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Ms. G’s
Add: 155 Victoria Street, Potts Point, 2011 Sydney
Tel: +61 2 8313 1000
Hours: [Mon-Thu] 5pm~11pm [Fri] 12pm~3am [Sat] 5pm~11pm [Sun] 1pm-0pm
Website: www.ms-gs.com/
Price: [smaller plates] 8~18 AUD [larger plates] 16~29 AUD [cocktails] 14~20 AUD
Visited on: 2012-04
Pass through this door covered in pink neon and you are at Ms. G’s. The decor is grungy New York loft style, with a graffiti wall, ceiling of jam jars, seats made up of Yebisu beer crates, all in a mood lighting that’s not unlike those used in red light districts (which is only a street away, for your information). The two chefs, Dan Hong and Jowett Yu, one of Vietnamese origin and the other Taiwanese, joined forces to create a menu that blends Vietnam/China/Taiwan/Korea, then infused it with a bit of America. If you are familiar with David Chang’s Momofuku, you have an idea of what to expect here.
The decor kept my eyes busy, and so did the seating arrangements. Tables – a mix of booths and communal dining – are spread over four levels, all overlooking each other, layer after layer.
As all tables in the dining area were taken, we were ushered up to the attic bar. There’s a good range of beers, sake, and some fun cocktails served in plastic bubble tea cups, and yes, they even have the special sealing machine and the big straws. I tried a Mull It Over (14 AUD), a mix of Beefeater gin, pomegranate liqueur, mulberry vinegar, orange, lemon. The drink was excellent, though it wasn’t served in a bubble tea cup as it belongs to the “unpackaged” section.
Some bubble tea containers, soon to be sealed.
Who is Ms. G, you may ask? Or is it…MSG? Why yes, there’s even a neon sign in the restaurant that says “six two one” – MSG’s additive code. But not to worry, this is merely a play on words and they don’t actually use MSG in the dishes.
After a bit of a wait, we descended to the dining area for our table. The level we were seated in was draped in oversized ropes and raw light-bulbs, with a graffiti wall as the backdrop. Pretty cool.
Mini banh mi rolls (6 AUD/ea) are the mandatory starter here. This variation on the all-time favorite Vietnamese snack comes in the form of a small bread roll stuffed with chicken liver parfait, twice-cooked pork belly (or fried chicken) and pickled shreds of carrot and coriander. Spiced with Sriracha chilli mayonnaise, it’s a few full-flavored mouthfuls.
Prawn toast (14 AUD), all crisp-fried bread with prawn mousse and yuzu aioli, topped by a mountain of herbs.
Rather disappointing was the grilled beef (28 AUD) served with pancakes, cucumber kimchi, and nuoc cham (a Vietnamese fish sauce-based dip). Even though it’s a “larger plate”, the portion was pathetically small, and the taste wasn’t very special either.
I was amused by the decor and ambience at Ms. G’s, but the food left my lukewarm. Mini banh mi was quite something, but the other two dishes we tried were just ok. The restaurant has sure got its charm though, as the place was still busy at around 10pm on a weekday. Perhaps we just ordered the wrong dishes, and if I were living in Sydney, it’s certainly a place I’d come back to have a second tasting on.
