A Canberra Street Food Tour – a great group summer idea

Exploring street food specialties is one of the most enjoyable foodie travel activities. So why not try the same idea back home?

This way of sharing food together offers variety, value, an opportunity to learn about foods from other cultures, a short stroll between courses and some interesting conversations with eatery staff. But more than that, the ‘progressive dinner’ nature of the meal mixes everyone up each time the group moves, so there’s a chance to chat with more people. It’s a great idea for groups wanting to get to know each better.

Tips for organising a successful street food tour include:
1. Choose warm evenings if sitting at tables outdoors.
2. Choose spots with a BYO licence and low corkage (as you will pay this more than once).
3. Avoid busy nights and stick with eateries where you don’t need to book. (It is hard to predict exactly what time you will arrive and it can be frustrating for staff who are expecting to cater for a whole meal if you only are wanting to order one course.)
4. Pick places where you can come and go easily.
5. Plan to share dishes so that everyone can eat a number of courses but still be comfortable.
6. But do also plan to order sufficient at each spot to justify the use of crockery. (Paying corkage is helpful to cover the use of wine glasses).
7. Estimate the cost per person and keep a kitty to pay from at each venue.
8. Include the cost of wine and corkage. It can be helpful to buy and bring the wine for the group.
9. Leave a tip.

Suggested Canberra City Street Food Itinerary

Entree:
iPho, Garema Place – Vietnamese fresh spring roll $2.50 each ($5 for two, must be bought in pairs). Corkage $3 per bottle wine.
(Allow $3.25 per person) (Open late)

Main:
Global Cafe, Northbourne Ave – Ethiopian Injera bread with Meat and vegetable combination Wat $18.90 per serve (share one between 3 people, includes extra Injera and rice). Corkage free.
(Allow $6.30 per person) (Open until 8-8:30pm).

(On a Wednesday, the Roller and tap beer/cider special at the Treehouse is hard to beat for $10).

Dessert:
Thirst, West Row – Modern Thai Street Food – homemade sorbet ($2.90 per scoop), coffee/tea $3.90, salted plain or peanut caramel $1 (or 80c with a hot drink).
(Allow $7. 60 per person) (open until 9:30pm)

Total $17.15 per person (not including cost of wine or tips)

The new Chong Co in Woden – a great spot for lunch

Not to be confused with the Chong Co restaurant close by in the Woden Southern Cross Club, the new Chong Co Woden that has opened up on Corina Street in the restaurant strip on the outside edge of the Westfield mall, is excellent.

It shares the same great dishes as it’s sister restaurants in Kinsgston Foreshore, Belconnen and the Southern Cross Club, and serve sizes are equally generous. The green curry (vegetarian was $14.90) we shared between two was truly delicious and plenty for both of us.

Vegetarian Green Curry $14.90 Two serves rice ($3 per person)
Too lovely to leave, staff are more than happy to bundle up any of the precious flavours to take with you.

The atmosphere is pleasant and staff are lovely. The Chong Co inside the Southern Cross Club is still my all time Woden favourite as the decor, space and ambiance are so special, but if you aren’t with a member, then this Chong Co, open to the public is the next best lunch option in Woden. It is also helpfully slightly cheaper.

Highly recommended. As it’s popular, it pays to make a booking. The phone number can be tricky to find – 0262823001

Thai Cultural Festival, Canberra – a September foodie ‘must do’ event

The annual Thai Cultural Festival, hosted by the Thai embassy, is a Canberra ‘must do’ foodie event , the second last Sunday each September.
The sense of community, fun, elegance and style is everywhere amongst those hosting cooking and dancing demonstrations, stall holders and the roaming band of musicians.

Many of Canberra’s finest Thai restaurants have gone to an enormous amount of trouble to bring an abundance of Thai dishes and delicacies to the beautiful embassy grounds.
Gracious cooks take great pride and interest in introducing fellow Canberrans to their much loved cuisine. A whole afternoon can be enjoyed here, picnicing in the grounds and enjoying the food and entertainment.
It is surely the next best thing to actually travelling to Thailand and a welcome reminder of all the joys of Asian foodie travel.

