Gingerboy cookbook

On the 9th of November I was informed by the good people at SBS Food that I had been a lucky winner of the Gingerboy Competition. And the prize? The fabulously sexy Gingerboy cookbook. Oh the joy I felt when the courier showed up at my door. Now, for those of you out there who do not know what a Gingerboy is, it is an obscenely funky Asian street style inspired restaurant on Crossley St, Melbourne. Brought to you by the great minds of Teage Ezard(of Ezard and Guernica) and Chris Donnellan(of Ezard and Nobu London), and it is these same minds that now give us Gingerboy the cookbook.
I love Asian food. I lived in Cambodia for a while and was based in Phnom Penh so I frequently travelled between the surrounding countries. I'd love to say it was for the temples and the cultural experiences, but the truth is that it was pretty much for the food. I hit almost every street stall and hawker centre I saw. Alley ways, trolleys, pushcarts or shop fronts. My nose and stomach led me to some magical places. Aahhhh good times.

The folk at SBS asked that I have a flick through the book and sample some of the recipes, then supply them with a photo of my final creation. One problem however, there were so many damn good recipes. How could I possibly choose just a single dish? So cheated, I made 3. A cocktail, a started and a main.

The star ingredients

Tumeric and coconut dressing

Preparing the cucumber salad

Cucumber lime salad

Preparing the moreton bay bugs

Gutting the moreton bay bugs

Chargrilled moreton bay bugs w/tumeric and coconut dressing and cucumber and lime salad

The moreton bay bugs were fantastic and perfectly infused with the dressing. I loved the fact that there was a little extra for dipping. The cucumber salad was a great and fresh accompaniment to this fragrant dish.

Freshly shucked oysters w/ chilli lime dressing

I always enjoy fresh oysters and these Tasmanian Duck Bay beauties would have been lovely on their own anyway. However this spicy dressing with chilli, fish sauce and lime suited them to a tea, and I would happily pour it over pretty much anything.

Ginger Girl

This cocktail was refreshing and very S/E Asian tasting with the coriander, pineapple and ginger . I use alot of coriander, I am Hispanic after all, but I had never thought of using it in a drink. Different, but nice.

The feast

So above is a picture of last night's dinner, well some of it anyway. Truth is there was 3 more bugs hiding on the side along with 9 of it's oyster friends. It was tasty and I could happily have this meal frequently. In fact the whole book is filled with great easy to follow recipes. There are a few ingredients that are hard to find in your local Coles or Safeway, but a trip to Richmond or Footscray can easily remedy that. The photos are beautiful, enticing and make you hungry, and even though the pictures aren't broken down step by step, the recipes are very user friendly and easy to follow.
A brilliant book and I will definitely use it frequently. There are so many more recipes I need to explore such as the Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crab, or the Red Curry-Spiced Wagyu Beef Tartare, or the Tom Kha Custard Brulee or the Gingerboy's Steamed BBQ Pork Buns etc... Everything in this book just looks packed full of flavour, and so now Gingerboy has made it to the top of my wish list of Melbourne restaurants to visit.
Highly recommended.