Over the past four years, Gung Ho!’s delivery men dashing about the city have become a familiar sight. At traffic lights you can often see one whizzing by, clad in brash hot pink, with ‘Go go go!’ emblazoned on his bike. Late on a rainy Saturday afternoon another’s at your door, pizza box in hand, to witness your deplorable hangover.
Enter Gung Ho! 2.0. The aesthetic has shifted from unintentional industrial to calculated contemporary. Pastel coloured slatted wood and lightly distressed concrete walls dominate, while filament light bulbs – obligatory at all the city’s new openings – hang from the ceiling. Another mandatory décor detail has also been applied: glance up to see a black and white motivational message urging you to ‘dare to be different’.
The new menu traverses old territory but also expands outwards, with a sharper focus on large, shareable plates. There’s a Chinese-inspired, Italian-tweaked balsamic pork belly and a beer-battered fish which fits more squarely in the Western tradition. Baked stuffed mushrooms are ten to an order- six crimini and four shitake-and come jammed with a subtle spinach pesto and a heavy topping of Parmesan that gives a sharper bite.
Be sure to snap up the lemony fried calamari, which is dipped in a spice-laced batter and served with a tangy tartar. The dish evokes idyllic seashore holidays, which is mighty impressive in a landlocked city of over 20 million. A beer mojito, made with Koenig Ludwig Weiss and white rum, and a superlative mango mai tai, made with juice from local company iF Juice, both have a potency worth their price.
Choose between thin or thick crust pizza and watch as your chili prawn pizza is flamed tableside, charring long cross-sections of aubergine and crisping the julienned red chilli peppers. Theatrics included, it’s a fiery new flavour of pizza not for the faint of heart.
Toniolo’s touches make a world of difference. Everyone exudes a friendly, infectious energy that feels authentic and unscripted. In a city where service rarely comes with a smile, it’s this selling point that puts Gung Ho! in a class of its own.
Address: 101, Building 3 China View, 2 Gongti Dong Lu, Chaoyang District 朝阳区工体东路2号中国红街3号楼101号
Source: timeoutbeijing.com
