Gao Asian Fusion — Restaurant in Upper Harbour

My wife and I had heard and read good things and very pleased to say, the good things turned into excellent things, in all aspects of the 90 minute dining experience.

Reasonably busy Sunday evening, although not to the point of recent experiences at other eateries, where the fully allocated tables meant an impact to service. On that point, the service at Gao is fantastic. Not overly intrusive, but attentive enough. Just how we like it.

The Peking Duck pancakes had a different spin on the usual ‘do it yourself’. These came in a kind of roti, surrounding the succulent crispy duck: sesame, cucumber and a generous dash of plum sauce, of course (I’m a poet). This dish is poetry in motion.

My wife had the bao buns. She’s had a lot of bao bun previously and the complements flowed on this offering. Reminiscent of KFC, well, yes. Three nicely presented buns, crispy and filling. Definitely a highlight!

As for my main, the Koji Aged Steak with a miso and sweet potato puree, wasabi - the latter in smaller quantity which pleased me - beer battered fries were a great accompaniment on the plate. Some salad would have completed the picture so a suggestion to consider maybe, but this is a minor point. Was delicious.

We were pretty full at this point, but this celebratory dinner demanded a complete three course, so I went for the dessert banana spring roll.

An adventurous mix of ingredients and flavour: banana, jack fruit (I felt like trying something I had never indulged in before), chocolate, which I believe is the best - Whittakers - and bourbon caramel with a hint of coconut. Such a melee of flavour could have meant each competing with the other too much, but have to say, the end result is subtle and balanced. Will be my ‘go to’ parting course I think.

I like the menu headings, Something Small, Something Large and more besides. Vegetarian and vegan friendly too, just to note.

Decent wine selections to accompany the dishes on offer.

I would put Gao in the upper ranks of Asian fusion in terms of restaurants we have tried in Auckland. Maybe even number one, in fact, yes, premiere spot! A credit to the staff, thank you for a great dining experience.

P.S. the toilets are definitely a point of note. Photo attached. Is this a cunning way of keeping patrons in the restaurant longer? I almost didn’t find...

I've been to 3 bottomless brunches so far and Gao has been the best out of all of them. I've seen and read a few mixed reviews but more good than bad so thought we would give it a go.

Service: 10/10. Wait staff were very attentive & despite every table being occupied they kept up with all of us. Staff were also friendly and talkative aswell its always good to be able to have conversations with the wait staff. Making sure our drinks were topped up & making sure we had enough of every dish so everyone at the table could experience it. They were approachable and happy.

Food: 9/10. The reason for my 9 is because there were 2 dishes that i didn't like. Hot & delicious. None of the dishes were to spicy for any of us and thats always a plus. The dishes were coming out at a perfect pace enough time for us to have some of the dish and process it before the next 1 come out. My fave dishes would have to be the bao buns, bok choy, vegetable dumplings. I'm still in awe of how the wait staff kept up with everyone & a big shout out to the kitchen staff for the beautiful delicious food.

Drinks: 7/10. My reason for this rating is only because it wasn't cocktails that I liked but if you like them I'm sure you'd rate it 10/10. The cocktails were made really good & there was wait staff going around with carafes filled with the cocktails incase anyone needed top ups.

Overall an amazing experience & I will be recommending this to people I know. Highly recommend. Such a good time for anyone. Even if you don't drink alcohol you can just pay for bottomless food. Thank you for such a good...

No hate against this place but I'm not really sure what they're trying to achieve with their restaurant concept. On their website, they boast the "Best food Asia has to offer", which kind of defeats the purpose of fusion food. According to their menu, they offer a range of cuisines from Japanese, Thai, Indian, Chinese and generic Western. We had the simple pork and prawn dumplings and they were delicious, nothing spectacular but it's good. The dumpling skin might be a little too thick for my liking, but I don't mind that since it costs quite a bit for 10 pcs (should've just gone to Dominion road...). Next was the fried calamari which was very close to chewy and was slightly overcooked. The two dipping sauces were... interesting. I'd recommend you taste the dipping sauce first before drenching your calamari... or just don't order it. My partner and I shared the Massaman curry (beef cheek curry) with two bowls of coconut jasmine rice. It was just plain fluffy rice, with not a hint of coconut as I would have expected. The curry was very watery and weirdly too sweet, which I believe they have taken the Thai sweetness a little too far. Sweetness is meant to help with the spiciness but since this curry was not spicy hot, it turned out to be extremely salty and sweet. Baby potatoes don't go well with this curry at all either. Like my partner says... you know the place isn't that great when you find yourself making an effort to finish your food. I'm not sure why everyone is so hyped about this place. If you're into restaurant decor, I'll rate...