Goo’s Asian Fusion
Where: Inside Mexicola, 12 Lighthouse Road, uMhlanga
Open: Daily lunch and dinner
Call: 079 327 3924
Ingrid Shevlin was telling me of the drama at one of our favourite Thai spots, Goo’s Asian Fusion, which had been rudely kicked out of the Beachwood Country Club. But the enigmatic chef had quickly found a new spot in uMhlanga in a Mexican restaurant to showcase his skills.
It emerges that the owners of the Beachwood Country Club, in a dispute with the main tenant, got a high court eviction order turfing out not only the main tenant but all the subtenants as well, Goo’s small business included. They basically shut the place down.
Which is sad because Goo’s food was the only reason one would want to go to the Beachwood Country Club, unless you were into rugby, copious quantities of beer and teen waitresses with ridiculously short skirts.
The chef himself tells us he was in Thailand when the drama struck, losing stock and equipment, but you can’t keep a great chef down. It hasn’t taken his fans long to find him as a number of foodie friends popped in for lunch on Saturday.
And no, there is no fusion between Mexican and Thai, as Ingrid had thought initially. I had said that might be a confusion too far. Instead there are two menus, one taking in the Mexican dishes of Mexicola, and the other a reduced menu taking in his classic Thai-inspired dishes.
We went straight for the latter. Our excellent waitress pointed the way.
We shared a number of his street-style small eats plates, which gave us a good variety of flavours, all different and all interesting. The coconut prawn skewers (R105) were lovely. These were good-sized coconut tempura prawns with a pineapple salsa and tangy sriracha mayonnaise. They came with a brilliant coriander and lemon inspired dipping sauce. Ingrid loved the sauce so much she was quite happy to drink it.
I too was impressed with the gyoza (or potstickers) especially after last week’s debacle. These pork dumplings (R85) were pan-fried in a ponzu sauce with peanuts and spring onions. Light and flavourful, I could have devoured another bowl.
Then there was the duck pancakes (R170) ‒ crispy duck with all the usual trimmings of cucumber and spring onions rolled in pancakes and topped with hoisin sauce. It was a substantial portion which could easily serve as a main.
Other nibbles included spring rolls, bao buns – there’s even a crispy tofu version – sticky pork ribs and chicken satay. Calamari is pan-fried with sriracha.
For mains a full range of Thai style curries is available – green, red, angry, chu chee – in veg, chicken, beef, prawn or duck. There’s also pad Thai and fried rice dishes. We opted to share kao soi – a Thai red curry soup – with chicken, egg noodles, fermented veg, ginger, red onion and bean sprouts (R135). It has some heat: Ingrid certainly felt it, but it was not overpoweringly hot and it had such a wonderful depth of flavour. It was an impossibly messy thing to share, but we finished it.
We ordered a bowl of lovely crispy spinach (R40) to go with it. This is always one of my favourite sides on a Thai menu. I can see why Goo’s version of a Beach Garden salad is one of his more popular dishes.
Thai restaurants are not known for their desserts: our waitress offered us fried banana. The look on our faces said she hadn’t done a deal. “But Goo can do deep-fried ice cream,” she said. Our faces light up. We share a well-judged palate cleanser – a crispy coated scoop of good ice cream rolled in peanuts and chocolate pieces and drizzled with honey (R75).
Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambience: 3
The Bill: R800 including a generous tip
The Independent on Saturday