Paul G.
Yelp
Right, I've finally done Golden Boy.
Golden Boy has been on mine and some friend's 'to eat' list ever since it opened. We chanced it a few Fridays ago, attempting to get a table by walking in. My advice is to book ahead, but we did manage to get a table in the Botanic Bar which was fine by us. The Botanic, you see, is my old stomping ground. Back in its prime, before there was so much competition in the Adelaide bar space, at least once a week I'd be here sipping a cocktail or pinot noir amongst the dark timber, deer heads, and paintings of Napoleon. Good times.
First impressions of the menu. There isn't anything on it I would't eat. Menu alone dictated that we will have to make follow up visits to sample out way through it.
A bottle of CRFT "K1 Vineyard" Gewürztraminer (2014) was promptly ordered, delivered, and enjoyed. Don't remember much about it - the food soon distracted me - but it was nice. (How's that for wine talk? "Nice.")
Rather than the 'tuk tuk' we decided to order a selection of dishes ourselves. We're glad we did. We came out of the meal oh-so full and it cost us, including wine, the same as it would just the tuk tuk for four people. Either we wouldn't have come out of it disablingly full, the value isn't actually there in letting the kitchen feed you, or we just made some very astute choices? Try the tuk tuk if you like, or order across the menu as we did.
What did we order?
LETTUCE CUPS. This dish is essentially san choy bau. Minced chicken with turmeric, coconut, and cashews, served in a cos lettuce leaf. Beautifully flavoured and juicy, with a jolly wallop of chilli. It did what a good starter should do, get those tastebuds ticking along. The heat is perfectly balanced. It's the sort of hit that lingers at the back of your palette for a few moments and then disappears into the distance with a polite tip of the hat. Most civilised.
TOMATOES. The idea of stuffed tomatoes doesn't appeal to me but the rest of the table is keen. For they heard from a someone that had lost their GB virginity that it is the pick of starters. Licking my lips from the lettuce cup, I have high expectations. And they are comfortably met. A small tomato with a caramelised outer, sits in a sticky sweet and sour tum kham, with a garnish of crispy thai basil leaves. The tomato by itself is too sweet, but combined with the chicken and prawn filling, you have essentially what is an asian-inspired paleo sausage roll! It certainly has that flavour about it (have I just committed some kind of blasphemy?), but it works.
With our tastebuds well and truly awaked and their game faces on, we proceeded to shared mains.
PAD THAI NOODLES. Your traditional Thai go-to but fancied up. Chicken, tamarind, and tofu tossed through rice noodles. Blandish by itself but with a squeeze of lime, the whole thing parkours into life.
GREEN CHICKEN CURRY. The standout dish to me. Beautifully poached chicken in a wonderful, nuanced curry sauce. You can pick out the individual spices, but they marry so well together. The interesting and unusual vegetables used divides the table a bit. Pea eggplant, scud chilli, krachai. None of us have tried these varieties before. An interesting experience it is, with some interesting facial expressions to go along with it.
BEEF CHEEKS. Dissolve-on-your-tongue beef in a sweet-and-salty orange, plum, and ginger sauce. The rest of the table work themselves up into froth over this dish. I think it's fine, but it tastes like every other slow cooked beef dish I have eaten. My palette can't get through the sweetness of the sauce.
We're at Golden Boy. Standard jasmine rice won't cut it. We accompany our dishes with the COCONUT AND GINGER RICE. We're glad we do - the rice is a beautiful dish in itself and compliments the mains nicely.
To top it all off the CRYING TIGER arrives. A salad of sirloin with fried rice noodles and a perfectly balanced jim jeow sauce. It is everything a Thai salad should be - sweet, sour, acidic, and hot! The perfect, fresh way to conclude the meal. A palette cleanser.
But there's more.
I don't remember much about dessert, I am too busy debating Adelaide's urban sprawl, but I recall the FRIED ROTI is deliciously crispy and sweet, with a pandan custard. We also get the MANGO WITH STICKY RICE. Not a mango fan, I don't rate it, but the rest of the table love it so.
It's hard to fault Golden Boy. The fusion of Botanic with Golden Boy is a statement about the kitchen. Old and new. Tradition and modern. With a menu so interesting, I will have to make a booking and have the experience again. This time working my way through a few other dishes.