One of the UK's most respected food critics was bowled over by a Swansea Chinese restaurant. Jay Rayner said he entered a "candy-coloured, garlanded, ribboned, sequined and tasselled world" of as he describes it "all round bloody good things".
Writing in the Observer on Sunday, July 31, Jay visited Gigi Gao’s Favourite Authentic Chinese in Swansea's Maritime Quarter and he didn't hold back on his praise despite commenting on the "vaguely arbitrary" pricing, with everything ending in 98p and the décor being "a little startling".
The writer, who earlier this year revisited Cardiff after previously slating its poor food, said he and the group he was with - including TV chef Jeremy Pang who regularly appears on Sunday Brunch and has his own Asian Kitchen show on ITV - "rampaged through the menu like toddlers let loose on a no-limits sweetie pick’n’mix" ordering dishes that turned out to be so delicious they reordered them.
One dish they reordered was something Jay described as "thrilling" was a potato dish which he encouraged future visitors to Gigi's to pick. "They arrive in a small wok suspended within an ornate brass frame, with a guttering candle underneath. The discs of potato manage to be both crunchy and soft at the same time and appear to have been blanched, then deep fried, then turned in a mess of spice and chilli and black beans, to create a joyously massive hit of crusty flavour. They are so good, so compelling, we order a second portion."
Other rounds of food for the group included an aubergine dish, the lazy bean curd, barrel beef and chicken wings in Coke and '"spare ribs in the kind of glossy five-spice sauce with which you could varnish a boat deck".
Jay said the menu reminded him of the places he'd go as a kid and "loved". About the fizzy pop-drenched chicken wings he wrote: "We order the chicken wings in Coke and conclude from the eye-widening, tooth-juddering sweetness of the thickened sauce that it was indeed made with a lot of Coke." The barrel beef got his seal of approval too. "As the name suggests, is a barrel-shaped receptacle, lined with foil and filled with the kind of broth you could lose yourself in on a cold night or even a warm one, thick with ribbons of just-cooked beef and fresh green herbs, fresh and dried chillies."
And it's for Gigi, who we discover opened the restaurant in 2014 at another location in Swansea before settling at the Martime Quarter in 2019, and the whole feel and look of the restaurant Jay reserves some of his most complimentary praise. Marvelling at the gaudy, bright décor he says of the owner: "Gigi Gao is her own special creation, and what a fabulous creation she is. She serves us wearing a full-length, silvery, sequined fitted dress, and a veil of gold tassels. It becomes clear, when the house wine arrives, that this is a fashion, rather than cultural choice; on the bespoke wine bottle label she is pictured, unveiled, raising a glass. Another waiter is in a rainbow sequined dress, and a third has a black sequined dress with a dashing opera cape. Rightly, they pair these outfits with sensible-looking trainers. The brilliant thing about all of this dress up is that it suits the décor. It’s the best kind of nuts."
You can read Jay Rayner's full review of Gigi Gao’s Favourite Authentic Chinese, here.
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