Chilli Beef at Good Wok, Newtown

Good Wok, Newtown

Ask any of my long time homies for their most memorable Isaac quotes and this is most likely their response:

I don’t know…”

Ask me which one of my most memorable quotes is and I’ll probably hit you with this one:

I’m not good looking enough to discriminate.”

I’m treading a very fine line right here so please let me elaborate. I’ve never cared about race. I’ve been attracted to a number of women throughout my life and they’ve been from all different parts of the world. I don’t care if you’re Nepalese, Irish, French, Chinese, Thai or from Antarctica. If I find you attractive, then girl, you’re about to get the Isaac special.

It’s the same with food.

I don’t care if it’s fast food, fine dining, breakfast in bed or a hole in the wall that would intimidate the Grand Canyon, I’ll like you if you’re tasty.

Which is what brings me to Good Wok in Newtown.

Good Wok Newtown
Note: Not a boy band cover photo

I’ve gotten a lot of recommendations ever since I announced to the world that I was deciding to become a food blogger. It’s one of my favourite parts of being a blogger as I get some insight into things that my friends like. My bosses declared Good Wok the best Chinese food they ever had. They announced to the office that we were going to Good Wok with the same amount of enthusiasm I’d use to tell people about getting a lap dance from Beyonce.

The enthusiasm was contagious and my body was completely ready for some hole in the wall Chinese food.

Good Wok Newtown
The brand new dessert fridge was met with much fanfare from all Good Wok loyalists.

We walked in and my bosses were warmly greeted like Wokstars. They didn’t even need to look at the menu as they made their order. I felt like I was having lunch with Kurt Cobain and Bruce Springsteen with more professional haircuts.

Here’s how we started our meal:

Prawn Crackers at Good Wok, Newtown
Prawn crackers

The classic Chinese opening. I have a soft spot for these crispy treats as my mother used to make these by the boatload as they were a sure-fire way to appease me and to make sure I sat down and did my homework. I’m pretty sure these were a huge part of why I used to be fat…along with drinking 7 cans of Pepsi a day of course.

These were nice and crunchy. The friendly woman manning the restaurant also offered us a refill as soon as we depleted the plate. Nothing makes me happier than free refills….again, I was a fat kid growing up.

Stir Fried Flat Noodles with Beef at Good Wok Newtown
Stir Fried Flat Noodles with Beef

Before we went into Good Wok, my colleagues recommended I get one of two dishes. Naturally, I didn’t listen to anyone and opted for one of my all time favourites. I love flat noodles. This is one of my comfort dishes and I am quite harsh on it whenever I have it at restaurants due to my extensive experience stuffing it down my throat.

Wok hei (also known as wok’s breath) is absolutely crucial to the success of this dish. This trait is sort of hard to describe so let me give you a long winded example:

You can’t describe a good kiss as two sets of lips touching. You have to try and convey the chemical reaction surging through you as your lips made another set’s acquaintance. You have to talk about how the rest of your body began subconsciously reacting. How you decided to put your hands through her hair, how you shifted your neck slightly to get into a comfortable position and how everything else just ceased to be important.

Ahem, that’s what wok hei is. Wok hei the extra, unlisted ingredient that comes with using a good wok. Heh.

Fortunately, Good Wok lives up to its name with the utilisation of a great wok. The beef was soft and non-chewy to go with great, crunchy bean sprouts. A lot of places have a bad tendency to burn the noodles as cooking this type of noodles in a wok is actually difficult. They have a knack of getting stuck on the bottom of the knock which is what causes the uneven charring you occasionally see. This wasn’t a problem whatsoever at Good Wok.

Great example of one of my all time favourite dishes.

Let’s take a look at what my colleagues had:

Chilli Beef at Good Wok, Newtown
Chilli Beef with rice and vegetables

It may not look very hot but this dish is deceptively spicy. It’s kind of like how you don’t think of your friends of the opposite sex as very attractive until you’ve been single for three years; suddenly they’re EXTREMELY hot.

Satay Chicken at Good Wok Newtown
Satay Chicken with vegetables and rice

Again, another deceptively hot dish. It may not look like much, but behind closed doors (or in this case a closed mouth) she’ll definitely spice up your life. My buddies said that the meat to rice ratio was a bit more skewed towards rice than usual but flavour was definitely not compromised.

Here’s the TL;DR for everyone expecting me to wok out with a lot more wok jokes:

– My lawyers have instructed me to inform all of my readers that I have never actually received a lap dance from Beyonce.

– This is actually the first time I’ve had Chinese food in a while.

– Good Wok is cheap, efficient and tasty. Pretty much the restaurant equivalent of me when I was freelancing.

***

Good Wok, Newtown

587 King Street, Newtown

Opening Hours:

Open 6 days

Lunch

Monday – Friday: 11am to 3pm

Dinner

Monday – Saturday: 4pm to 10pm

Good Wok on Urbanspoon

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11 thoughts on “Good Wok, Newtown

  1. Oh wow. I lose count of the word ‘wok’ you used in this post. But I swear, those prawn crackers are forever addictive there must be some kind of evil force involved in them.

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