A few good tips to know include:

1. Take spare plastic takeaway containers and plastic cutlery to make sharing a few dishes easier, so that you can sample a larger range of flavours, and take some home for dinner.
2. While it’s fun to enjoy the energy at lunchtime, it’s also easier to chat with restaurant staff about their food after about 2pm when the crowds at the food stalls have dwindled (and even get some bargains to take home, if some dishes are reduced).
3. Take a good look around before making food decisions as there is so much variety, including some delicious desserts.
4. Be prepared to really enter into the community spirit and have fun.

Thirst Wine Bar West Row Canberra City – Modern Thai Street Food – A Canberra World Food Delight

Mondays and Tuesdays Thirst has a great two entrees/mains for the price of one offer.

(No BYO on these nights)

Suggested shared menu for six

Crispy Fish Salad

Beef Mussamun curry

Stir fry Chicken with Chilli and Basil

Chicken Penang curry

Three serves rice

Dessert
One scoop ice-cream per person

Total cost of food (on Mondays and Tuesdays) around $78 ($14.50 per person)

Crispy fish salad

Chicken basil and chilli stir fry

Penang curry

Homemade sorbets $2.90 per scoop include Chilli Chocolate (very good), Pineapple and Ginger, Kaffir Lime, Coconut

Salted plain or peanut caramel $1 per piece

20 West Row
Melbourne Building
Canberra City
ACT
ph; 02 62570700

Opening hours
Monday 5.00pm -9.30pm

Tuesday 5.00pm – 9.30pm

Wednesday 12.00pm – 2.00pm 5.00pm – 9.30pm

Thursday 12.00pm – 2.00pm 5.00pm – 9.30pm

Friday 12.00pm – 9.30pm

Saturday 5.00pm – 9.30pm

BYO corkage $10 per bottle

Zen Yai Thai – London Circuit, Canberra City – Thai Cuisine

Zen Yai is another good Canberra restaurant for Thai food, centrally located in the city, quiet on week nights, with a pleasant, tasteful decor, a nice feel, very reasonable corkage and mains that are well sized for sharing.

BYO is $3 per bottle of wine, $1 per bottle of beer.

Suggested menu for six:

Choose four mains and four serves coconut or plain rice.

The Stir fry dishes (e.g. Chicken with fresh chilli and basil) and curries (e.g. Massamun or Penang curry) make excellent choices, but also consider the house specials e.g. Gang Dang Ped, roasted duck in red curry with lychees, pineapple, tomatoes and sweet basil.

My favourite was the Beef Massamun Curry, followed in order by the Stir-fried Chicken with Chill and Basil , Beef Panang Curry with Beef, Roast Duck Red Curry with lychees and pineapple, Green curry with Prawns, Stir fried Chicken with Cashew nuts, Sweet and Sour Pork. (I have also heard the pork laab is excellent.)

Beef Massamum Curry $17.80

Stir fried chicken with fresh chilli and basil $18.50

Beef Panang Curry with Beef $21.50

Roast duck in red curry with lychees and pineapple $21.50

Green curry with prawns (quite spicy) $19.80

Stir fried Chicken with cashew nuts

Sweet and Sour pork with coconut rice

11 London Circuit, Canberra City

Canberra, ACT
Ph: 62627594

Open 7 days

Soju Girl – Modern Asian Fusion – a Canberra World Food Delight, great value on Tuesdays

Soju Girl Two for One Tuesday current menu

(02) 6257 5328

41/43-45 Northbourne Ave,
Canberra ACT 2601

Soju Girl says it’s menu ‘has influences from all over south-east Asia with a heavy focus on Korean, Japanese and Thai cuisine. Call it modern Asian fusion if you will.’

On Tuesdays Soju Girl used to offer ‘Two for one Small Plates’ making it a good night to share a range of interesting dishes in a group, at a very affordable price. The two dishes didn’t need to be the same, but you paid for the most expensive option. (Soju staff have always be very helpful at pairing up similarly priced dishes.) However, this great offer has stopped (but hopefully might return sometime!!).

