Eating in Canberra

[ademello]

Hi folks - I will in Canberra later this month on business for a few days. I'm looking for a mix of interesting places to visit, and I'm a foodie/wine nut. I'd also like some suggestions for trendy restaurants as well so I can check out the scene. Let me know if you guys have any suggestions!

[PCL]

you might want to check out the Gallagher winery in Murrambateman (sp.??) they do an awesome shiraz, from 2001, in a delicate Cote du Rhone style. web address is http://www.gallagherwines.com.au

i'm also going to be travelling to canberra quite a bit in the next few months, therefore will also be looking into this thread for comments!

[misgabi]

We have been to Ardeche Restaurant (cnr City Walk and Ainslie Avenue) a few times recently. It is really tiny but does modern "french" influence type food. Hard to describe but consistently good - the duck was amazing, as too the smoked trout salad. All six of us who ate there last time could not fault it.

I think it does breakfast too but have not been.

[chopper]

If you can make it to Watermark, on Lake Burley-Griffith, I am sure you will enjoy

yourself. Having worked with the chef, Darren Vaughan, I can assure you that you are in for a treat; the wine list was already interesting when it first opened in late 2002, so I can only image it as improved since.

[PCL]

If you get really bored, the revolving restaurant is good value!!

[Tangle]

Hi folks - I will in Canberra later this month on business for a few days. I'm looking for a mix of interesting places to visit, and I'm a foodie/wine nut. I'd also like some suggestions for trendy restaurants as well so I can check out the scene.

←

Sorry this is late, might not be any use to you now but maybe for the others it will help. I am a Northsider, there is a lot of good stuff Southside but I rarely cross the lake. Also I do not have an expense account, this stuff is mostly midrange except where I've indicated upscale.

If you want trendy, check out the Sydney Morning Herald restaurant awards, they cover Canberra. Also:

Italian - Caffe Della Piazza, it has an award winning wine list. The politicians go to Tosolini's (upscale), I've never been.

Thai - Lemongrass, or Zen Yai Thai, bring your own wine, the winelists aren't that good but the food is great

Traditional Aussie Chinese - Happy's, bring your own beer/wine. Great prawn toast. If you want nice decor, this isn't your place but if you want really good food, it is.

Chinese Fusion - Chairman and Yip, upscale with good wine, they will organise dishes based on your preferences, excellent service

Aussie/Mediterranean - Carlo's in Watson, fair wine list, great food for the suburbs

Indonesian - Indonesian Cafe, it's a hole in the wall, no booze, but it's outstanding. Lunch only. takeaway service

Yum Cha/Dim Sum - Best dumplings are at Imperial Court, if you want something different there's Four Rivers in Dickson that does Sichaun Yum Cha.

I agree with the Ardeche recommendation, I go there about once every two months. Nice french wine list, good service.

There's a boutique brewery called "The Wig and Pen". I'm not a beer drinker but locals love it. Also, there's a good wine bar called "Benchmark" with helpful staff who can guide you around some local wines.

I would stay away from the revolving restaurant, you're paying for the view, not the food. At least, I've yet to hear anyone local say anything nice about the place. Maybe it's changed in the last year, who knows. Happy to answer any other questions if I can.

[PCL]

I was in Canberra for 2 nights last week, and was taken out by my host, therefore didn't get a chance to assert the eGullet rec's.

We ate at La Capanna in Kingston the first night. Nothing spectacular, pasta and pizza stuff. The bottle shop next door however, was selling Fox Creek JMS 2001 for under $24.00, slightly less than cellar door. Brilliant drop, and made up for culinary mediocrity.

The second night, we ate at Martinelli/Maritelli can't remember, in O'Connor. Very very reasonable, with mains around $16, starters at around $8. We had tripe, asparagus, braised shanks, and pork loin with a butter mustard sauce, washed down with Grant Burge Shiraz 2001 ($22 from the bar down the road, tell them Damian sent you otherwise no takeaway!). Will go back for the rustic Italian. Loved the busy crowd although decor sucked, but who cares when the food is good.

Also, the Hippo bar in town rocked, as did The Academy, featuring $800 acrylic lounge stools. Great cocktails at the Hippo.

All in all, Canberra seems good value for BYO, and on future upcoming trips, I look forward to more dilligent food hunting! Got to make your own fun in Canberra as the 'locals' might say.

[PCL]

Went to Ardeche last week.

It bombed. The vegies were from snap frozen packs I suspect, but that's only my opinion.

The duck, well, hardly recognisable. Others had pork, and also the snails. They all bombed. I can't even bother to describe it.

O'Connor's Marinelli is still the best bet, or even Silo in Kingston for lunch. Silo was great. Real food. Pity it's a bit away from the city, but worth the trip. Picked it over Artespresso and stayed for 4 hours. Good wines too.

