All-you-can-eat yum cha, Aussie craft beer and flying noodles – Goodtime at West Village lives up to its name
Two of our favourite things – Queensland craft beer and Asian cuisine – will unite this Friday December 15 when Goodtime opens its doors at West Village. In addition to pouring frothy pints of beer from Slipstream, Goodtime will be slinging steamy baskets of yum cha, plate after plate of kitchen snacks and big serves of pan-Asian favourites. Here’s what we know …
Cold beer and a spread from the neighbourhood Chinese takeaway spot. Is there a better combo? If you ask Andrew Yu and Beverley Teo, they’ll say no. And we can’t really fault them for saying so – we’ve all spent a Friday evening with a couple of craft brews and a serve of chow mein. It’s a good time. It makes sense then that the duo (who own a string of hospitality concepts, including Queens Plaza’s refined yum cha restaurant Longtime Dining) have named their newest eatery Goodtime – a casual pan-Asian nosh spot and craft-beer bar opening this Friday at West Village.
Inspired by laid-back suburban soirees, living-room gatherings and Sunday barbecues with close friends and family, Goodtime sees Andrew and Beverley tapping into a more relaxed form of hospitality compared to their more upscale concepts. Pairing an unabashed affection for Australian craft beer and Andrew and Beverley’s expertise serving Asian-style fare, Goodtime is recreating the easygoing experience with a menu that evokes the same comforting familiarity as your trusty neighbourhood takeaway joint – just with a few more speciality items thrown into the mix.
The eatery can be found in the corner of The Common in West Village, just next to Cheeky Poké Bar in the space previously home to Beirut Bazaar. Clui Design has conceived the venue’s look, which swaps Beirut Bazaar’s darker palette for one comprised of neutral-toned tiling and blonde timber. This gives Goodtime’s high-ceilinged interior dining space a bright and airy energy, matching sublimely with the alfresco area, which wraps around the venue’s corner of the brick-clad Peters Ice Cream Factory building.
When it came to curating Goodtime’s offering, Andrew and Beverley are building upon two primary pillars – pan-Asian food and craft beer. Already having plenty of experience serving yum cha, the duo has used it as a starting point. “We had the ideas for Longtime and Goodtime during a similar timeframe,” says Andrew, who mentions that COVID put the idea for the more casual concept on the back burner for a short while. “[The delay] gave us time to study and do the analysis to see what is selling well and what we should be adding to the menu. When it came to opening Goodtime and designing the menu, it helped us a lot.”
Goodtime’s debut offering kicks off with a streamlined selection of Longtime’s biggest yum cha sellers and a bunch of kitchen snacks. You’ll spy baskets of juicy prawn har gow, pork and shrimp shumai, xiao long bao and barbecue pork buns, plus salt and pepper corn ribs, crispy eggplant chips, sesame prawn toast and piggy custard buns, among many others. If you’re more of a grazing-style diner, your eating experience could start and end here (especially if you opt for the $49 all-you-can-eat yum cha banquet), but there’s plenty more on Goodtime’s menu to explore.
A selection of larger dishes are also available, ranging from laksa noodle soups and crispy black pepper chicken on rice to Uncle Roger’s special fried rice – a tribute to the viral comedian who is an arbiter of quality when it comes to renditions of quintessential Asian recipes. The undeniable headline menu item is Goodtime’s flying noodles (chicken chow mein with black bean sauce), with its hanging strands of crispy noodles a surefire Instagram-worthy attraction. “I don’t think there are many people doing flying noodles because it’s a lot of work,” says Andrew of the dish, which requires the chefs to suspend the chow mein noodles as they pour hot oil over them until they fry into shape. “It takes three times longer and you have to very patient.”
On the beer front, Goodtime is stocking all local ales. Currently, Slipstream Brewing Co. beers are pouring on tap, with the Yeerongpilly suds maker’s Laguna tropical pale ale, Regatta lager and Magic Mile XPA featuring. A tight wine list mixing domestic and international vino is also available alongside a clutch of signature and classic cocktails, but beer will be the undoubted star sip moving forward.
Goodtime officially opens at West Village on Friday December 15. Head to the Stumble Guide for operating hours and other important details.
The Stumble Guide is our comprehensive Brisbane dining guide with more than 2400 places to eat, drink, shop and play.