Suggested shared menu:

Order 1 -2 small plates per person (total)

Four of my favourites on the current menu are the:

Zucchini flower, sushi rice, tomato capsicum compote $7 each (or two for $7 on Tuesdays)

Cauliflower flowerets, puff rice, horseradish foam $15 (or two for $15 Tuesdays)

Eggplant pickle, goma siracha paste, sesame crisp $14 (or two for $14 Tuesdays)

Miso pork stuffed eggplant, sweet soy, fried basil $22 (or two for $22 on Tuesdays)

No BYO

Zucchini flower

Cauliflower flowerets

Eggplant pickle, goma siracha paste, sesame crisp

Miso pork stuffed eggplant, sweet soy, fried basil

OPEN 5 DAYS

Great sharing plates around Canberra

Sharing plates and platters

Sharing plates and platters can really be your friend. They offer couples and groups the chance to try a larger range of taste experiences in smaller amounts rather than just being limited to one or two dishes, that may or may not be so good.

They are often also full of interesting and beautifully presented foods. A treat for all the senses. These can be ordered per person/two people and extra breads or crackers are usually available if you need them.

Some around Canberra include……

Dionysus Winery Murrumbatemen

Tilba Valley Wines Ploughman’s Lunch

$3 extra bread for Hometead Cafe’s Entree Tasting platter

Homestead cafe (Wallaroo Rd) Entree tasting platter $22 (extra bread $3), pesto, hummus, olives, Poacher’s Pantry Proscuitto, caramelised onion (all fantastic) BYO $3.50 pp

Santa Lucia Antipasti platter

Pistachio Dining Room Torrens, Dessert tasting plate $20 (a favourite) (Entertainment Book -25% discount)

Pistachio Dining Rooms Torrens Trip of Entrees $19 (Entertainment Book Discount -25%)

Punjabi Hut Manuka Entree Platter for two $19 (Entertainment Book -25% discount)

Adore Tea, Gold Creek, meat platter

Trev’s Dickson, 3 entrees platter (25% discount with Entertainment Book)

Jamie’s Italian, Canberra Centre, meat platter (veg platter and seafood platter also available) served with breads tin

And still on my wish list….

Sutton Forrest Estate Winery and Cafe (McDonald’s turn off) Hume Hwy half way to Sydney, great spot, extra bread offered and wine available (photo shows platter for two, but it looks like it could serve four)

The Green Herring Special (Serves 2 (but is really enough for 4) $32

Dessert plate at Green Herring

(Gold Creek, Nicholls)

Includes morsels of the maple and banana pudding, spring rolls, brulee and apple pie

Maple and Banana Pudding – Butterscotch sauce, vanilla bean panna cotta, cinnamon ice cream

Spring Rolls – Chocolate and Bailey’s filled spring rolls, peppermint ice cream, cocoa crumb,

and a coffee dipping sauce

Individual Apple Pie – Vanilla anglaise, apple sorbet, rosemary and apple gel

Lavender Brûlée – Raspberry macaroon, honey crème friache, almond crumble

And….

At Thirst Wine Bar:

Starter plate for 2 people $27.90

A selection of house specialities ;

Your choice of relish, chiang mai sausage, corn fritters & fish cakes

Relish options:

A hot & spicy chilli relish of shrimp paste and tamarind (hot) /nam prik gapi makaam Chef’s favourite

Mushroom and peanut relish / lon het tua li song

Northern chilli relish of tomato and eggplant / nam prik nuum

all served with rice cakes, seasonal vegetables & fresh herbs

dinner menu

Cheers for helpful Canberra restaurants & cafes (for sharing)

When a restaurant or cafe has tried really hard to make it easy to share, they deserve a special mention:

Noy at Thai Chiang Rai, Kingston was more than happy to prepare 1 1/2 serves of his wonderful Five Spice Prawns and serve them in two dishes.

3/4 serve Five spice prawns (about 10 prawns per one serve)

The staff at Chong Co, Kingston, likewise, did not hesitate to offer 1 1/2 serves of their soft shelled crab and duck salad dishes.

Pho Quoc in Dickson and Meccabah in Manuka, both happily offered extra serving bowls and spoons to split their soups.

