Service issues stall new Everton Park restaurant Mai Gai
At this northside newcomer the food gets to the table super fast but good luck tracking down a waiter to order it in the first place.
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“I’ll just have to see if your table is ready,” says the maître d’ as we check in for our Sunday night reservation. We’re at the newly opened Mai Gai in Everton Park’s exciting Everton Plaza dining precinct in Brisbane’s north – a sort of Melbourne-esque development of interconnecting laneways lined with casual eateries including a pizzeria, Latin street food noshery and Korean chicken shop.
Mai Gai is contemporary pan-Asian, leading with Thailand but crossing Japan, Malaysia, China and more, and it is heaving with small and large groups of families and friends during our visit.
After several minutes of waiting, the maître d’ returns to take us to our table in the covered outdoor area at the rear of the venue – an absurdly small high table surrounded by five stools and pinned in against a cleaning station, fire hose and stack of children’s high chairs, with nothing but a sheer curtain separating us from the burger restaurant next door.
Despite the expense spent on the industrial-meets-tropical Asian island fit-out, the ambience is lacking – and that’s excusing the view to the carpark. Requesting a table inside is definitely advised.
Sitting inside may also help diners draw the attention of the staff, as we wait 15 minutes for someone to return to our table to take our drink order, while several diners around us walk inside to speak to waiters after giving up on trying to call someone over. Despite the difficulties in attracting staff attention, food comes flying out of the kitchen thick and fast.
The menu is divided into snacks, curries, sides, mains, and rice and noodle dishes. Popular fare like beef massaman, pad see ew, bao and sticky pork belly are all available. There’s also a six-course banquet for $55 for two or more people encompassing, say, Korean popcorn chicken, Sichuan salted squid, cashew chicken stir-fry and more.
Our waitress admits the kitchen has made a mistake with our order, cooking both our entrees and mains at the same time. She gives us the option of having it all sent out at once or having the dishes recooked to come out again in 15 minutes. We opt for them all to come out at once, and given the relatively small portions of each dish, it’s not a concern.
The prawn toast ($14) is a contemporary and quality version of the classic, it’s exterior like fairy bread with white and black sesame seeds, and interior moist and generous with seafood.
While the Moreton Bay bug bao ($12) may just be Queensland’s new lobster roll, with the seafood lightly tempura battered and expertly cooked until tender, complemented by a herbaceous and zingy mayonnaise and flickering of red cabbage on a cushiony, sweet bun. The Mai Gai butter chicken ($26) is an interesting take on Australia’s favourite Indian dish. Discernibly lighter in texture and flavour than the ubiquitous curry, the chicken is cooked in a wok first rendering the bite-sized pieces firm, while the almost tamarind-sour gravy seems to be poured over afterwards.
If it’s heaviness you want though, there’s the twice-cooked short rib ($38). Using premium Cape Grim beef, the meat is boiled then cooked low and slow, according to our waitress, before being plucked from the pan just at the point of absolute tenderness. Ready to collapse with a nudge of a fork, the beef is drizzled with the mildest chilli caramel and some bean shoots.
Its cloyingness calls for a sip of the lemon-heavy, vodka-based Elephant Trunk cocktail from the list of signature cocktails. It would also pair well with one of the local or Asian beers on tap or by the bottle, while the wine list is a roll call of Australia’s most popular brands.
It’s still early days for Mai Gai and hopefully with a few more tweaks to the service and furniture layout, chef Suchada Nakbunchuay’s food will be about to truly shine.
MAI GAI
791 Stafford Rd, Everton Park
0434 954 205
Open
Daily for lunch and dinner
Must eat dish
Moreton Bay bug bao
VERDICT – Scores out of 5
Food 3
Ambience 2.5
Service 2.5
Value 3
Overall 3
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