The GB Cafe Oriental Diner & Sushi Bar at Sneinton Market is the place to come for some truly excellent homestyle Asian cooking. I have been down to dine a few times over the last couple of weeks and hardly had time to pause a moment to write this blog post as I just wanted to come back to try another dish before I did.
Located on Gedling Street, the diner is housed in the same space as the original and much loved GB Cafe but now this place has evolved with an expanded menu featuring classic dishes from places such as Malaysia, China, Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia all sitting alongside the more traditional greasy spoon menu offerings it was previously well known for such as a Full English breakfast (read more here)
LOVE THE MENU BOARD
First impressions were great even before I crossed the threshold I just knew that this place was going to be awesome when I laid my eyes on the menu board on the pavement outside the cafe.
Any place that lists the meals in both English and in the language of origin always catch my eye and my heart as you know that they will be plenty of authentic food cooked inside.
CHAR KWAY TEOW WITH SHRIMPS
My favourite meal so far in the GB Cafe Oriental Diner & Sushi Bar has to be the CHAR KWAY TEOW which they serve here with shrimps.
‘Kway Teow’ translates as Flat Rice Noodles and ‘Char’ to ‘stir-fried’ now admittedly if the menu had just said ‘Stir-Fried Flat Noodles with Shrimp’ I may have just passed by and picked something else. I am so glad that they gave the dish it’s real name as that held my interest and piqued my curiosity.
This dish is a quite famous Hawker dish from South-east Asia and one of the most popular dishes in Malaysia. When I saw this on the menu I did my research to learn all about what it was and it’s history. Then I just knew I had to come down and order a plateful
CHAR KWAY TEOW
I struggle to find the superlatives to communicate just how amazing this seemingly simple plate of food tasted. In essence the dish is a stir fry of flat noodles charred in the pan and mixed with beansprouts, garlic chives, shallots and a generous portion of big juicy shrimp
Soy and Oyster sauces add both saltiness and sweetness, I suspect that there was some fish sauce in there as well adding a bit of umami.
Amongst the mound of stir fried noodles there seemed to be both fried egg and whisps of tofu but I could not categorically say which. I just know that both feature in the traditional recipe I would guess it was egg .
I had expected some slices of Chinese sausage and I thought that was what I was eating but I think that it was actually thinly sliced Belacan, a Malay variety of shrimp paste formed into a cake.
The dish on its own was great but it became a whole lot more interesting and dare I say fabulous when I was brave enough to add some of the fiery looking red paste that was served alongside.
Initially I was cautious but once I tasted the sweet, spicy, smoky flavours of this Sambal balacon I was drawn in and could not resist adding more and more. It pulled my palate back and forth creating a taste sensation that was seemingly unknown at first until it revived long lost memories of dishes eaten overseas many years ago. I was recollecting lunches sat on an upturned crate alongside a street food vendor on a dusty street scoffing noodles and supping a cold beer.
It was irresistible and I loved every mouthful and immediately wished for more even though my belly was swollen from scoffing down the most generous portion I had been served. I would come back time and time again for this dish alone, but I suspect that there are many more delights to be found on the menu so at least for now I will give the other dishes a chance to titillate my taste buds
SPICY BEEF SOUP RAMEN
Another dish that I tried at the GB Cafe Oriental Diner was a bowl of their SPICY BEEF SOUP RAMEN. Those of you who read regularly and know me all to well understand that I just cannot resist this particular type of food and spend an inordinate amount of my life and time hunting down and trying any variation of noodle soup that I can find!
The SPICY BEEF SOUP RAMEN arrived steaming hot in a huge bowl that was filled with beef, vegetables and soft thin noodles that were buried deep inside the rich red murky looking broth. It was quite hard to find the noodles and some masterful chopstick action was needed foraging under the surface to fish the noodle strands out.
STILL WORKING MY WAY THROUGH THE SOUP
After I had worked my way through the top layers of tender beef, beansprouts, and cabbage I chanced upon the half slice of boiled egg that had been lurking beneath the surface. I was delighted with my find it was an added bonus item.
This was a generously filled bowl and while I slurped as much of the broth up as I could I struggled to down the whole bowlful. Don’t worry I didn’t leave any of the good bits behind I made sure that all the beef and the noodles did not escape my clutches
All in all his bowl was full of excellent flavours but was not as spicy as I thought it would be, perhaps my tolerance has just gone up over the years or maybe I was just in an agreeable mood for the heat.
KATSU CHICKEN CURRY
The last main dish tried so far was the KATSU CHICKEN CURRY which traditionally comes with steamed white rice. For some reason my dining companion asked if it could come with a side of the coconut rice instead and the lovely people at the cafe obliged us with the the request.
Was it the right rice to have? well no not really if we were playing the authenticity game but in actuality it was a really nice alternative, slightly sticky, and with a light delicate flavouring of coconut.
To my mind the rice was secondary and the main event on the plate was the juicy chicken with its crisp crunchy coating along with the thick almost gloopy curry sauce that we all know and love.
This was perhaps the simplest and safest dish that we have tried from the menu and one that looks far more rustic and less complex than the others. That however is it’s charm, it was a most comforting meal and portrayed homestyle cooking at it’s best, there is no need to chef this up at all!
CHICKEN GYOZA
I suppose that I could have began the post with the starter of CHICKEN GYOZA that we shared on our first visit but I got so carried away getting all ebullient about the CHAR KWAY TEOW that any talk of these dumpling treats got relegated towards the end of the post.
Now that does not not mean that in anyway that it is less worthy of mention or even of ordering. I suspect that when my dining companion is present we will always share a plateful
At the time I described this portion of gyoza or potstickers as I like to call them as a “Lovely chewy dumpling wrapper with a tasty meaty filling served with a sweet chilli dip” and commented that while it was an excellent starter it was just a shame to get 5 when sharing as there is always going to be a fight for the last one.🤣😍
In reality we could have had a plateful each there was no real need to share, I love me some potsticker action
LUNCH SPECIALS MENU
Price wise it was more expensive than the old cafe prices with most main dishes falling around the £12-14 mark. Having said that the portions were huge and the meals were really good and well worth the money.
I did see that they also have a host of daily specials on the whiteboard by the counter with various lunchbox deals for just £7.99 that sounds like a banging deal!
THE MALAYSIAN SECTION OF THE MENU
I have loved everything that I have eaten so far at the diner and I have not really got much further than page one where they list out the Malaysian dishes.
I am definitely coming back for the Sambal Chicken, the Rendang Beef, the Nasi Goreng and the Hainanese Chicken rice. In fact I just might not eat anywhere else for a while🤣😎
GB Cafe Oriental Diner and Sushi Bar is Located at 11 Gedling Street just alongside the market at Sneinton Avenues.
Social media wise I found that their Instagram profile was much more current
There are a couple of Facebook Pages listed for the restaurant, one seems to be for the old cafe and one for the new place but neither seem particularly up to date.
OLD CAFE MENU STILL AVAILABLE
Just in case you were wondering they still offer the old cafe menu alongside the new oriental menu.
I checked the prices of the breakfast and they were still the same price as the last time I reviewed the cafe back in March 2022. You can read about that here.
I would be interested to see if it is still cooked the same way and some day, once I have had my fill of the entire new menu, I may well slip it to check that out 🧐