Blue Ginger Restaurant

Tried the $ 48 banquet, well priced, had a variety of different dishes which were all pretty average. Hoped that one if the dishes would stand out but unfortunately the only one that got close was the salmon salad, but unfortunately didn’t stand out enough to go back for more.
The desserts on the other hand helped me give this place
I would go again for the coconut panacotta and pineapple sorbet! That was delicious! My other friends tried the banana sticky rice pudding and the Dark Belgian Chocolate truffle with raspberry sauce and all enjoyed their choices.

Your first joy upon arriving at Blue Ginger is to file in through the solid oak doors, adorned with a set of bronze dragon knockers. Well appointed décor and attentive staff start your night off on the right note.
The betel leaf with smoked trout is the perfect beginner. This small serve showcases powerful flavour combinations in a neat little bundle. It’s one or two mouthfuls of refreshing delightfulness.
How many spellings of San Choy Bow are there? (as an SEO this keyword diversity does my head in!) — Sang Choy Bow, Sung Choi Bao, San Choy Bau, Sang Choi Bao, Sang Choy Bao, arggghhh.
So next on the menu was Chicken Sang Choy Bao (listed as a Blue Ginger favourite) and to be fair it was forgettable. I’ve had very very good San over many years, and I’ve never had it as chicken and perhaps that’s the problem. It just doesn’t have the depth of a flavour of a pork/​veal San.
BG then delivered the night’s showstopper, a salad of crispy braised pork belly with green papaya, mint, kaffir lime leaves, fried shallots, and chilli lime dressing. This has made me rethink my «you can’t win friends with salad» standard operating procedure — cos Blue Ginger certainly official facebook friended me with this winning dish!
The mains all look good so it is difficult to decide, but you can never go wrong with Crispy Duck and Massaman Curry. The massaman was on par with the best one’s I’ve had. The balance of palm sugar, tamarind and coconut milk was spot on. The meat tender, the potato’s retaining that al dente bite.
The duck was sublime, presented still on the bone standing like a sentinel, surrounded by a moat of sticky sauce it drew gasps as it was served to the table. With it’s oh-​so-​crispy skin, the duck itself was perfectly cooked and each morsel was decadent.
A couple of pointers. Being BYO you’ll want to grab a bottle before you enter. Also it is spendy, so be prepared for $ 70/​head. The food is seriously good so if you aren’t a penny pincher you won’t notice the price.
Fun Fact: If you want to be transported back to your night at Blue Ginger (and you probably will) there’s a rosemary bush across the road near the Woolworths. Crush a few sprigs between your fingers and take a big whiff. Rosemary triggers memory retention… which is probably why I remember where that rosemary bush is ;)

If you make it out to Balmain, definitely make a stop here. Great food and great service. It’s also BYOB which is always a plus– although it is $ 4.50/person which is a bit on the steep side (but their bottles are expensive so you still save by hopping next door to buy a bottle).
My friend and I were a bit ambitious when we ordered, but out of the 5 dishes we got only one was a dud. Definitely start off with the betel leaves and make sure you get the pork belly salad– the green papaya with chill and lime dressing is a perfect accompaniment to the crispy pork belly.
Skip the sang choy boa as it lacks flavour and only comes with 2 lettuce leaves for the entire appetiser! You’re better off skipping to the mains– we went with the crispy duck and the massaman curry, both of which were fantastic.
The only criticism of this place is that our waitress «suggested» we get bottled water because there was «something off» about the tap water in Balmain that evening… and then 30 minutes later when we were done with that bottle said the tap water was back to being normal. Looking around the dining room it looks like most people fell for this trick so just be aware if you’re fine with tap water and don’t want to spring for the bottle!
Awesome place and well worth a trip or two.

Celebrated New Years Dinner here with our Aussie cousins! Loved it, BYOB was perfect since there is a great liquor store a couple of stores down. Great atmosphere! Great service & Asian fusion food served. Perfect

Just excellent all round. Great Service, great food, well-​priced. My favourites are the betel leaves, dumplings and squid. the beef ribs are great as well. This is my usual go-​to.

After reading a recipe in a gourmet traveler, I had to go to the source and taste it from the recipe author. I have to say this is the best Salt & Pepper Squid I have ever tasted.

As the previous reviewer pointed out, Blue Ginger is one of those innocuous places located on a street corner in a suburb that, despite being consistently very busy (and has been for many years now) you just can’t imagine would be that great. I mean, where’s the fanfare? Where’s the cookbooks and gossip and whatnot?
The fact is, Blue Ginger rocks. It’s tasty, it’s not overly expensive and — drumroll please — caters to folks who can’t eat gluten.
Yummo.

Blue Ginger is awesome and I don’t know why it took me this long to realise it.

When my boyfriend said he was taking me to Blue Ginger for my birthday dinner, I tried to feign excitement. For me, birthdays are the occasion to go somewhere new and exciting, somewhere you haven’t been before, somewhere that warrants a celebration in order to dine there. So, when Blue Ginger was mentioned, I was a little disappointed. Whilst I hadn’t been there before, it was familiar — sitting on a corner in my local suburb, I had walked past there hundreds of times. It held no intrigue as the land of the unknown. But I graciously bit my tongue and attempted to convince myself that, regardless of where we went, it was going to be a nice night.
It WAS a nice night, but this was not without regard of location. Blue Ginger is the perfect setting for a romantic dinner for two. Arriving at 8pm, the restaurant was full, only our reserved table sitting empty by the window. Turns out we were wise to have booked ahead, because despite it being a Tuesday, the place had been booked out all night. The waitress filled our water glasses (for the first of what was to be many times) and left us with our menus.
It would be easy to get carried away at Blue Ginger. Ready to order two entrées, two mains and two sides, with rice and plans for dessert, we caught ourselves before succumbing to death by overeating. Rather, we ordered two entrées (Chicken San Choy Bow & Salt & Pepper Calamari) and a main (Malaysian Coconut & Tomato Sambal Prawns) with rice to share.
If you find it hard to think of South East Asian food as anything beyond your average $ 7 curry and rice then Blue Ginger will open your eyes and enrich your palate. The chefs manage to add class and finesse to familiar recipes and highlight the individual flavours in every dish. The wine list was extensive without being intimidating (any wine list with more than one Pinot Gris by the glass is good by me), the cocktails were yummy and whilst I didn’t save room for dessert (amateurs error) every single one looked equally tasty and tempting.
Whilst this was the perfect location for our date, next time I would consider taking a few extra friends in order to try the banquet ($ 48 per person, minimum three people), which seems to be the best way to sample the menu without over-​ordering like a fool. Also, even if you have managed to overdo it with the banquet, you can still sample dessert with their tapioca shot (with coconut, palm sugar, fruit & sesame seed) — the perfect signature miniature dessert.
Leaving the restaurant glowing, both from happiness and a ridiculously full and satisfied stomach, my boyfriend shook his head at me, «And to think you didn’t want to go there.» So, to Blue Ginger, I say thank you for a lovely night, but I don’t appreciate having to admit to my boyfriend that yes, sometimes he does know best.