Gonzo's Tea Room

The Gen

I opened my notebook to begin this review and the smell of last night’s meal welcomingly washed over me from the food stained pages. Scents can evoke powerful memories and this one brings with it a warm reminder of the fantastic culinary experience at Gonzo’s Tea Room. The yellowy, grease stained pages were a gross and shameful testament to the quality of delicious food and my gluttonous inability to leave it alone for even a second, chewing and scribbling like a deranged yet oddly literate swarm of locusts. If infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters can write Shakespeare, a small cloud of locusts with a mini biro robbed from Argos should be able to fart out one of my reviews.

The atmosphere

The pug and crossbones above the door set the tone for the décor of Gonzos; quirky curios, fun trinkets, vintage object d’art, cheap pop culture tat. Call it what you will, there’s a bit of everything in an eclectic array across every inch of wall space. A thousand disparate things are oddly drawn together in a collage of Cool. And ‘Cool’ is the right word, cool with a capital ‘C’ because they are probably too cool to worry about correct grammar. Seating too is mixed; banked pallets line the walls strewn with cushions, pillows and blankets (like an upcycled harem), and there are vintage mahogany chairs and old school stools. You can draw these up to a retro Atari game table to eat, or lounge in the glow of a television deeper than it is wide, hooked up to an N64. Gonzo’s revels in its deliberately anarchic and eccentric appearance. This would usually annoy me, striking an artificial chord, but instead I’m carried away with the fun and charm of the place. After ordering at a restaurant, conversation is usually along the theme of ‘I wonder when the food will arrive.’ Here it’s more like ‘I wonder when the foo- IS THAT AN AT-AT?’ as you spot new and wonderful things.

The Main event

Chicken wings and burgers – YES! Unusually, I went in with a plan. I was going for a starter, main course and dessert all of chicken wings, choosing from the excellent selection of toppings on offer. These are served by the pound and come in baskets piled high and drenched in flavour. This wasn’t enough for the chef though who wouldn’t let us leave without trying one of their speciality burgers or his favourite chicken wing flavour. I’ve never been happier for my wishes to be ignored and mounds of food were brought to us. This speaks so clearly of an enormous passion for food and love of sharing it with others – a desire that is so important and so obvious when you sink your teeth into the grub.

Let’s start with the wings – in the coming conflict, napkins will be your greatest ally. The wings are small which gives a larger surface area and more space for the toppings so the little buggers pack a real punch of flavour. My starter was to be Canadian maple and bacon – the maple glaze a delicious sweet counter to the salty taste of the huge sprinkling of small crunchy bacon lardons. Main course was blue cheese and walnut – a stronger savoury but less in your face flavour that lingers moreishly at the back of your tongue. Dessert was peanut butter and jelly – I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much, thinking it was just a novelty. I was very wrong. The peanut butter crisped up the chicken skin deliciously and you know it works with jam.

The chef’s favourite wings are now my favourite wings – Teriyaki orange. A dark glaze that clings cloyingly to the chicken like treacle; beyond good.As a side we ordered the spinach and artichoke ‘crack dip’ which came hot from the kitchen served with tortilla chips. Like the name suggested I couldn’t stop eating this and was trying to pawn my phone to get my hands on more. It also has green in it so it must be healthy.The burger of choice sent to us was the hippy burger, sweet potato and cumin veggie burger with hummus and cucumber served in a brioche bun and fries. One of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had.

Overall

After-hours the chairs and stools are tidied away (like a hipster school assembly) and Gonzo’s morphs into an undeniable highlight of Norwich’s nightlife. If it was just this I’d still be happy but unlike most of its nocturnal competitors this place has real substance to back up its popularity – the food is genuinely excellent.

Venue – 8.5

Fodder – 9

Value – 8

Overall – 8.5