Cafe Arirang, Canberra City – road testing a group menu

Cafe Arirang must be one of Canberra’s best value spots with great food. This makes it an excellent choice for a group on a budget.

Serve sizes are generous and can be shared easily between 4-5 people. ( Even more can share the seafood and green onion pancake).

The restaurant happily applies a 25% discount for Canberra Entertainment Book Holders, and corkage is $4 per bottle.

Rice is included with most meals at not extra cost.

Kim chi is also a complimentary side dish.

If sharing and using the discount, the bill may well only be $10 per person including the corkage.
Order two meals for every 4-5 people and the seafood and green onion pancake $16, can be shared between up to 8 people.
While it’s tempting to try the BBQ Beef and Squid in special sauce….

….or the Bimbimbob…….

….the best dishes are still the BBQ beef in soy sauce ( Beef Bulgogi $17)…

….the seafood pancake $16…

…and the Chicken Katchu Set $17

( or Pork Katchu Set if the chicken is not available).

Bistro Nguyen – Vietnamese, Canberra City

A relative newcomer to the City Centre, Bistro Nguyen is doing a good job of offering tasty Vietnamese food in a fun setting with plenty of nostalgic decor.

The fresh pork and prawn spring rolls are excellent value at $6.50 for three and come with a good Hoisin dipping sauce. They are a good accompaniment if sharing another dish.

The rare beef Pho $12.90 is a good choice and staff are very happy to provide a large spoon to share the soup into smaller bowls.

Corkage for BYO wine is $7 per bottle.

Loading Zone, Canberra City – a first look at brunch

It’s not always that you find the perfect combination of genuine, old style hospitality and modern food served in hipster style. So Loading Zone, down the alley of the Melbourne Building in the city is pretty special.

New owner Ian, is your host, making sure you feel special and valued. He is well supported by a great team of chefs and baristas with broad experience from some of Canberra’s finest and most popular restaurants.

Open for breakfast and lunch six days ( closed Sundays) it’s a blackboard menu that varies daily.

Very helpfully breakfast is served all day and local wines are are available.

Serve sizes are generous for sharing and prices are reasonable. Good choices include the….

….smashed avocado, mushroom, bacon, poached eggs and toast $18…

…..and the artisan fruit toast $7.50.
But the ricotta hot cakes with strawberries, mascarpone and honey $16 and the poached pear and blueberries with house made muesli $10, both looked great on other tables too.
Like all breakfast dishes, serves are generous and great for sharing between two modest appetites, especially if you have more interesting eating to share that day.
Open Monday to Friday 7am – 2:30pm, Saturday 8-2pm.

Exploring some of Canberra’s best foodie haunts Part 1 – At The Hamlet with Eat Drink Blog 2015

The recent, brilliantly organised and executed, national food bloggers conference, was an excellent opportunity to meet and fall in love with some of Canberra’s best food experiences.

Launching at the Hamlet on Lonsdale Street, Braddon, generous and gracious hosts showcased much that this friendly, relaxed collection of street food stalls has to offer.

Broddogs offered a selection of their smaller sized Brodpups…..

…..Mr Papa Peruvian Street Food their delicious pork belly sandwich…..

…..Spit Shack treated bloggers to their 2 foot King Roll and smaller samples of their yummy pork and lamb rolls….

…Fillos were generous with their souvlaki…

…Custom Pizza prepared a selection of their wood fired favourites….

…Mr Morris had some gorgeously decorated donuts…

….Little Dreams wonderful macaroons…

….Thomas from the Brathaus was full of fun and encouraged bloggers to enjoy his meats and sausages…

( Thomas and his family also turned up to serve breakfast all weekend, a true host!)…

….Pie Day teamed their melt in the mouth pastry with mushy peas….

…April’s Caravan served wonderful milkshakes and waffles….

…But perhaps the very best of all were the Katti Rolls from Binny’s Kathitto, traditional Indian street food…

The Hamlet is the perfect place to grab a table, BYO ( glasses too), and collect and gather a selection of good value, wide ranging options to share ( just bring a sharp knife) and enjoy as a group.

But do leave space for icecream from The Frugii Dessert Factory, the very best in Canberra. John lovingly creates new flavour experiences like Passionfruit Pavlova, Cardamom and Lemon Myrtle, to delight customers.

His passion for great icecream is infectious. Great value at $5 for a small serve with two flavours.

Read more about Eat Drink Blog Fun with Gary, Rose, Serina, Serena and Erin.

Wilbur’s Cafe, Hackett – a real suburban treasure!

Canberra is famous for the suburban gems located at its local shops. Wilbur’s is truly one of these.

Well love and well supported by locals, it is also a well kept secret that it has terrific food!

Serving breakfast ( for extended hours), lunch and dinner and offering plenty of great specials it also generously offers a two for one option for Canberra Entertainment Book holders.

A new menu is to be launched soon, but some of the current good picks are….

The Cozza Burger $18.90 – marinated portobello mushroom, slow roasted tomato, caramelised onion and Camembert on toasted Ciabatta with chips, is very good.

As are the Lemon Pepper Squid Salad, perfect with mango, coriander and a great aioli $17.90 from the specials board…

…and the Angel Hair Pasta $24.90 full of garlic prawns, bacon, roast capsicum, roquette in a white wine, basil butter sauce finished with Parmesan and lemon is surprisingly delicious and light.

