Gingerboy – Is this worth the trip?

I have always been apprehensive about posh-styled hawker themed restaurant. What does it mean and seriously, the food has to be exceptional in order to beat the hawker food that I’ve grown up with.

Gingerboy (27-29 Crossley Street, Melbourne) is located near the Spring end of the city.  The tiny fairy lights on the black bamboo ceilings caught my eyes. Red threads lined the walls and the table setting was all very modern with clear Perspex chairs. Is it trying to emulate the hawker atmosphere during the night? Anyway, I came for the food and not to critic the decor.

Lunch company included Henry, Aliya & Juliana. We decided to go with 3 snacks, 2 shared plates, 1 side dish and the dessert share plate.

One of the specials of the day was the Thai fish cake with ginger flower and spicy sauce. I like the ‘caramelised’ ginger flower. The Thai fish cake was ordinary and the spicy sauce did not have the expected kick. To be honest, I make better fish cake that has more punch.

Next on the snack list was the grilled wagyu beef in la-lot leaves and sour chilli vinegar. It has more flavour and the sauce was zangy. Henry and Aliya love this dish. It was alright to me but not ‘WOW’! And yes, it was spicer than the fishcakes.

Last on the snack list was the salt & pepper chicken spare ribs with green chilli soy. Nice crunchy chicken skin but the table agreed that the chicken was too salty. However, the sauce was good. It was sweet, spicy & a little galangal-heavy. Nice aroma.

Then came the first main, seared ocean trout, hot & sour salad with ginger flower caramel. The trout was perfectly cooked and the sauce gave this dish a nice punch. The hot & sour salad balanced the dish nicely.

The famous red duck leg curry, shallots, thai basil and coconut cream was next. Little skimmpy on the sauce and the duck was a little dry but has the most flavour out of all the served dishes. I guess you can’t really go wrong with coconut cream and the waff of fresh basil.

The condiments consisted of chilli jam, prik nam la, bamboo shoots & pickled beanshoots. Not impressed. $7 is not much but this should have been complimentry to each table. It was quite bland and added no flavour to the dishes we ordered. Maybe we should have just ordered the woked green.

My last hope rested on the dessert share plate. Sago dumpling with coconut sorbet. Tofu cheesecake with rhuburb & star anaise. Tomkha baked custard. Banana fritter with bailey’s ice cream. Spiced chocolate pudding. I like it. I don’t love it. My favourite dessert was the warm banana fritter with the cool, creamy bailey’s ice cream. Least favourite was the spiced chocolate pudding. It did not work well with the rest of the dessert.

Visit the Coconut house if you want to try a more authetic hawker style food. No fairy lights, no smiling waiting staff but at least there is a punch in the flavour and of course, alot more affordable.