Rare beef Pho at Pho Quoc – delicious

Meccabah’s Harira Soup

A delightful new wait person at The Palette Cafe (Beaver Galleries, Deakin) surprised us by arriving with our soup already split into two bowls.

Half serve of soup at The Palette

Soju Girl have been really great at making sure small plates come with enough pieces to share.

Two Sisters Kambah, Canberra – Lao Cuisine, Sharing Canberra’s World Food Delights with friends

Two Sisters Kambah

6 Kett Street, Kambah, ACT 2902
Ph (02) 6231 3331
Dinner (Tue – Sun): 17:00PM – 21:00PM
(Closed On Monday)

Suggested menu for four

Sticky rice is a must with main courses $3.50 per serve ( 2 serves)

Lao sausage is a good starter $16
Red curry with duck and chicken $20
Cashew stir fry are all good $17

The Kambah location has a lovely family run feel and dishes were better there than in Dickson.

BYO $2.90 per person

25% discount up to $30 for Canberra Entertainment Book

Total cost of food $60 ($15 per person) ($45 with the discount ($11 per person)

Sticky rice

Lao Sausage

Stir fry chicken

Red duck curry

Ethiopia Down Under, Pearce, Canberra – Ethiopian Food another Canberra World Food Delight to share

http://www.ethiopiadownunder.com.au/

Pearce Shops
Shop 1 – 70 Hodgson Crescent
Pearce ACT

Open for Dinner – Tues – Sunday 5.30pm till late

Phone: 02 6286 165

Friendly service and easy parking.

Corkage is NIL

Suggested shared menu for six

ALIT’CHA DORO $19.90
Strips of chicken breast pieces cooked with carrot, green chilli & onion. (gf)

KAY WAT $17.90
Ethiopia’s main stay and most popular meat dish – tender beef pieces in a spicy berbere sauce. (gf)

ASAR TIBBS $20.90
Nile Perch fish fillet pan-fried fresh with burbere spices, capsicum, onion & tomato. (gf)

All mains come with steamed rice and fluffy pancakes made from sorghum.

HOMEMADE ICE CREAMS, GELATO & SORBETS

(225-250 gm or approx 2-3 scoops) $8.90 (gf)

Flavours vary with availability and season

Ice creams (full cream) (vegetarian) (gf)

Ethiopian Sidamo Coffee & Roasted Hazelnut
Three Chocolates & Cointreau
Caribbean Coconut Rum Triple Chocolate Chip
Ginger, Toasted Coconut & Chocolate Shards
Cumquat & Scorched Almonds
Turkish Delight
Malted Chocolate & Macadamia Nut
Gelatos (milk based) (vegetarian)

Gelatos (milk based) (vegetarian) (gf)

Lemon
Pure chocolate
GSorbets (non dairy – no egg white used) (vegan)

Sorbets (non dairy – no egg white used) (vegan) (gf)

Lemon
Pineapple and Coconut Cream
Passionfruit and Valencia Orange
Mango Sunset

25% discount for Canberra Entertainment Card up to $25

Total cost of food and corkage $111 ($18.60 per person) ($86 with the discount ($14.30 per person)

Icecream and gelato

ASAR TIBBS

ALIT’CHA DORO

KAY WAT

Fine Eating

Hints Hacks and Highlights

Exploring Canberra World Food Delights with Friends

A Canberra Street Food Tour – a great group summer idea

The new Chong Co in Woden – a great spot for lunch

Thai Cultural Festival, Canberra – a September foodie ‘must do’ event

Thirst Wine Bar West Row Canberra City – Modern Thai Street Food – A Canberra World Food Delight

Zen Yai Thai – London Circuit, Canberra City – Thai Cuisine

Soju Girl – Modern Asian Fusion – a Canberra World Food Delight, great value on Tuesdays

Great sharing plates around Canberra

Cheers for helpful Canberra restaurants & cafes (for sharing)

Two Sisters Kambah, Canberra – Lao Cuisine, Sharing Canberra’s World Food Delights with friends

Ethiopia Down Under, Pearce, Canberra – Ethiopian Food another Canberra World Food Delight to share

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