Sometimes you need to go on dates with your friends. Sometimes it’s a Friday dinner date for six, that turns into eight, that finally settles on a party of ten. Sometimes, a few of those friends drink from 1pm before dinner… which honestly, makes dinner a whole lot more interesting. Add two rounds of shots (as well as cocktails and a few bottles of wine) by 7.30pm and you’ve pretty much got a party.
Right, so, from the start.
I have a severe peanut allergy (and am allergic to all other nuts as well), which always plays on my mind when going out for any kind of asian cuisine (or indian which I guess is technically asian… or just any meal because you can find nuts pretty much everywhere if you’re looking out for them), because generally speaking there’s usually quite a few dishes that contain nuts, and even if they don’t, there’s always the mixing of the pans and cross-contamination. I’ve been turned away from a restaurant because they wouldn’t risk it. When booking, we told the staff at Golden Boy about it, and they communicated with us, with the chef, the kitchen staff, and back to us just to cater for the one persons allergy, to make sure I would be 100% fine eating everything on that table. It doesn’t sound like a lot but usually it’s a “yeah should be fine just remind us on the night”… and so I spend those nights with my epi pen at the ready.
There was none of that, they made sure I was looked after, my dishes were kept away from others, prepared separately, and because it was a banquet, made sure the dishes we had (bar one or two) were nut free. I was sold on the service before I had even gone there. So if your date (or friend, or parent, who ever) has an allergy, they’re not going to miss out and they will be safe. There will be no first date experience of stabbing your date with an epi pen, sorry to take some of the potential excitement out of the night for you.
Our booking was for 6.30. I was well aware a few of the girls attending had been drinking half the day, I wasn’t really surprised when we didn’t all arrive until 7pm. However, as Golden Boy was so busy it meant that we couldn’t get all the dishes we were going to because there wasn’t enough time before their next booking. We were pretty lucky they could accommodate the extra 4 people we’d sprung on them so we couldn’t complain.
We went with the “tuk-tuk”, which is usually $58 a head but was less as we had the “mini”. They picked out their menu favourites and served them - though they did ask us if anyone wanted anything in particular. There was Stuffed Tomatoes, Salt & Pepper Chicken, Green Curry, a couple of whole Steamed Barramundi, Egg Net Salad, Crying Tiger, Steamed Rice, Cooling Plates and something else in there as well. My dear lord it was a feast. A beautiful, bright, aromatic, fresh, full flavoured plate-licking-good feast.
Dear everyone reading this. Go. To. Golden Boy. Get off your chair, make your way down there right now. Actually, maybe call first (re above: very busy), but okay get off this webpage, google their number (actually, don’t even worry about it, stay here with me, it’s 8227 0799). The food was so damn FRESH. I ate roasted stuffed tomatoes AND LOVED IT. I had some egg omelette thing stuffed with a whole bunch of other stuff (technically they call it an Egg Net Salad, psh technicalities), AND LOVED IT. I had a mouth-gasm every time I put a new dish in my mouth. You know that feeling of being so full you couldn’t eat another bite, teamed with oh I’m in a really nice public place so probably shouldn’t be disgusting? Well my friend across the table from me was yelling for more shots so while everyone was distracted I ate as much as I possibly could and pretended I didn’t.
I will 10/10 be eating here again.
