The Gaya Applecross

I have been to the Gaya once previously, it was pleasant and I didn’t think too much of it then. This time when head chef and owner Leo invited me to dine, I thought, why not.
Before we even ordered, the waitress brought out a complementary starter of homemade potato chips and cheese puffs. The homemade potato chips were a great snack, but the cheese puffs were a little strange, but we ate them all up quickly.
Zoya and I started with the Beef Cream Roll ($ 15) and the Seafood Jijimi ($ 15). I ordered the Beef Cream Roll as I had heard great reviews about it, and it didn’t disappoint. This was my favourite savoury dish of the night, and although the ingredients sounded strange at first with fried garlic chips, asparagus, enoki mushrooms, capsicum, cucumber and cream cheese, wrapped up in beef, it worked very well.
The Seafood Jijimi is more of a traditional Korean style pancake with spring onion, onions, carrot, squid and fish. Unlike other Korean pancakes I’ve had, this one was full of fresh ingredients and was cooked evenly, it was not too oily or soggy in the middle as some can be.
For mains we decided on the 36Pork ($ 32) and the Gaya BBQ Rib Galbi ($ 32). The last time I was at the Gaya, Dan ordered the 36Pork and I immediately regretted that I didn’t order it. This dish is made of pork belly sous vide for 36 hours, put with pumpkin potato purée, soybean paste sauce, chives and apples.
The Gaya BBQ Rib Galbi, is a grilled beef short rib, with daikon roll salad, potato egg salad and coconut rice. All the elements on the plate were tasty but didn’t really work very well together. Both mains came with some traditional Korean sides, which were Seaweed, Potato Salad and Spicy Beansprouts. The seaweed and beansprouts were a nice side dish, but the potato salad had a strong sourness I couldn’t get used to.
After all this we were so full, but still decided to get the dessert. We shared the Redmisu ($ 9), a homemade Tiramisu with red bean paste, which is presented similar to the flowerpot dessert I had at No. 4 Blake St. This tiramisu is delicious with the addition of red bean and also has a right balance of coffee within it.
We also got the Ho-​Tuck ($ 10), a Korean style sweet pancake with dark brown sugar inside, topped with walnuts, sunflower seeds, pine nuts and strawberries. This pancake was surprisingly delicious and the flavours tasted very similar to Spanish churros.
Apart from the A la Carte menu, the Gaya also offers a set menu, which includes a choice of a starter, main and dessert for an affordable $ 50. Overall, I had a very good time here and thank Leo for the opportunity to taste his creations. I would recommend to order the set menu, to try the beef cream roll, and definitely don’t miss out on dessert.

Tucked away in an arcade off Kearnes Crescent, The Gaya is the first modern Korean restaurant to step foot into Applecross.
At 6pm, the restaurant was still empty so we got to choose where we wanted to sit. Of course I chose a table with decent lighting
Before taking our order, the waitress brought us some complimentary house made potato chips and cheese puffs. I liked the chips but the cheese puffs weren’t great. It was soft and not crispy as I had hoped.
I can’t go past Korean pancakes when dining at a Korean restaurant! It is a must! The Gaya’s seafood jijimi is one of the best I’ve had in Perth — crispy, thin, and full of seafood. Don’t you hate it when restaurants stinges on the filling?
The batter on the crab croquettes was not too thick and the crab meat filling was full of flavour. Was surprised to see such a generous amount of crab inside.
The pork trotter was an extremely filling dish was beautifully cooked — moist, tender, the meat fell off the bone, and it wasn’t overly salty. Although very enjoyable, we didn’t come close to finishing this.
The Boy chose the beef short ribs (I may have influenced him, just a little, to pick this). For me, this was perfectly marinated and I didn’t mind getting my hands dirty. The coconut rice added a nice touch to this dish and reminded me of Malaysian nasi lemak. The potato egg salad was The Boy’s favourite part of this dish. I let him finish it all since he wasn’t eating much of the meat.
Of course, banchan (Korean for ‘side dish’) were served with our meal — kimchi, potato salad, and I couldn’t pin point what the third one was.
By the end of our mains, we are stuff literally to our eyes. If you do end up trying The Gaya, don’t leave without trying the Red Misu (red bean tiramisu).

Excellent service, food was delicious and plenty of gluten free options. Complimentary snacks to get you started which reading the menu. Special treats in bathroom too. I must see, great place.

The staff were polite and attentive from first encounter to last. There was a bit of a language barrier but it only added to the experience of a genuine Asian good experience.
Drinks were brought promptly, my husbands only disappointment was they only had Asian beers and no local brands. He would have settled for a matso ginger beer if there was a choice.
Food service was prompt and fresh.
For entrée I had the beef rolls which were delightful and tasty, dh had the chile chicken which was very hot but so tasty he couldn’t let any of it go to waste.
For mains I had the 36hour pork which was a great combination of flavours. Only disappointment is that I would love to have had crispy crackle on top instead of the soft gooey fat. Dh had the beef ribs which were quite bland and needed more seasoning. Still we ate everything and were impressed that we were in and out in 1 hour. We didn’t feel rushed but had a movie to get too and it was great that we could have great food with quick service.
We didn’t have room for dessert! And at $ 106 for two course ms and 1 drink each was about the limit for our budget.
Negatives was the restaurant was loud and the décor not exactly Fresh and modern.
But I’m sure we will be back

From the wonderful service to the exceptional food, this place does not disappoint. They put up with my special request. and offered great advice to assist me in choosing food despite my dietary restrictions. We already planning our return.

