Pistachios, Torrens – perfectly portioned!

Pistachios Dining Rooms at the Torrens shops still have the best portion sizes I’ve ever had!

The wonderful Tasting Plate of three Entrées $19 and Tasting Plate of four Desserts $19 are still on the menu.

It’s my perfect way to enjoy seven different dishes and still leave feeling comfortable.

This week the Entrees were lovely and featured the ….
Seared Scallops, Black Sesame Seed, Rice Noodle, Yuzu, Avocado, Chilli (my favourite)

Goat’s Cheese Ravioli, Peas, Sage, White Truffle Oil, Smoked Bacon

Red Wine , Braised Lamb Shank Soup, Roast Root Vegetable

The four desserts were also very excellent ..

Vanilla Brûlée, Pistachio, Almond Biscotti

Chocolate and Hazelnut Blondie,
Dark Chocolate Mousse, Tia Maria Sauce

Apple, Blackberry Compote, Rolled Oat Crumble, Vanilla Ice cream, Caramel Sauce

Maha Sponge, Lemon Curd, Black Sesame, Cream Cheese, Chocolate ( my favourite)

It’s great value but there’s more…

BYO corkage is $7 per bottle.

Pistachios and delicious bread are complimentary.

If you have the Canberra Entertainment Card there’s also a 25% discount.

While it’s true that the ambiance is a little faded and with very little effort Pistachios could reinvent itself into a new young thing, it remains worthy of Canberra fine dining.

It’s soft furnishings make it excellent for conversation and parking is easy.

Little Brother, Red Hill Lookout – perfect for a weekend coffee @littlebrotherredhill

Little Brother has the most gorgeous position, overlooking Canberra’s hills and valleys.

It really is worth booking a table by the window to make the most of the great views.

But if you miss out, it’s still cute and cosy anywhere.

The brunch and lunch menus are great and if you have the Canberra Entertainment Book you can also have a 25% discount.

But if it’s too early for a glass of wine and lunch, or you just looking for a light brekkie or a coffee then it’s hard to beat the morish, thick slices of raisin toast, just $5 for two huge slices.

Available all day, it’s the perfect comfort food in cold or cloudy weather.

Wheat & Oats, Phillip – trying the brekkie menu!

Wheat & Oats is a long time favourite of mine for lunch but I’ve never been before for the all day brekkie.

Easy parking, great prices and friendly, relaxed service has long been a great draw card. So has the 25% discount with the Canberra Entertainment Book.

There’s some great options like the Herbivorous $15 with haloumi, rosemary mushrooms, eggs, avocado and sourdough

Breakfast salad $15 with kale, avocado, eggs, quinoa, beans, beetroot, pepoitas and citrus dressing

Kale Omelette $15

With indoor and outdoor seating it’s good in all weathers, open six days for breakfast and lunch (closed Sundays).

Soi Noodle Bar, Canberra City – ticks all the boxes @soinoodlebar

The Soi Noodle Bar is a perfect spot for a pre or post movie drink and casual meal. Located in the Canberra Centre close to Dendy, parking is easy and it’s open every day until late.

Not licensed, it very helpfully offers BYO wine at $3 per person.

You can choose from differently sized Japanese, Thai and Korean dishes to suit your appetite and budget.

It’s great value, offering a 25% discount for Canberra Entertainment Book holders.

Service is swift.

The decor is chic, with some very impressive branding…

…that even extends into the kitchen!

Soi Noodle Bar has a friendly atmosphere and it’s the kind of place you can chat to fellow diners. At the table next to us we met Tam, Minh, Jenny and Tam who were lovely.

They are studying at ANU and enjoying Canberra, especially its food culture.

When it came to the menu, I loved the interesting mini-dishes especially the soft buns (3 for $15, $5 each for any extra).

These buns are teriyaki chicken, but the soft shell crab, spanner crab, prawn tempura or lamb all sounded great too.

Other great choices were the spicy edamame beans $5….

….and the delicious miso eggplant $10.

One order of each of these would be perfect to share between two with a glass or two of wine ($18 each including corkage or $13.50 with the Entertainment Book discount).
However, there’s also larger main meals on offer like the..

SLOW COOKED BEEF CHEEKS With salad & black rice $24

Or if you’d like, you can create your own noodle, curry, ramen or rice dish from a range of ingredients for around $14 (vegetable) to $19 for combination meats.

Serve sizes are very generous, ideal for sharing.