The coffee is excellent and wine by the glass or bottle, very reasonable.

A dessert case of cakes is also tempting.

It’s impossible not to relax and enjoy the friendly atmosphere, welcoming staff and wonderful food.

It would be perfect on a Sunday evening for the happy hour 4-6pm and $10 dine in pizza, but a weekend brunch or lunch is also not to be missed.

Space, Woden – some beautiful new salads to try

Space in Woden is the hottest spot for lunch and it’s hard to go past it for dishes that look like works of art and combine flavours and textures in exciting ways.

So it’s excellent that already Ricardo has introduced some more new dishes to try.

The menu this week features two new salads that are both very beautiful to look at and include ingredients that complement each other well.

The Chicken Peach Salad is especially delicious, full of fresh mint and coriander instead of the usual lettuce leaves, moist spiced chicken breast pieces and crisp peach slices garnished with coconut, chopped peanuts and watercress made perfect with a great nuoc cham dressing $18.90.

The new Smoked Trout Salad $18.90 pairs haloumi and watercress, watermelon and smoked trout, with the sweetness and crispness of pickled grapes and carrots, finished with pine nuts and a lemon dill crème fraiche dressing.

Both salads are light but substantial and you can enjoy the full dish without feeling uncomfortable.

Great if you can order two and swap to try both.

Still on the menu is the Pulled Pork salad with pearl couscous, almonds, peas, mint, feta, pomegranate and harissa yogurt $18.90…

..and a Roast Vegetable Salad with roast baby carrots, pumpkin, beetroot, green olive and almond tapenade, pickled grapes, walnuts, goats cheese, quinoa and lemon poppy seed dressing $18.90.

The gourmet burgers are still looking great….

Wagyu cheese burger $16.90…

….as is the Calamari $18.90 with sumac spiced calamari, red pepper hummus, smoked almonds, quinoa and watercress salad and citrus aioli $18.90.

And the all day breakfast dishes like the Smoked Salmon Breakfast $18.90 (hot smoked salmon, smashed avocado. coconut rosette, poached eggs, puffed grass, dukkah, lime coconut dressing) are also great for lunch….

….or a dessert!

The wine is served in beautiful glasses for $8 a glass and both the Sav Blanc and Chardonnay are very good.

Bookings aren’t taken so arrive early to be sure to grab a table.

Belluci’s, Woden – update on the lunch specials

Belluci’s Restaurant in Woden, still offers their popular lunch specials menu on weekdays. $19.90 (or $15 with the Canberra Entertainment Card) gets you a choice of rissotto, pasta, salad, pizza, or the newly added burger, fish and chips or chimmichanga along with a glass of wine, beer or softdrink.

The chicken caesar salad is still a good lighter choice…

…as is the Verdure Salad with roasted root vegetables and goats cheese.

The risottos and pastas are heavier, but tasty picks (especially the Fettucinne Carbonara).

The Vedura and Belluci’s Special Pizzas as still good as are the risottos.

But the chicken breast burgers and the Chimmichanga are well worth a try as they look delicious.

Cafe Arirang, Hobart Place, City – great value delicious Korean

Cafe Arirang, hidden away in Hobart Place Canberra City is one of Canberra’s little known, best value gems.

Serving delicious Korean food at great value prices in generous portions it’s one of the very best spots for cheap and cheerful.

Not upmarket, but friendly and popular, the setting is fairly plain.

But it’s BYO with cheap corkage ($4 per bottle) and offers a 25% discount to Canberra Entertainment Book holders. As three dishes is plenty for four people, it’s a true bargain at around $10.50 per person including the corkage.

Three great dishes to try that offer a range of textures and flavours are the….

Chicken or Pork Katchu Set $17 that comes with great Kimchi and rice.

The seafood pancake $16 is fantastic too and stuffed full of seafood with a nice dipping sauce.

The Beef Bulgogi (BBQ beef in marinated in soy sauce) $17 is also excellent and includes rice. ( number 19. BBQ pork and squid in special sauce $17, is also very popular).

If there are six in a group ordering one seafood pancake and 2 chicken/pork Katchu ( or one of each ) and one Beef Bulgogi, and one BBQ pork and squid in special sauce would be perfect!

Open weekdays for lunch and six nights ( closed Sunday) for dinner, parking. At night is easy on London Circuit near the Supreme Court.

A definite must try!

Space, Woden- amazing breakfast dishes all day!

One of the great things about Space, the newest restaurant in Woden CBD, that opened last week, is that it serves it’s lovely breakfast menu all day.

Inspired by Her Canberra’s post, to try the Space Benedict $17.90 – the pulled pork croquette is just so delicious, goes well with the poached egg and the beetroot hollandaise is wonderful. The pork cracking brioche crumble is lovely flavour and texture contrast.

This must be the best dish yet, closely followed by the Felafel and Salmon Salad.

The Breakfast Fritters are also excellent – $17.90. The corn, zucchini and halos I fritters are especially good, also nice with the poached eggs, a tasty feta and harissa yogurt, beetroot hummus and a lovely contrasting texture in the corn cous cous.

The Polenta Waffles $17.90, next door looked excellent as well and were served with a ‘theatrical’ touch from Ricardo which made it worth ordering just for the show.

The Muesli $15.90 also looks gorgeous and no-one seems shy about ordering it for lunch either.