What an excellent Restaurant. From tasteful surroundings to beautifully artistic table settings to chairs that for once, supported my lower back.
How many restaurants try to impress with their food only to forget about their customers table posture. Every time I eat out, I always dread sitting on the chairs. I am in pain for days after using the ‘standard cheap’ restaurant chairs.
Great beginning Gaya.
We had the $ 45 choice of one starter, one main and one sweet. And what a great choice too. Every meal was a true delight and an artistic statement. The food was as good as the presentation. So much so, that I cannot recall ever seeing and tasting better.
Every time a dish arrived, it should have been photographed. In fact, that’s what I and many others did with their smart phone/​cameras too.
Five stars throughout. Their service was impeccable and so friendly. We are definitely going back to this rare find.
Thanks Gaya, see you very soon.

I visited The Gaya recently not knowing what to expect… but one thing i noticed is that its a la carte Korean restaurant — not the usual BBQ! The restaurant is nice and service is ultra friendly. The food at Gaya is absolutely great, the servings are large and can be shared. Lookout for the beef cream rolls, 36porkbelly and the red misu dessert!

I’ve recently noticed the sake house which was previously here had changed. I felt sake house was so underrated. The place here before that café Noël was fantastic too!
In saying that this building seems to be the home of many Asian gems that don’t seem to get the attention they deserve. I can’t work out what it is, I think it’s that it’s not in a noticeable location.
As soon as I walked in the lovely waitress was very attentive and offered a 1^st class service. We were given complimentary fried cheese to begin with. She then took our wine and placed it in a ice bucket. It was almost like we were drinking a bottle of Dom. What a great first impression.
There was an option of a set menu however decided to go with a set of tapas style plates to get more selection.
We got the cheese kimchi! Wow it was yummy and a good portion size!
Next dish we got the cream beef! That was true to it’s name, creamy, beefy, juicy and full of flavor. This dish was a hot with all at the table.
The salmon was tasty but nothing Special. It was a smoked salmon wrapped cream with seaweed and caper berry. Ideally probably more suited to an entrée.
The spicy chicken with saffron was a nice combination of textures, crunchy, smooth and chewy and it defiantly had a bang to it.
I must admit the tobiko was nothing special. This was probably the least exciting dish along with the arancini balls were good but I think more suitable to the Italian/​Spanish venue. There was one more tasty one but I forgot.
Definitely will recommend this place to locals and friends. I really hope this one lasts. It’s currently BYO but we signed a petition to get them licensed while we were there.

I am always suspicious to make a conclusion about a restaurant on the basis of a free meal as the chef knows in advance he is under scrutiny. However looking around the fairly busy dining room I could see plenty of happy customers enjoying their paid experience.
The Gaya offers something a bit different to your standard sizzling Korean restaurant with softly spoken, efficient service, oodles of gluten free options and creative, carefully presented food. Add to that it’s BYO licence and you can be sure I will be bringing my friends back here for a satisfying but inexpensive night out.

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Food and presentation — ³⁄₅
One word can be used to describe most of the food at The Gaya Applecross — sweet. My bestie JL had warned me before I went that the food is very sweet, so I went expecting it to be sweet but didn’t realise how sweet it would be. Our starter, the arrancini was probably the only dish that wasn’t sweet and both hubby and I really enjoyed it especially the kimchi and berry sauce which really completes the dish. The Gaya chicken on the other hand was very sweet, the first few pieces were tasty but after that it became too sweet, the batter was also a bit thick and the chicken was actually a bit overcooked. The rice cake that accompanied the chicken was tough and wasn’t pleasant to eat. Both dishes, however, were well presented with generous portion size.
After our starters, we were each presented with side dishes consisting of spicy? tomato, fish cake and pickled cabbage. I put a question mark after spicy as that was what I heard our waitress say but when we ate it, it wasn’t spicy so maybe it is sliced tomato? Nothing special here but it was well presented. I actually wished there was kimchi…
Side dishes — spicy? tomato, fish cake, pickled cabbage (complimentary)
I was excited when I saw my seafood stew because of the bonito flakes which were dancing on top and I really liked the metal bowl that it was served in. The stew was sweet, it was okay at the beginning but it started to get very sweet after a few spoonfuls. I did like the crunchy rice cake that accompanied the stew for dipping and could have done with a few more pieces. The beef short rib was interesting, sweet and I’m not sure if I liked it or not but the beef was nice and tender.
I was excited about my dessert as I ordered the red misu which is a red bean version of tiramisu presented in the form of a chocolate garden similar to the one I’ve had at No 4 Blake St but unfortunately it was not comparable and I was a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong it was nice, just not wow both in terms of presentation and flavour. The green tea ice cream was not very well presented and didn’t have enough green tea flavour.
Service — ³⁄₅
The service was pretty average, our waitress was polite and checked on us now and again but the service was not professional. I have to say she did open the door for us when we arrived and left which was very nice. My main niggle was that our dishes were not clearly introduced when served. I requested to speak to Chef Leo at the end of our meal to thank him and he was lovely and much younger than I anticipated.
Atmosphere and décor — ³⁄₅
I don’t think the décor matches the class of restaurant they are trying to be. It looked like they have kept some of the décor from the previous restaurant, the flooring looked a bit tired and worn and the counter is not fantastic, apart from that it was comfortable enough with simple décor but a little face lift will go a long way. The restaurant was fairly quiet so there wasn’t much of an atmosphere tonight even when a few more tables were filled; it seemed to be more a casual dining restaurant.
Value for money — ³⁄₅
The portions were generous at The Gaya Applecross and $ 45 for a three course dinner, I think, is pretty good value for money for modern dining with generous portions.
Taste Test Total Score ¹²⁄₂₀