Gingerboy

Ph: 9662 4200; 27-29 Crossley St, MELBOURNE 3000 www.gingerboy.com.au

Gingerboy, $$
Open Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm Mon-Sat 6pm-late bar Fri-Sat 5.30pm-late; Licensed; AE DC MC V EFT
Chef Chris Donnellan (5-12-08) Owner Teage Ezard (5-12-08)

Mietta's Review
Small bright blue spotlights peer through the cracks in the black laquered, split bamboo that lines the walls and ceiling: all overlaid with loud music featuring an exuberant drum machine. Dining at Gingerboy is a very disorienting experience. The strong downlight on the tables, the dimness of the rest of the room, the impossibly glossy but insubstantial bamboo, the waiters soft, unflattering red shirts and dusk shrouded faces, the loud music and the extreme, cross-cultural food totally swamp the senses. It's a sort of culinary rave party. You'll either love it or loathe it. And, lots love owner/chef Teague Ezard's second label - it's a very popular place indeed. There are two rooms the first holds the bar, waiter hangout and open kitchen. The cooks station is perfectly sized for one chef but somehow fits five. The inevitable traffic jams could explain the lengthy wait in the other room where diners perch on tiny clear perspex chairs to eat. Set on the edge of Chinatown, Gingerboy shows the Asian community how white men do their food and how they charge for it but with so much going on it's impossible to tell whether it's good or not. Your response to the place will decide that for you. This isn't a cheap eat but then you're not here for cheap you're here for 'cool' and, of course, clever.

Other published opinions

Courier Mail Food and Wine Guide 2009 Queensland "Sprightly modern treatments of Asian street-food classics are the go at this sexier, lighter, younger sister to Teage Ezard's eponymous Flinders Street flagship"

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 15/20, One Hat "15/20 The Age Young Chef of the Year Teage Ezard's diffusion-label restaurant is pure Melbourne, from its cobbled laneway setting and theatrical fitout to a squeezy bar and chichi clientele"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "Chris Donnellan The differences and similarities between Ezard and this, Teage Ezard's younger hawkerinspired outing, are represented by their signature entrees. Gingerboy's are son-in-law eggs: eggs, soft-boiled then flashfried, topped with fried shallots, mint and Thai basil, set in sticky chilli jam"

Herald Sun 10-06-08 Score: **** "Chef Teage Ezard's second place (after Ezard's) s flashy and fun, and the South-East Asian food tastes as good as the place looks"

Herald Sun Eat, Bob Hart, 11-08-07 "EAT at Gingerboy and you will almost certainly decide, as I did, to become a regular. It's that good. The problem, however, is that it is impossibly cool and you may need to give serious thought to upgrading your wardrobe. Add to this the fact that food of this excellence cannot be delivered cheaply and you may wish to consider a chat with your financial planner before making a booking."

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "Best Website Boisterous younger brother of the poised, adult Ezard, Gingerboy opened with a splash of red neon late n '06. Yet early reports were muted, the food less ballsy than anticipated from Teage Ezard's expensively designed, South-East Asian street food-inspired second restaurant"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "There's an appealing energy about Teage Ezard's latest culinary love child. Far removed from the elegance of his eponymous fine diner at the Adelphi Hotel, Gingerboy boasts a show-off fitout combining shiny black bamboo, fairy lights and splashy red light fittings"

The Age Michael Harden, 12-3-2007 "Gingerboy's bar hits all the right targets. Slender, clear-plastic, bum-numbing bar stools line the dark wood-topped bar and surround the small high, round tables lining one wall. There is a white terrazzo floor, meticulously spaced bottles of liquor on shelves backlit with oversized slides of hawker menus, tropical flower arrangements and, at the end of the bar, the jolly red-tiled kitchen with white-attired chefs scurrying among steam and flame. A beat-loving soundtrack competes with the enthusiastic cocktail muddling."

The Age John Lethlean, 11-12-2006 Score: 14/20 "THE bright, the shiny, the fashionable, the young and those with bottoms small enough to be comfortable on groovy but impossibly tiny coloured perspex chairs: the twinkling, glossy cave that is Gingerboy has captured them all. Wondering why Chapel Street is so quiet these days? They're all here wearing Teage Ezard's second label instead: a kind of walk on the mild side of South-East Asian cuisine dressed up for a modern Western crowd."