GREEN CURRY
Thai green curry with coconut milk zucchini, eggplant, green beans, bamboo shoot & sweet basil (medium spicy)

RAMEN – Chicken broth ramen noodle soup, topped with the meat of your choice, wakame, nori, chopped shallot, bamboo shoot, boiled egg and fish cake.

PAD SEE EW – Stir-fried thick rice noodles with Chinese broccoli, egg & sweet soy sauce

YAKIUDON – Udon noodles with soy, oyster ,fish sauce, cabbage, chopped shallot, onion, carrot, mushroom, egg and topped by bonito flakes & sesame oil.

The staff were friendly and accommodating.

They even sent us out some complimentary slushies to try –

LYCHEE SAKURA – lychee, lime & mint,

COCO-MANGO – coconut, mango & mint,

WATERMELON SUIKA – watermelon, mint & lime

Usually $6 each they were a perfect way to end the meal.

Soi Noodle Bar ticks all the boxes for me and will be my ‘go to’ pick when I’m heading to the movies.

The new ‘7 Experience’ on Kingston Foreshore @7BytheLake

Sushant and Tina at 7 By the Lake have a mission to introduce Canberra to some of the lesser known dishes of regional India.

This week they invited the Canberra Food Bloggers back to preview some new dishes that will feature on a new menu to be launched in September.

We also sampled the brand new ‘7 Experience’ a $49.50 per person four course banquet with accompaniments, breads and rice, full of specialities that many of us has never tried before.

We started with a Masala Papad – a crispy papad topped with onion, tomato, coriander and that great chaat masala spice.

(I still have the chaat masala I bought in Rajasthan to make these great starters back at home).
Then came a Solkadhior Kairi Panha, a coconut milk based savoury drink from the Konkan coast of Maharashtra.

The kokum fruit gives it the tang and the roasted cumin and chilli and garlic, the spice! It is a little like an Amuse Bouche.
Next there’s an entrée of your choice. But the Paneer Tikka (delicious with soft, melt in your mouth, house-made paneer) is hard to beat. It’s $16.90 if ordered separately to the ‘7 Experience’ but well worth considering.

Marinated in yogurt and spices, it’s cooked in the tandoor oven.
Diners can then chose a main, and we tried the Fish Rawa Fry from Goa.

This was just what I remembered, fried with a lovely crunchy chickpea and semolina coating. Sushant uses a beautiful firm Spanish Mackarel which is perfect for this dish. The fresh coriander gives a gorgeous green tinge and delicate flavour.(It’s $29.90 if ordered a la carte, a choice I’d definitely recommend.)
Other dishes I tried for the first time and loved were the Lamb Kalimirch (fabulous chunks of lamb in black pepper with a delicious gravy) ($25.90 a la carte)…

.. and the Veg Makkhnwala (like a veg version of butter chicken) a creamy textured curry made from vegetables simmered in butter, tomato and cashew based gravy, finished with cream (usually $22.90).

These came with a totally exceptional Date Kulcha, a sweet stuffed Naan to rival the wonderful Puranpoli we enjoyed last time.

I have a sweet tooth and just love Sushant’s sweet stuffed breads that he makes himself.
We also enjoyed Aloo Baingan from North India – Eggplant and potato cooked with onions, tomatoes and selected spices ($22.90 off the menu)…

..and Bhoona Kukha – chicken marinated in spices cooked with onion and yogurt, a dry hot and spicy dish from Rajasthan (usually $22.90).

To finish the ‘7 Experience’ diners are offered a choice of Gulab Jamun or Mango Kulfi. Either would be a perfect end to this varied and flavoursome meal, full of old favourites or new surprises – it’s up to you!
The beauty of the ‘7 Experience’ is that there is no minimum number, usually required for banquets.

(If ordering a la carte diners can use the Canberra Entertainment Card for a 25% discount, but as is usual for specials, it’s not available for the ‘7 Experience’).

BYO wine available.

Kusina, Weston – Seriously good!

Kusina at Coolemon Court Weston is Canberra’s first Filipino restaurant offering some truly fabulous dishes.
This wonderful, warm and friendly family run business is headed up by Leilani, ably assisted on the night we visited, by her son Bailey….

….and Leilani’s dad.

Leilani is a wonderful hostess and she helped us choose some delicious, unique dishes that are already on my Wishlist to go back for again.

The most memorable were the Kare Kare $23.80 – a traditional Filipino stew of braised beef cheek, bok choy, eggplant and snake beans in a peanut sauce. Fantastic already, it was made perfect by a shrimp paste condiment ( a little like vegemite).

