to sample one dish off their dessert menu - the one that seemed the most intriguing. The coconut ice cream was smooth and creamy. Obviously made from coconut cream as it had no little bitsies of coconut. The chilli chocolate ice cream tasted of chocolate, not chilli which was disappointing. The candied lotus root looked really cool and i loved the side of fresh, moist coconut.

Coconut and Chilli Chocolate Splice, Candied Chilli and Lotus Root

All in all it was a nice meal, but not super special. I'm not sure if their standard of food really warrants the prices they ask for. I think since i last visited my standards have probably raised given multiple trips to Asia and other fine dining experiences (i've been very lucky!) It's nothing against Gingerboy, i just think i have been fortunate enough to experience so many amazing other restaurants and dishes that now it takes a pretty amazing meal for me to deem a restaurant my favourite.  

The chilli tofu is still something i will return for as are the son in law eggs but to be honest i'm not in a rush. I also don't like the 6/8pm sitting thing. 6pm is too early, 8pm is too late!

Anyway i shouldn't complain - i had a lovely meal with my Dad while he was in town!

Sarah xx