Rice Tapas Bar – Garema Place, Canberra City

The Rice Tapas Bar can be tricky to find the first time (it’s upstairs on the corner of Garema Place, heading towards Alinga Street, next to Frawleys shoes (see the photo to see where exactly).

Service is excellent and staff are helpful and friendly. Corkage is $5 per bottle.
There are quite nice spots for groups to sit, but in winter it can be cold, so its good to take a coat.

Even though it’s a tapas bar, I think the mains are probably a better pick (nicer and better value for sharing). Top picks are the Beef Massaman Curry and the Stir-fry chicken in Peanut Sauce $20.50. The Jim’s Pork Belly has great flavour .The Red Duck Curry $23 with sticky rice $3.50 is also good. The duck had a good flavour, but just a bit too much skin. The Jungle Curry with Chicken $20.50 is not as good.

Serve sizes are not huge, but if you are getting one of the frequent special deals, it’s still good value.

In the entrees, the Mixed tapas (4) $14.50 Peking duck pancake, 1x pad Thai Spring Roll, 1x Yum Beef , 1x Prawn in Golden Jacket is quite good (the duck pancake and yum beef especially tasty), but again not as good as the mains for value. The soft shelled crab, though tempting, is disappointing.

The desserts are interesting, but not stand outs. The sticky rice with black bean and coconut $7.50 is quite good, as is the banana roti $8.50 and the coconut icecream $7.50 but not excellent.

Overall, well worth a trip when a special deal is offered.