But the Goodtime team wasn’t content. Andrew Yu and Beverley Teo believed that Goodtime could be more than good, it could be great. So, they decided to give Goodtime an overhaul – reframing the concept as a slick Cantonese-style yum cha bar with a bigger focus on cocktails.
“Our customers have high expectations,” says Andrew. “They want an elevated atmosphere and they want something special. We can do something special here.”
A few months ago, Goodtime closed while the team instigated an aesthetic pivot. Salumi Studio and Clui Design were once again engaged to work on the rebrand and redesign, respectively, honing in on a fresh persona that was tinged with a bit of nostalgia.
“In West End – and especially in West Village – there are a lot of heritage buildings, so we tried to have something that aligned with the environment,” explains Andrew. “We wanted something that had a 60s or 70s feel.”
Goodtime’s previous palette of neutral-toned tiling and blonde timber has been exchanged in favour of a colour scheme consisting of burgundy, cream and dark marble, with hanging globe pendant lights giving the space a vivacious retro lean. The bar has been repositioned and new banquettes installed along one wall. The restaurant still boasts an alfresco dining area that wraps around Goodtime’s position on the corner of the Peters Ice Cream Factory building.
When it came to rebuilding the menu, Andrew and Beverley decided to start from a blank slate, shaping Goodtime’s new-look offering around a retooled yum cha and dim sum offering.
“We started from scratch, because before Goodtime was more of a noodle bar concept, but now we are focusing more on smaller portions of Chinese food – almost like tapas to go with the cocktails,” explains Andrew.
The a la carte menu is extensive, starting with small yum cha dishes like squid ink prawn and wasabi dumplings, pork, prawn and mushroom shu mai topped with roe, pork ribs with fermented black-bean sauce, duck san choy bao, sesame prawn toast, and salted egg lava buns.
Goodtime’s large-portion plates take the form of 18-hour slow-cooked pork belly, wok-fried Mongolian lamb fillets, crispy roast duck and osmanthus honey-glazed chicken, while classic noodle and rice dishes like wok-fried wagyu beef rice noodle and truffle fried rice round out the offering.
If Goodtime 2.0 boasts a signature menu item, it would be the Heroes Banquet – a well-priced feast that allows diners to enjoy one yum cha dish, one kitchen snack (vegetarian spring rolls or sweet potato chips, for example) and one main dish for $30.
Over at the bar, Goodtime is dispensing a refreshed beverage list anchored by a bunch of signature cocktails boasting tantalising Asian-inspired twists – like the Donald Tonghulu, which mixes vodka, raspberry, lime and Hawthorne tea together into an ambrosial elixir. Guests can also pick from a sturdy list of Australian wines, while a few craft beers are also available.
Goodtime is now open to the public – operating hours and contact details can be found in the Stumble Guide.