There’s “real magic” in the kitchen but some challenges to overcome.
It’s easy to drive to Gao but a little hard to park. The restaurant is literally on the Dairy Park Highway which means you’re a little screwed if you pull into the carpark and find it to be full.
The restaurant is a mammoth building that must feel even bigger when the temperature warms up and diners spill outside. I visited in July, when it was cold indoors, let alone out in the garden bar. I asked if I could be moved to the right side of the single standing bar heater but apparently someone had booked that table already.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “They won’t be able to park until I leave anyway.”
But he wasn’t having it and I’m not sure it would have made much of a difference. A table of four girls were sitting right in front of that heater and they all still had their coats on.
“We are cold,” one of them confirmed when I asked them for a third-party assessment of the restaurant temperature. Gosh, they must have thought, pick-up lines have really gone downhill.
Service is friendly and busy and perhaps a touch impersonal. I mean, you would prefer a guy brought your wine at light speed than asked you about your day but some places manage to successfully do both. Gao is perhaps better suited to the group dinner than the solo gentleman looking for some bants. There were plenty of happy groups here and the next time your indoor netball team wants a “meet the partners” evening you won’t find a better venue than this.
If they’re busy on the floor they’re even more hectic in the kitchen, where I think Gao’s real magic takes place. The menu is “Asian-fusion”, which was more exciting in 2015 than 2025 but it is crowd-pleasing stuff – a bit of spice, plenty of flavour and no hard geographical boundaries to worry about when you’re writing the recipes.
Speaking of which, I actually loved the “cheeseburger spring rolls”, which came (briefly) recommended by the waiter and tasted like the perfect mash-up of East and West. It’s mostly mince inside a deep-fried pastry shell, which is covered in shaved parmigiano and drizzled in a Korean-style secret sauce that makes the whole thing difficult to stop eating. Each half-roll is served with quick-pickled onion on the eater’s fresh friend: a small, crispy-cold cos lettuce leaf.
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These leaves make another appearance with the raw tuna served “kinilaw” style. I wasn’t familiar with this Filipino recipe but it stands out from your bog-standard restaurant ceviche I think mostly due to the addition of vinegar, and some lightly-sweet, finely diced mango. Coconut cream brings the whole tropical vibe together.
They bring you food “as it’s cooked”, which generally works okay, though there was a slightly comical moment when the roti I’d ordered with my beef massaman arrived by itself several minutes before the main course. I sat there trying to resist it – not the best roti in the world, more like the roof of a service station pie, but still hard not to nibble when there’s nothing else to do. Eventually the curry arrived – intensely flavoured and perfectly braised – and the remnants of the bread were put to good use.
I began by listing Gao’s challenges but there are lots of good things to say about the place. I like the big murals and the general style of the decor, and I was surprised by the quality of the wine list. I don’t know how our greatest producer, Pyramid Valley, ended up with their sauvignon blanc on this list but I was very pleased to find it.
There are some good-looking house cocktails too, though I note they’re not available during the “Bottomless Brunch”, a 90-minute event that runs twice on a Saturday and same again on a Sunday. These brunches, now popping up around the city, will either be your sort of thing or it won’t – it isn’t mine, though I fear at some point my editor will insist I go along to one and report back on the carnage.
I’m sure Gao’s version is delicious and exceptionally efficient, though you might find the walk to the bathroom challenging: the artist behind the murals has spray-painted the corridor in a completely mindbending pattern that makes you feel like you’ve stumbled into an episode of Twin Peaks. It freaked me out after a single glass of sav; I definitely wouldn’t risk it after six mimosas.
Gao
Cuisine: Asian fusion
Address: 4/200 Dairy Flat Highway, Albany, ph 027 218 2114
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Drinks: Fully licensed
From the menu: cheeseburger spring roll $20, Peking Duck pancake $25, tuna kinilaw $24, beef massaman $39, roti $5
Rating: 15/20
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don’t delay.
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