Gami Chicken & Beer, Canberra

Hi foodies,

How have you been lately? Five years after relocating to Canberra, I must admit that we are still on the journey to discover the city’s food scene. The capital is a small but diverse place with a wide range of food options across all regions, from high-quality fine dining to casual food options, satisfying all cravings for good food. Korean fried chicken, one of my favourable dishes from the cuisine, appears in many venues and joints in the capital. Some long-term readers may recall I made Korean-style fried chicken many years ago when in Adelaide. When a review opportunity came up for this, my answer is always YES!

Gami Chicken and Beer is a popular Australian Korean restaurant chain serving authenticate yet modern fried chicken with a fun and casual dining environment. The decor of yellow, green, and black makes the dining experience relaxing and comfortable. With 37 restaurants across the nation, the joint is popular among locals whether it was for a casual day out or for the good satisfaction of quality fried chicken.

We turned up at the Canberra Centre Gami on Bunda Street over the weekend for lunch. The eatery was packed with people already when we arrived and the service quality was good. The restaurant has a simple and fun menu, ranging from their famous fried chicken to some classic Korean dishes.

On the drink side, the menu features soju, cocktails to their in-house soft drinks. In considering the fun and Korean theme, we went for the watermelon soju and tropical cocktail, which was served that we needed to shake before drinking – what a hands-on way to engage with customers! The soju was very refreshing but be careful, the small bottle equates to 4.1 standard drinks so make sure you leave plenty of time to dry it out 🙂 .

For the dishes, we wanted to try their food from multiple angles so decided to go with appetisers, delights, fried chicken, and desserts. There are several highlights from the experience, especially their chicken.

Gami Prawn Mandu, $14.5

Gami Prawn Mandu, $14.5 – Mandu, similar to dumplings, is a traditional Korean dish. The prawn mandu was one of the highlight on the day of the visit. Juicy and tender whole prawns filled the pastry well and the mandu was deep fried to perfection. There was a sauce to go with the mandus to fully promote their flavours. It felt like eating a deep-fried hargow – must order!

Tteok bokki, $14.5

Tteok bokki, $14.5 – We ordered this dish to purely satisfy my chilli and rice cake cravings! The rice cake, fish cake, and noodles were stir-fried in the traditional Korean hot sauce and served straight after. It can satisfy a hungry belly easily and certainly made us sweat is a cold Canberra winter day! Diners also have the option to add mozzarella cheese over the top to make it extra creamy.

Unmissable Chicken, $52

Unmissable Chicken, $52 – Chicken chicken chicken! How can one try all their famous flavours all at once? My solution is to order this unmissable platter which includes all of Gami’s best selling flavours, including:

• Crispy original
• Luscious sweet chilli
• Unique Galbi chicken
• Spicy Gochu mayo

and all of these were topped with Sweet Mustard dipping sauce!.

My personal favourite of the four was the spicy gochu mayo. The deep-fried juicy bone-free chicken pieces was cooked to perfection and then coated with chilli and jalapeno sauce. Every bite was so enjoyable with the crunchiness, the moisture content and the hot spiciness coming altogether! The crispy original also attracted me a lot, especially dipping into the sweet mustard sauce. When biting the chicken, sipping a small amount of the watermelon soju was just so exciting as it took away any oiliness but promoted the flavour.

If you like a sweet side of fried chicken, the other two flavour options will definitely meet your need and amaze you. To be frankly honest, we could not finish the entire dish as there was quite a lot of chicken but highly recommended if anyone wants to try all of their flavours in one go!

Gami K-Donut, $7.9

Gami K-Donut, $7.9 – This dessert was so good and so worth it! This is another highlight for me. The glutinous Korean donuts were filled with rick red bean paste and then drizzled over with caramel syrup and condensed milk. These added extra sweetness and creaminess while the sprinkled peanut pieces added crunchiness to the table. Highly recommended.

You may wonder whether we still had room for another dessert. The answer was no as at this point we were very full but Tina’s sweet tooth kicked in so yes, another dessert was on its way.

Hotteok, $8.5

Hotteok, $8.5 – This is a Korean street food style sweet. Melted black sugar and nuts were used as fillings for the glutinous pancake with a sprinkle of crushed peanuts. It was not too sweet but to a good level and the crunchiness enriched the flavour a lot. Be careful tho, the filling was hot and fluidly when first served :D.

Overall, the experience at Gami Chicken and Beer has been fun, casual and meat-friendly. I enjoyed the warm hospitality from the waitresses who served us on the day. I am already thinking about the Big Chicken and Korean Beer when we return next time!

Until next post, have a lovely time.

James

Disclaimer: Foodies Cucina dined at Gami Chicken and Beer as the guests of the venue but all review comments are our own experience.

Gami Chicken and Beer

Level G, Shop FG07 Canberra Centre

148 Bunda St

Canberra, ACT 2608

Ph: 02 6152 0339