[The Chefs Office]

If you can make it to Watermark, on Lake Burley-Griffith, I am sure you will enjoy

yourself. Having worked with the chef, Darren Vaughan, I can assure you that you are in for a treat; the wine list was already interesting when it first opened in late 2002, so I can only image it as improved since.

←

I think that's Water's Edge rather than Watermark.

Yep Darren is still there and harvesting awards. He's a good boy.

Edited November 4, 2004 by The Chefs Office (log)

[chopper]

Maybe worth a look...

[PCL]

On the corner Northbourne Avenue and Allara St in Civic, there lies the cave. Well, not really a cave, but it could be considered a glazed cave...

No need to say 'open sesame' to get to the treasure and believe you me treasure is what you'll find. Mr Adhami and crew run a tight operation, and despite what I've been told about the restaurant/takeaway being part of a chain, this is one place where the operator makes all the difference.

We're talking kebabs, grilled meats, excellent chicken, salads, vine leaves, hummus...etc. Everything fresh, kebabs done a'la minute when they're ordered, salads and dips glistening under ample natural daylight (Canberra is like, bright dude...). And the chicken actually tastes like chicken.

I've been taking lunch here every time I've been in the nation's capital for the last couple months and I suggest doing the following:

- go with a group of people

- ask for Mr Adhami

- say you want a platter to feed so-many-people

- sit back, relax, compose yourself

- when platter arrives, go hard

The platters generally don't come with chicken in my experience, but then again, I haven't paid much attention to the menu. I'm sure they will be happy to accommodate requests, and of course, you can order off the menu.

I am acquainted with Mr Adhami's son in a professional capacity (architecture/design... not food!) but nonetheless, this is a quality adventure if you're ever in the ACT.

[The Chefs Office]

now I like the sound of that place, next time I'm up that way I'm there!

Right up my alley.

[PCL]

I have been informed that there's a mistake in the original post, the address should be:

The corner of Northbourne Ave and Alinga Streets, NOT Allara.

[PCL]

Apparently there's an Ali Baba here in Melbourne too at the QV building, but I'm in no hurry. If I want Ali Baba, I'm going to Canberra.

[Shalmanese]

On the corner Northbourne Avenue and Allara St in Civic, there lies the cave. Well, not really a cave, but it could be considered a glazed cave...

No need to say 'open sesame' to get to the treasure and believe you me treasure is what you'll find. Mr Adhami and crew run a tight operation, and despite what I've been told about the restaurant/takeaway being part of a chain, this is one place where the operator makes all the difference.

We're talking kebabs, grilled meats, excellent chicken, salads, vine leaves, hummus...etc. Everything fresh, kebabs done a'la minute when they're ordered, salads and dips glistening under ample natural daylight (Canberra is like, bright dude...). And the chicken actually tastes like chicken.

I've been taking lunch here every time I've been in the nation's capital for the last couple months and I suggest doing the following:

- go with a group of people

- ask for Mr Adhami

- say you want a platter to feed so-many-people

- sit back, relax, compose yourself

- when platter arrives, go hard

The platters generally don't come with chicken in my experience, but then again, I haven't paid much attention to the menu. I'm sure they will be happy to accommodate requests, and of course, you can order off the menu.

I am acquainted with Mr Adhami's son in a professional capacity (architecture/design... not food!) but nonetheless, this is a quality adventure if you're ever in the ACT.

←

I actually stumbled into this place more by chance than anything else and, despite my intial reluctance due to the general cheezy chain nature of the place, was pretty surprised by the quality of the food. The salads looked fresh and not wilted and the meat had some decent flavour but I was most surprised by the chips. Light and fluffy on the inside with a satisfying crunch, this is probably one of the only fast food places that properly double fries their chips. Next time I go, I'll try the platter strategy.

The other places I dined in Canberra was the Wig & Pen and Courgette. The Wig & Pen had adequate pub food but consistently excellent beers (although they pulled the porter since it was summer ).

The Courgette was just an absolute mess, a throwback to the 80's of large plates and small servings and obsequious service. The menu was a mess with seemingly randomly thrown together sides to accompany some chunk of protein. There wasn't any rhyme nor reason to the menu choices. I had the quail to start and, while the quail was perfectly cooked, the sauce was way oversalted and completely obliterated the delicate taste of quail. I think I had veal or venison for the main (which kind of tells you about their preparation) which had a rabbit risotto which was gummy and clearly standing under heat lamps (It wouldn't have been physically possible to cook that small a portion of risotto properly). The meal was cooked properly but I couldn't figure out what the hell was the point of this dish. Dessert was something unmemorable and overly sweet. In the end, the bill came to $250 for 3 people with wine and I didn't feel it was worth a return visit. Then again, my dining companions seemed pretty happy with their meals so maybe I was just in a bad mood.

