Gai Wong — Restaurant in Melbourne

TLDR: inefficient queuing system, average tasting food, poor signage

FULL REVIEW: came here for dinner with my family

SERVICE AND SIGNAGE: Firstly, we were surprised by the uncommon queuing system they have here. There is a sign but it's shoved next to the spare folded up tables to the side and it was only after we left that I noticed it. Usually, service is either find your own seat and order at the bar (or counter), or table service. Here, it's queue up and wait while each person reads the menu and decides what they want to order at which point they are then assigned a table or asked to wait for their takeaway. Now, I can see that this is efficient as far as the kitchen is concerned. For dining guests, however, it means you have to WAIT FOR EVERYONE TO GO THROUGH THE PROCESS TO FIND OUT OF THERE IS A TABLE AVAILABLE.. If you live nearby and can just switch between eating in or takeaway, this is fine. But I do NOT recommend anyone go hugely out of your way to eat here.

There were no tables and we live pretty close by so ordered takeaway

FOOD: We ordered a Hainanese chicken set and roast pork. The roast pork was seasoned well but the skin was disappointing. Instead of being crunchy, it was chewy. The rice that came with the Hainanese chicken was delicious. It had a nutty, caramelised flavour without being too oily. However, the chicken itself was tougher than I'm used to - though at least it wasn't dry. The spring onion oil is usually my favourite part of this dish but it was not as fragrant as what I usually have. Overall, apart from the rice that was included, the dishes were disappointing from a taste perspective. Regarding price, it's around the same as what I'd expect to pay at a regular Chinese restaurant for these dishes.

VENUE: clean seating, tables weren't sticky from what I saw. Tables available inside...

Awesome experience with my wife at Gai Wong this evening. I had the $13.50 hainanese chicken and a generous serve of chicken rice with one serve of chicken flavoured soup goodness in a bowl.

My wife had the kai si hor fan or shredded chicken with prawns and rice noodle in soup broth. I had one mouthful of her kai so hor fun and shredded chicken. It was pretty impressive!

Superbly made chicken rice, very succulent hainanese chicken with coriander and crunchy cucumber in chicken rice gravy and very delicious chicken broth flavour soup served in a separate bowl. I particularly love the soup for its fantastic flavour and zero MSG in the soup. I wasn't thirsty after drinking the soup which normally is the case with most hainanese chicken rice soup sprinkled with generous amounts of MSG. The cabbage pieces in the soup were a great bonus! Great addition to the soup.

I will be coming back to try the $10.00 Chye Boey in my next visit. Highly recommend this restaurant for their incredible food, hospitable service and after our meals getting to know the restaurant owner (Phillip, also known as Uncle Lip)who took the time to speak to us both about his passion for chicken rice and perfecting his craft. Phillip is a wealth of knowledge on the subject of chicken rice.

Thank you Uncle Lip for sharing your marvelous experiences of touring with your wife to different parts of the Asian continent to research and learn how to produce the ultimate chicken rice experience for your restaurant customers. We will be coming back for more irresistibly delicious food, see you all soon, Phillip and...

Without a doubt and by far this is the worst Hainanese chicken rice I ever had in my 40+ years.

Rice - On Operation level- They mixed old left over rice with newly cook rice. How do I know? There are some rice which is cold ( refrigerator cold ) and some are rice are moist with a bit of warm to it. Also some of the rice are hard which only leftover rice can achieve( some comment said it is un cook but for un cook rice the core of the rice will be crunchy not hard dry out like this) , while some of the rice are normal with some warmth too.

Rice - recipe - not enough flavor for Hainanese chicken rice.

Chicken - they are cold as ice cream, I understand it is supposed to be room temperature, but not this cold, again they come straight out of the fringe. When you bit it you can feel your teeth nerves complaining and beg you not to take another bite. Since it is that cold, as you can imagine the chicken is not soft and tender, rather its quite hard.

The Menu is very hard to read, the person design it could offer more suggestion to the owner on how to present your product more easily for your customer to read.

Over all I would rather fast than visit again.

For those reviewer who gave 4-5 stars "Best Hainanese chicken rice in Melbourne.." ( exclude paid reviewer) They should explore more, there are bunch of other restaurant which make this dish far better than this, Such as: Tasty Dining in Oakleih South and Asian's D'licious...