GWYLO — Restaurant in New South Wales

(2.5 stars)

Gwylo is an adaptation of the Cantonese word “gweilo” or “ghost man”, and was historically a derogatory term for Caucasian foreigners. In Mollymook the term has been “reclaimed” by Caucasian owner, Matt Upson, who is packaging up “Asian street food” for the South Coast palate. Leaving aside the uncomfortable whiteness of this act of erasure, Gwylo is clearly popular and well-liked by the locals, including the anti-coriander brigade at the next table. While I struggle to understand what’s “Asian street food” about beautiful yellowfin tuna sashimi ($26) lost in a lake of ginger oil, too much coarsely grated Tasmanian wasabi, kombu and greens, they scoff it down.

I’m also disappointed by the cocktails, the vodka-based Get Lucky ($22) drinks like a coconut-spiked lemon squash, while the tequila-based Howling at the Moon ($22) mostly buries Olmeca Altos Reposado in a swampy blend of guava, watermelon, pandan and lime that I probably would also object to as a non-alcoholic juice. Both drinks lack the balance you’ll find at Ben Blair’s bar (The Ruse) up the road. Sake—the rich and ricey Moriki Shuzu Yamahai ($70/350ml)—is a better bet, though when the restaurant is so far from traditional, it felt pretentious to have floor staff lecture guests about not pouring their own.

With a very liberal squeeze of lime, betel leaf prawns ($16/4) ate well. Gwylo fish cakes ($24/4)—made using crab, cuttlefish, prawn and fish–were textural and tasty, but fell down in the condiment department. The ginger mayo. topper needed actual chilli bite to interact with. Grilled on the hibachi, octopus ($24) was taken too far for my liking, with the burnt flavour overpowering the delicate cashew cream and zucchini noodles it was teamed with. A grass-fed beef skewer ($22) treated the good quality protein with more respect, but I struggled to understand the muted sriracha mayo. and sugary syrup accompaniments. The latter did help to improve a snow pea and cabbage salad ($16) that was too sour. As I’m the odd one out here in a sea of positive reviews, my best guess is this chef is balancing dishes to a local palate that I simply...

BEST (wedding catering) EVER. It is hard to put into words just how amazing GWYLO really are. From the moment that we started working with the team they exceeded all expectations. Nothing was too hard, too far or too much for them. We hosted a costal wedding at our private property for 100+ people. There was no commercial kitchen and all equipment had to be brought on site. During the planning Haley and Mat sat with us to exactly understand what we wanted and tailored not only the menu but also the experience to our every wish. They helped coordinate the rental equipment and arranged everything from glasses to cool rooms in an extremely tight timeline. Throughout the planning process whenever I got worried about things, I would call Haley and she would reassure me that everything would be ok. She was better than any wedding planner. The food was of course exceptional but what was truly wonderful was the whole team that GWYLO brought to our event. They were charming, smiling, polite and always on hand. They catered to the most outrageous of our guests' dietary requirements and even set up hibachi grill on our balcony. During the wedding, the team made sure that my husband and I were able to try every dish, they found us personally for each course and brought us the canapés no matter where we were. The thoughtfulness that GWYLO brought to our wedding cannot be underestimated and it would not have been the same without them. The most common feedback that I get from my wedding is "the food was amazing" but for me, the best part was that GWYLO took all the stress out of it for me. I cannot recommend them enough and would want to work with them for every event. Thank you all so much you are...

I held off writing this review, but after speaking with others I noticed a similar experience was shared.

The food, I can’t complain. It was mostly nice. And a great aesthetic in the restaurant.

But honestly, I found most of the staff were pretty rude. One of the guests we were with was being a bit cheeky, and trying to joke around with the host when we got the bill in a very light hearted manner, she snapped at him and made everyone really uncomfortable. His intentions were to try and crack a joke to relieve the awkwardness as our entire experience had been slightly uncomfortable with the staffs attitude. I understand that not everyone can understand every single persons humour. However, we spent nearly $700- as a previous hospitality worker, it’s really not hard to bite your tongue if you disagree with something a customer has said. Had the guest been inappropriate, or rude and nasty, I would be far more understanding. But I simply couldn’t find any justification in her rude response.

When I spend that kind of money on a dinner, I expect to not feel like I’m burdening a waitress or waiter by asking if I could order another drink. I understand it was busy, but if you can’t have even the slightest positive attitude when interacting with customers who pay this sort of money for food, I think it’s extremely unprofessional. Which is a real shame as it really tainted the entire experience.

If Gwylo is able to reflect on this and make some adjustments then I think it would be a lovely place to dine. I will make an effort to ask friends and family who go in the future what their experience is like, because if they’re friendlier than when I went, I’d give a...