Gurney Drive (closed)
One evening on our way home from the CBD, Alastair, Bro and I stopped at Gurney Drive for a quick meal. The restaurant, presumably named after Gurney Drive in Penang, Malaysia, sells Penang Malaysian hawker food. It’s decked out with bright walls, framed pictures, and heavy wooden tables and chairs – oh, and lots of photos of the food stuck on the front window!
We ordered:
The Penang nasi pattaya ($9.20), a Penang type fried rice placed inside an omelette. It was just fried rice, but I really enjoyed it.
The Gurney chicken ribs ($18.80) were an extremely good eat. Now, you may wonder like we did, how you get chicken ribs. I have no idea! I would expect that chicken ribs would be quite small without a lot of meat, but these were quite meaty. They had been coated in a thick, sweetish sauce, and were pretty freaking moreish.
We also had a beef curry (about $10 I think?). I didn’t mind the curry, but the boys weren’t a fan of it. Like I said, I didn’t mind it, but I could see where they were coming from. The meat was in seriously huge chunks, so they didn’t think the meat had a chance to absorb the curry flavours. It tasted fairly mild, and was pretty oily as you can see (I don’t really care about that, but I’m sure others might). I would’ve liked quite a lot more spiciness.
I think Gurney Drive is worth a revisit – particularly for the chicken ribs. Other blogs say that the char kway teoh is also good so I must give that a go. I’m always on the hunt for a good char kway teoh!
Check out more opinions at these blogs:
[googleMap name=”Gurney Drive” width=”600″ height=”300″ directions_to=”false”]284 Victoria St West Melbourne VIC Australia[/googleMap]
Gurney Drive
284 Victoria St
West Melbourne
Phone: 9329 6649
leaf (the indolent cook)
May 27, 2011 @ 12:03 am
Don’t know if I’d visit this place in a hurry, but it’s always good to have more Malaysian options around! And those chicken ribs sound delicious.
Agnes
May 28, 2011 @ 9:50 pm
The ribs are really good! It’s one of those joints that’s good to go to if you’re in the vicinity.
FOOD
May 27, 2011 @ 9:06 pm
Yummy photos! Reminded me of the Gurney Drive hawker stalls back in Penang.
But the best Penang food is apparently not at Gurney. It’s always hidden somewhere in the alley.
Agnes
May 28, 2011 @ 9:51 pm
Sadly I haven’t had the pleasure of going to Penang! But when I do, I’ll remember the alley… tho that does sound a bit dodgy 😉
Iron Chef Shellie
May 27, 2011 @ 9:43 pm
someone was telling me about this place last night and i was like… wha?? i never heard of it! now i know… thanks Agnes! 🙂
Agnes
May 28, 2011 @ 9:52 pm
Haha, well you’re not expected to know of every restaurant in existence around Melbourne 😉
April @ My Food Trail
May 28, 2011 @ 12:20 am
When I saw the post name, I was like… ooh, you went to Penang! 🙂
Food looks good, especially the chicken ribs. Chicken ribs are on any good Chinese restaurant’s menu – have you not seen them before? They must use supersized chickens or something because the chicken ribs that are served at restaurants (or even sold at butchers) have heaps of meat on one single rib!
Agnes
May 28, 2011 @ 9:53 pm
Penang? If only! 😀 I haven’t seen chicken ribs at Chinese restaurants before – only at Nandos. The chickens really must be huge!
msihua
May 28, 2011 @ 6:54 pm
Haven’t had their dishes..we usually go there for their hawker food.. char kway teow is quite authentic and so is their clay pot tear drop noodles.. NOM
Agnes
May 28, 2011 @ 9:53 pm
Really? I’ll have to try those items out next time!
Hannah
May 28, 2011 @ 8:35 pm
Perhaps the chickens that produced those ribs were on steroids? No, wait, they were probably just magical chickens from the far-off land of Uberhugetown. Yes, I’m sure that’s the correct explanation.
Agnes
May 28, 2011 @ 9:54 pm
Yes, I’m sure you’re absolutely correct 😉
penny aka jeroxie
May 31, 2011 @ 11:00 pm
I have yet to try it out. Chicken ribs does look amazing. And I heard the CKT isnt too bad either.
Agnes
June 10, 2011 @ 11:40 am
I definitely will have to try the CKT next time.
Conor @ Hold the Beef
June 1, 2011 @ 12:45 am
Those ribs look fingerlicking good. Well, probably finger licking, then using up a few napkins, then having to go wash your hands too cos the napkins keep sticking to them good.
I thought maybe that they just tricked with the “rib” and they were those half wing bits, but I guess that would be kinda obvious when you’re eating them so I must be wrong in my cynicism!
Agnes
June 10, 2011 @ 11:41 am
Hah, no they actually were chicken ribs! Off a monster chicken, I presume.
Jenn Brigole
June 1, 2011 @ 2:03 am
The choices you made are giving me a pain in my stomach right now. I want to eat all of that! LOL! I wouldn’t care if the chunks were big, or it’s oily, I would still devour that dish.
Agnes
June 10, 2011 @ 11:43 am
Haha, I ate up the rendang – big chunks, oil and all 😀
Judy @ Foodie Dreams
June 9, 2011 @ 3:27 pm
Those chicken ribs look good! Plus I suppose that’s quite an untapped area of Melbourne as far as Malaysian food goes…