Gold Coast: Cha Cha

Cha Cha
Shop 6, 2705 Gold Coast Hwy, Gold Coast



When deciding where to eat down at the coast, I tried to separate the good stuff from the hype. From what I read, Cha Cha is one of those unique eateries that locals flood into every night. Of all the reviews I read, the general consensus is that it's cheap, good food, good variety but always very, very busy.

On the night we went, it was pouring down. I took this to be a good sign - maybe enough people will be discouraged from eating out that we'll actually get a seat. No such luck. The place was packed. After much fussy and waiting, we were offered a table with the warning that 'this might get wet'.

I couldn't decide whether or not to take the risk but Charlie sat down and so it was decided. Everything turned out quite well for us because the rain stopped at that moment (happy coincidences do happen) and we didn't get any bit wet at all.


There are lots of menu items to chose from but the menu wasn't as huge as I'd imagined. I eat at Asian-style eateries quite often so I'm used to large menus. Food was cheap - around $10 for a main. Again, this is normal for the kind of eateries I go to in Brisbane.

We chose a few entree items to share and a main each. I was expecting the food to take a long time because it was so busy and service seemed chaotic and slightly disorganized. Turns out I was wrong because everything came out reasonably quickly.

Hot Japanese green tea

The hot Japanese green tea we ordered was quite nice. Strong tea flavor with a bit of rice flavor... sounds odd but they put some puffed grains in the tea. I liked it.

For entrees, we had chosen wasabi karaage chicken, Japanese sausages and takoyaki.

Japanese sausages with mustard and mayonnaise

Takoyaki

Wasabi karaage chicken

For mains, I chose the stir-fried rice noodles with veggies and pork. It tasted a bit like Korean bulgolgi and also came with a bowl of rice, which I found weird. I rarely eat my noodles with rice...

Stir-fried rice noodles with pork and veggies

Charlie picked a gingered pork rice dish. I tried a bit and it was really yummy. Saucy and sweet with a bit of a gingery taste. It also came with a simple coleslaw.

Gingered pork rice dish with coleslaw

In terms of food, overall the standards were on par other eateries I frequent. The food was tasty and fresh but not like 'wow this is amazing'. I think this type of food is great for easy everyday eating but not really a special occasion or if you're wanting to impress. Maybe they don't have a lot of good Asian eateries on the coast but I personally found the fuss a bit unjustified because although Cha Cha was reasonable, I know many places at least as good in Brisbane.