I also loved the Chicken Inasal – half a grilled chicken marinated in lemon grass, ginger, garlic and soy sauce $22.

As for sides, my favourite was Pinakbet $8.80, snake beans, pumpkin, okra, bitter gourd and eggplant with shrimp paste.

These dishes went perfectly with plain rice $3.30 per person (we had two serves)…

….but we also tried the more buttery Java rice at $4.40 per person (two serves).

As there were five of us we ordered the green papaya salad $8.80 as a side …

…and five pork and prawn spring rolls for $9.80 which were perfect for a small starter.

And we couldn’t resist the desserts so we shared a Brazo Mercedez, soft meringue with a custard centre, a great choice at $8.

Corkage was $4.80 per bottle.

As we were using the Canberra Entertainment Card, we also were offered a 25% discount, so the meal was also terrific value at about $16.50 per person.

Kusina has big plans to build on its booming popularity.

It’s branching out to the Northside, starting in the Hamlet by the end of the year before settling into one of the new Braddon developments.

Great news for northsiders!

http://www.kusina.com.au

7 By the Lake – back for dinner for 12

My first visit back to 7 By the Lake was with a group of 12 friends – and a strict budget of $25 per person.

But as 7 By the Lake has recently joined the Canberra Entertainment Card (as bonus offer number 47) Sushant was very happy to let us use up to three cards for a 25% discount.
We started with a vegetable samosa each (2 for $9.90)….

…ordered six naans ($4 each) which were large, fluffy and delicious and easy to share…

….six serves of rice…

….One serve for each group of four people of each of three dishes…

….a very excellent lamb rogan josh ($25.90)….

….chicken tikka marsla $22.90…

….and palak paneer $22.90.

The food was delicious, there was plenty for everyone and the service was excellent.
Corkage was $5.50 per person.
A great night was enjoyed by all and we did stick within budget!

Les Bistronomies, Braddon – a first look

I’ve heard much about the French dishes at Les Bistronomies, so it was great to finally get there.

The decor is lovely, relaxed yet elegant and standards are high.

It’s beautifully presented food served with great passion!

At lunch there’s four choices for main course and we choose…

Beef Bourguignon: Braised beef cheek in red wine served with
speck, mushroom & Paris mash potato $35, which was a good choice and …

Whole lemon sole with champagne sauce served with warm potato salad $31…

…but I kind of wish we’d gone with the Corn fed chicken & truffle blanquette: Traditional French casserole with fresh Braidwood truffle, carrots, mushrooms & rice $36, as truffle season is nearly over in Canberra.

For dessert we chose..

Montblanc: Chestnut mousse, chestnut crumb & vanilla meringue $16..

And the very dramatic and delicious Vanilla bean creme brulee $16.

Currently Living Social is offering a two course lunch with tasty bread and whipped butter, $55 for two people. It’s a great deal!

And if you don’t have a Living Social Deal, the Canberra Entertainment Book offers a 25% discount.

Grill’d Manuka – a good spot for a group

It’s not always easy to make a chain eatery work well for a group meal because tables as often smaller and fixed position and it’s often busy.

However, Grill’d in Manuka, has a great large, sunny table near the front of the store that’s perfect for a larger group. It’s also less busy in Manuka than some other stores and has an atmosphere that doesn’t feel so much like a chain outlet.

If you have the Canberra Entertainment Book you can use the two for one vouchers making it good value.

There’s lamb burgers $13.50 like the Morrocan Lamb with roasted peppers, tzaatziki, salad and relish 2100kJ…

…chicken burgers $10.50 – $13.50 like the Simon Says $12.50 with avocado, trim bacon, salad, relish and herbed mayo 2240kJ…

…with thick cut potato chips or zucchini chips for an extra $4.80 and 1710kJ…

….beef burgers $9.90 – $13.50 like the Crispy Bacon and Cheese 2830kJ $11.50…

…or the Almighty 3260kJ $13.50.. with bacon, egg, beetroot, salad, relish and mayo..

…and I’m told the ‘Baa Baa’ Burger is the very best pick of all, a lamb burger with avocado, tasty cheese, salad, relish and herbed mayo.

For those who aren’t so keen on burgers, there’s also some lovely salads on offer like the Chicken, pomegranate and goats cheese 1890kJ $13.90, with grilled chicken breast, black and white quinoa, meredith dairy goats cheese, pomegranate, almonds, mescaline, raspberry andpoppy seed dressing