I've been eying The Gaya for quite some time ever since it made an appearance on urbanspoon however we never really got around to trying it until the other day.

The interior is simple and quaint and we had no trouble finding the place as there was a large sign pointing us in the right direction so we were off to a good start.  Service was excellent throughout the whole meal and I was particularly impressed with the magical expanding towelettes at the start!

After being seated we were given wet towels and an amuse bouche consisting of small korean pancakes and some sort of cheese biscuit.

Complimentary crispy rice pancake

The pancakes were nice and crispy on the outside with a soft and delicate inside which contained spring onions.  It was also topped with a sweet chilli sauce giving it a bit of a quick!

Complimentary fried cheese

These cheese biscuits were very light and fragrant, the flavour of the cheese went very nicely with the light mayonnaise.

For starters we went with the fish jijimi and crab croquette:

Fish jijimi ($12)

The fish jijimi really seemed to be lightly battered fish in my opinion rather than a korean style pancake (perhaps that's just me) however the batter was seasoned nicely and the fish was cooked well.  Although it was nice at the start I did get a little bored of it after eating a piece or two, it just didn't have that "give me more" kind of taste, especially after the mayo and sweet soy sauce ran out.  I think the addition of prawn antennae gave a nice texture to the jijimi.

Gaya crab croquette ($14)

The crab croquette was superb!  The crumb was nicely seasoned and very crunchy while the inside was moist and fluffy.  The potato within was super smooth and dotted with traces of delicate crab meat.  This, coupled with the spicy mayo gave a wonderful balance of smooth, creamy potato and crab with the sweet spiciness of the mayo, yum!

For mains we ordered the Tteokgalbi and Truffle Hamburg steak.  Each main came with a side dish of pickled celery, seafood pancake and pickled radish.

Sides to compliment our mains (... but no kimchi?)

Truffle Hamburg Steak ($28)

The patty for the hamburg steak was well cooked and very tender.  There was also a beansprout salad, mushrooms, rice and some cauliflower all sitting on a truffle cream sauce.  While the patty was tender and cooked very well, I couldn't help but feel that all the other elements were simply drenched in the cream sauce which reminded me of the white sauce used in lasagne.

The richness of the cream sauce overpowered the saltiness of the patty and the freshness of the beansprouts, leaving a feeling of crunchy creaminess in your mouth which I didn't find particularly pleasant.  The dish could of been improved by simply putting less of the cream sauce.

The steak was also topped in Parmesan cheese however this was not shaved finely and thus you would end up with large thick shards of cheese which was a bit too mild for the steak and other components due to its thick cut.

Tteokgalbi ($30)

My partner had the tteokgalbi and once again the beef spare rib was cooked very well.  The dish consisted of "Korean royal court cuisine grilled beef cube roll patties with deep fried rice cake and coconut rice topped sunny side up egg with oyster mushroom pickled".  The rice was also very fragrant and the seafood salad was very fresh.  All the elements were nice individually however I thought they were an odd combination, especially the deep fried rice cakes which were sweet and chewy, it didn't mix well with the other elements at all.  All together the dish didn't seem to come together properly, well to me anyway but the elements alone tasted nice.

Finally we had the red misu for our dessert and it was amazing, definitely the highlight of the meal.  The texture was smooth and creamy and the flavour was on point.  The red misu also contained little chunks of red beans which I thought was nice, the "soil" on the top was a nice chocolate crumb which went very well with the red misu both in terms of flavor and texturally.  What amazed me most was the "stones" on the top which really do look like pebbles but they were actually nice chocolates, very nice.

Homemade Red Misu ($8)

Overall, The Gaya was just alright for me, not enough to take me back but I am willing to give them another chance as I believe they have recently changed their menu.  I am still somewhat confused about their idea of Korean fusion and I don't really see much Korean in the dishes at all.

7/10.

Le Vietnam, Perth CBD

Being a big fan of presotea, I have seen this coffee shop numerous times across the road from the BBT shop on Barrack Street, but somehow whenever we are scouting for places to eat, it never came across our minds. So on Monday, we finally got around to it :)

Stepping into the coffee shop, I was already in awe with the decos. I reached there around 12pm so there were plentiful of seats.

Le Vietnam's interior; so classic yet chic.

Being very hungry, we ordered two bánh mì sandwiches, stuffed chicken wings, a (giant) pork bun and two mini pâté so. The banh mis were so good! I do not like salads in general, but the pickled carrots were quite yum! Together with some vietnamese mayo and the minced meat (I later found out it was called pâté) sandwiched in between toasted bread, it was just heavenly.

The stuffed chicken wings were good, maybe a little bit more salt. The mini pâté so (hot pastry pie) were very scrumptious (loving the extremely flaky and light pastry); the pork bun just reminded me of those meat/vege siew bao we have back home! I was so delighted to find an egg inside it as well haha.

From top to bottom: Original banh mi ($6),
(left to right) stuffed chicken wings ($4 each), mini pate so (sorry I forgot how much were these), pork bun ($4),
grilled pork banh mi ($6)

I enjoyed their vietnamese coffee too - nicely brewed coffee and a good amount of sweetness from the condensed milk. The hot chocolate that Echo had needs a bit of oomph, however, as it was too milky for our liking (making it taste somewhat like flavoured milk instead).

Front: Viet Coffee ($4); Back: Hot Chocolate (Reg $3, Large $4)

Overall, we had a great brunch experience at Le Vietnam. The impressive decor, relaxing atmosphere, tasty food and friendly staffs will make you want to come back for more. I will be back again the next time I am in the city for a quick bite :)