Xchange on London, Acton, Canberra

The Xchange, while busy and catering well for city workers, still has a good feel to it and plenty of style. The menu is interesting and varied and meals are nicely presented, especially the Chicken Ceasar Salad with a crumbed boiled egg and a crisp pita and cured meat for crunch and a salty flavour. The pulled lamb baguette is also good.

Chicken Ceasar Salad $22.50 Pulled Lamb Baguette $24

Tuscan Style poached eggs, spinach, pesto, sautéed tomato, and mushroom with fried haloumi $19

Xchange Big Breakfast eggs poached, scrambled or fried, on toast with bacon, mushroom, tomato, spinach and roesti $20

If you have the Canberra Entertainment Book, there’s a two meals for one offer in it for the Xchange.

Cream Cafe Bar, Canberra City

Cream is located in a prime spot in the city centre and is an excellent choice for lunch in the city.
The salads are attractive, interesting and flavoursome but relatively small serves.

Yuk sung cream’s twist on san choy bau – wok fried chicken w/ hoy sin, sage & pine nuts served on cos lettuce w/ crispy rice noodles $19

The chicken burger was well sized but the brioche bun lacks flavour $19. The vegetable burger and steak sandwich are probably better options.

Maple & Clove, Barton – a quick look at lunch

Very pleasantly located near the stylish Hotel Realm in leafy, spacious Barton, Maple and Clove is open 7 days for breakfast (all day on weekends) and lunch.

Bookings are taken and both indoor and outdoor seating are lovely.
Focussing on whole foods and alternate grains, it pays to order dishes that include some strong flavours.
The smoked salmon tartine is delicious and well sized for sharing.

Smoked Salmon Tartine – Zucchini, lemon, chives, ricotta, smoked salmon + rocket — $18

(French style open-faced sandwich served on thinly sliced toasted wholemeal spelt bread)

One serve split for sharing Half a Smoked Salmon Tartine

Autolyse, Braddon

Autolyse on the corner of Lonsdale and Eloura Streets in Braddon is always popular and busy..and rightly so. Autolyse bakes the most delicious bread, the basis of many delicious breakfast and lunch options available 7 days.

While there is pleasant outdoor seating available, it’s quite fun to sit at the indoor tables that overlook the open plan bakery/food preparation area.

Staff are friendly and casual, serves are generously sized and great for sharing. Prices are good value.

Mixed mushroom bruschetta (a generous serve of very tasty and interestingly textured various types of mushrooms on delicious bread. Quite rich, so best shared) $13

Slow braised lamb shoulder sandwich with quinoa tabouli and pickled onion (plenty of pork, great bread, but perhaps needs another strong flavour in the filling) $11

Litter Brother@Red Hill, Canberra

Little Brother cafe, has a perfect location on top of Red Hill and makes the most of it’s spectacular views over Canberra.

Service is friendly, efficient and professional. The menu is fairly small, but covers a range of options including soups, salads, marinated meats, slider, kebab and pizza.
One very helpful option is the opportunity to choose small or large serves of some dishes.
Prices are average and what you would expect from a mid-range modern Australian cafe. However, it does also offer Entertainment Card holders a 25% discount on food and drinks.

The yogurt marinated chicken breast (small serve $16) was tasty and went well with the rocket and beetroot salad that had lovely caramelised walnuts $9.
However, the pizza looked good on the way past, as did the raisin toast, and I suspect the pulled pork burger would be good too.
I’ve also heard the fish and chips are exceptional.
But the big attraction is the view, especially on a sunny day. It’s a good spot for brunch or lunch on the weekend especially if you have friends visiting from out of town.

Silo Bakery, Kingston

Silo Bakery in Kingston has a well earned reputation as one of the best Canberra eateries for breakfast or brunch…and I absolutely agree.

The beautifully created tarts and pastries and breads, set the high standard for hospitality. Service is personal and nothing is too much trouble.

When a breakfast dish was ordered to share, it arrived very thoughtfully served on two plates.

Banana, goji berries, honey and labna with toasted raisin bread (split into two half serves for sharing) $9.

Indoor and outdoor seating is offered and bookings are taken for lunch, but not for breakfast.
Closed Sundays.

Penny University Coffee Roasters, Kingston – a quick look

Penny University on Kennedy St Kingston is hugely popular and buzzing with life and style. A great spot for coffee with generous breakfast servings of interesting dishes that can easily be shared for breakfast or brunch.

The Merchant Deli & Cafe, Kingston Foreshore

The Merchant is a very welcoming, friendly and relaxed newcomer on the Kingston Foreshore helpfully open 7 days for breakfast lunch and dinner.

It’s great strengths are it’s honest, accommodating and attentive staff, it’s key corner location and it’s value for money menu options.
But it is also stylish and food is beautifully presented.

There is nothing pretentious about The Merchant. Staff are happy to answer and respond to all kinds of queries and requests making it a very good spot for sharing dishes and ordering to suit your appetite.

The menu changes daily, but there is a pattern to what’s on offer.

The sharing platters $28 are great for two people for lunch and I’m told that extra complimentary bread is available to go with all those lovely dips, cured meats, cheeses and pickled vegetables.

Some dishes make a great light meal for one person. The baguettes, soup and salad were all generously sized, and well priced making them excellent value. The pancetta and cheese baguette ($12) had plenty of filling, the soup of the day ($12) serve was large and came with bread and the salad of the day $14 was also a good sized serve.

Likewise, dessert from the cabinet offered well sized serves for $8.

The lamb, lemon and rosemary skewer $25 was large and served with salad.

The pan fried salmon fillet $25 did not come with accompaniments so it made a smaller meal.

The chilli spanner crab linguine $22 and braised lamb shoulder pappardelle $22 were more modest serves as well, but looked delicious.

The Seared Canadian Scallops -served with pea puree, chorizo and olives $14, was a small entree sized serve.

The chicken liver mushroom parfait $20 was a very generous serve and ideal for sharing with some other dishes. (Extra bread available on request at not cost).

BYO wine is available at around $4 per person, but if you purchase your wine from the nearby sister store ‘Prohibition’, corkage is free.

(Prohibition is on the corner behind Local Press and has plenty of good option in the $10-$15 range).

In a nutshell, The Merchant has plenty going for it and is well worth trying out. It could easily become a favourite.

Stand By Me, Lyons – Canberra

Stand By Me Cafe at the Lyons shops is helpfully located an easy and quick (about 10min) walking distance from Woden.
It’s open 7 days for breakfast and lunch (Mon-Fri 7-4pm, Sat- Sun 8-2pm) and has lovely staff and service.

While it is a welcome new addition to the Woden workday lunch scene with a short list of regular dishes and some changing specials, its real strength is it’s breakfast menu (only available until11 am weekdays, but all day on weekends).
The setting and decor is relaxed, friendly and pleasant with indoor and outdoor seating (front and back). SBM is also happy for diners to share dishes.