Lunch Series: Gondola Gondola

Gondola Gondola
1 Peel Street
Adelaide SA

I'd read a couple of great reviews of Gondola Gondola, another hyped Peel Street eatery, so took my husband there for a weekday lunch date. We were both pleasantly surprised!

Drinks: I had Besa pressed orange juice which tasted like ordinary fresh orange juice (I don't know if it's meant to be any different?). My husband ordered the Pearl Royal Coconut Water, which arrived in a can. We'd both never tried coconut water before, and declared it to be really yummy!

Steamed Chicken & Corn Dumplings

Banana Blossom

Red Steak

Food: The cuisine at Gondola Gondola is modern South-East Asian. We were only given chopsticks and spoons to eat with so I was fucked from the get-go, but decided to immerse myself in the experience and not request a knife and fork, thereby ignoring my natural instincts. I fumbled through with my choppies and weird spoon, although I'm pretty sure I used them hilariously incorrectly. I popped my dumpling cherry when we opted to order the Steamed Chicken & Corn Dumplings with Sweet Vinegar Sauce for our Entree. They were delicious and had quite a strong chilli kick, waking up my tastebuds and preparing them for the flavours to come. It was somewhat difficult to eat the accompanying sauce as the serving dish was shallow, so we ended up tipping the platter to collect the liquid in our spoons, like the unsophisticated brutes we are. Hubby's meal came a good five minutes before mine, which was the only negative, because he eats twice as fast, so I need a headstart if anything, not a handicap. For mains, he had the Banana Blossom, which is shredded chicken breast, prawn, banana flower, peanuts and coconut cream, and said it was really nice! I tried it, but preferred my dish as I don't like prawns. I ordered Red Steak, which is chargrilled sirloin with mixed herbs, chilli and peanuts. O M G, you guys! The flavour in this thing! It tasted absolutely delicious. The flavours were very fresh and zingy, creating a taste explosion in my mouth. The beef was really juicy and tender and there were a lot of fresh herbs, different salad leaves and possibly some lemon or mint? I don't know, but I can say it tasted clean and healthy, with multiple textures including delicious crunch from the peanuts. Yum!

Fun Fact: Hubby had a ball using his phone to translate the various foreign language phrases on the menu. For example, 'mon an chat luong va huong vi dac biet' is Vietnamese and means 'quality cuisine and special flavour'!

Ambience: This is such a trendy little place, with three long benches in the middle, booths on one side and cute, cozy small tables along the street-side edge. There's a yellow theme running through Gondola Gondola, and it's quite dark inside, although not dim enough to hinder my Instagram photos! Loud music played and the table near us was a bit rowdy, but it never got unpleasant. We were served by a friendly, laid-back dude who was in danger of setting a new benchmark for the term 'relaxed'. I wish I was that chill! When we were settling the bill he asked what we thought of our meals and was genuinely interested in our response, enquiring 'how so?' when we commented the flavours were amazing.

I'm so glad I found this hip little eatery on the corner of Hindley and Peel Streets, as my husband and I really enjoyed everything about our Gondola Gondola experience. Even the little apple lollies we got after paying were tasty! I'd highly recommend this one if you're after somewhere a little different for lunch!

Yummy little lollies!

You may also like: Lunch Series: Two Bit Villains Soda Bar

Don't miss a post!

Like Max The Unicorn on Facebook

Follow me on Instagram @shinyglitterbug

Follow me on BlogLovin'

Follow me on Twitter @ShinyGlitterBug

Subscribe via email (right sidebar)

Disclaimer: Non-sponsored. We paid for our own meals and all thoughts are our honest, unbiased opinions.

What's your favourite place to grab a quick bite?