edit: After looking at the online menu, apparently what I had was the "Quail breasts with confit shallots and wild mushroom tortellini, tomato, baby beans and fine herbs" to start. The mushroom tortellini was distinctly gritty and slightly musty, I don't know what wild mushrooms they chose but it was a big disappointment. The shallots, tomato and baby beans were actually quite decent though. For a main, I had "Milk fed White Rocks veal loin with confit rabbit risotto smoked garlic, sauté tatsoi and sage jus". For the life of me, I cannot remember the smoked garlic or the sage jus and the tatsoi just tasted like generic chinese greens. Dessert was "Port roasted black figs served with white chocolate beignet and malt ice cream" with peaches subbed for figs. The peaches were pretty flavourless although the ice-cream was very nice. Unfortunately, a single taste of the syrup obliterated my tastebuds with sweetness and I couldn't taste the ice-cream after that.

Edited December 2, 2005 by Shalmanese (log)

[PCL]

I can't say I enjoyed Courgette when I was there.

Do give Ali Baba another go though.

And you might want to try Mezza Lira in the Melbourne Building. Good Italian, professional if cold service, and decent wine list. Nice steak too, done in an almost traditional Tuscan 'tagliata' style, served sliced on a bed of 'wild' rocket.

[oesophagus]

Canberra is a constant source of disappointment. The only places really resembling serious restaurants are Artespresso, the Ginger Room and the Ottoman. The food at Artespresso is brilliant, but the chef there hides the light of his culinary brilliance under the bushel of an unlovely and loud restaurant, plain menu descriptions and the world's least appropriate menu typeface. If you can ignore all that, the payoff from the food is consistently high.

The Ottoman is a little overhyped and in desperate need of more turnover in its dishes. Skip the mains and ask your waiter to do you a tasting or mezze menu of lots of small dishes. That's where the good stuff lies. I can only hope rumours that they're upping sticks for Sydney are inaccurate - Canberra restaurants have a history of being eaten alive when they migrate.

The Ginger Room is a very attractive, grown-up sort of place. The wine list is impressive, as can be the service. Janet Jeffs writes great menu, but the kitchen's execution of same seems to fall short of the mark with saddening frequency.

Actually, the Chairman and Yip is also pretty good - interesting mod Chinese, great wine - and easily the best thing in the city itself. Silo is the best cafe and has a cheese room, the Julep Lounge is the only really serious bar that isn't packed with 18 year olds, there's a decent pho to be had at Huong Viet, Rama's does worthy Indian and the takeaway Turkish at Kismet is pretty good.

[Shalmanese]

Huh, I was actually distinctly underwhelmed by the Chairman and Yip. Perhaps the mood of the evening was soured by the overwhelming amount of pretension as I walked in. I can usually deal with snobbery if it's backed by substance and I can definately hold my own with fancy service and snooty waiters but the Chairman just seemed like a sad facsimile made by some over impressionable college english major.

The wine list looked intriguing but the offer by the glass was relatively skimpy and uninspired IMHO, not that I know enough about wine to be properly able to evaluate it. But my main gripe with it was that the menu was just a mess, some sort of mexican chicken thing, some spanish soup or something, a whole bunch of vaguely asian dishes spanning from thai to manchuria. There was no focus or theme to the work which made it hard to figure out what I was getting. And what I did get in the end (a pork chop with ginseng and red date sauce) was ultimately boring and lacked anything to set it apart from a $6 noodle joint in Sydney.

Speaking with a friend in Canberra, he said he heard from many of his friends that the Chairman had gone downhill recently and I hope it was just an off night for me but I can't, in good faith, reccomend the Chairman & Yip to anyone wanting a decent meal in Canberra.

oesophagus: I will keep your reccomendation's in mind if I'm ever forced to return to that blighted city but I'm surprised you don't mention Watermark/Waters Edge. Everything I've heard about them indicates that they are doing serious cuisine on par with some of the finer Sydney/Melbourne restaurants.

[PCL]

For the past year or so, I've been visiting Canberra at least twice a month. This is my list of places, honed after many many many disappointments:

- Mezza Lira, Italian, City

- Ottomans, Mid-East, Barton

- Marinetti's, Italian, O'Connor

- Silo, Modern Australian/Bakery/Cheesery, Kingston

- Ali Baba, Northbourne Ave, City

- National Library Cafe, Barton

[misgabi]

As one who used to live in Canberra, I dread about Ali Baba - had my first at their original shop in Woden and never looked back. It could take on anything offered in Australia and win hands down. I don't even attempt kebabs etc outside of Canberra and wait (with building anticipation) for any visit to Canberra to enjoy.

Highly recommended (do they still do take-away tubs of babba ganoush (sp?) - that we used to get and slather on each bite of the shish tawook???)