So pleased that Taste of Bangladesh are doing Thalis at lunch again!!
Monday to Friday 12-2pm, they are offering what must be the best value lunch in Manuka.
$13 buys a large serve of rice, large pillowy naan, poppadom and three curries – a vegetable kadhi and two others that change each week.
This week it was a delicous butter chiken and beef vindaloo…so good!!
And if you fancy a glass of wine or best togo with yor Thali, just take it along, there’s no corkage charge!
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
Elk and Pea has long been on my wishlist to try.
While Sundays only offer an all day breakfast menu, it includes some good options for lunch like the Smoked Salmon Salad $19 with a delicious combination or fresh herbs with the crunch of seeds and nuts..
…or the plentiful Smashed Avocado and Mushrooms $19
Buvette is fairly new to the Realm Precinct in Barton, but already it’s famous for it’s French cuisine and Petit Feast.
However, it is a well kept secret that Buvette is also a top lunch spot in Barton.
Decadent decor belies the modest prices for lunch options that are very genrously served with sides of salad and french fries, like the QUICHE OF THE DAY – $12
..or the delicious CHICKEN BAGUETTE – $16 Tarragon Aioli, Comte, Tomato, Baby Cos Heart
Also tempting are the CROQUE MONSIEUR – $14 Ham, Gruyère, Mustard, Toasted Sourdough and the SMOKED SALMON BAGUETTE – $16 Capers, Crème Fraîche, Red onion, Baby Cos Heart.
Don’t overlook this well priced, stylishly set lunch spot with a reputation for fine French dining.
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.
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.
The absolute best value lunch offer in town must be at Santa Lucia @ Salatto, newly arrived to Kennedy Street Kingston.
$9.90 will buy you a large glass of wine (beer or soft drink), some crusty fresh bread, and a chicken salad, pasta, risotto, pizza, canneloni, veal parmigana or focaccia.
It was so amazing I just had to see if it was true!
The foccacia and the chicken salad were both excellent.
INSALATA DI POLLO – grilled chicken salad with orange pieces dressed with a balsamic reduction
FOCCACIA CON POLLO – chicken schnitzel, bacon, parmesan, lettuce, tomato & basil aioli
Service was quick, even though it was busy. And staff were happy to accommodate requests like dressing on the side and a take home container.
The decor is homely, stylish, but with a touch of club/pub.
The secret is out, so it’s popular, but easy to book.
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!
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!
As I’ve mentioned before Pialligo Estate might be Canberra’s very best dining venue.
The Garden Pavillions are perfect for a winter’s day casual meal.
It was the perfect spot for the Canberra Food Bloggers to catch up over cookbooks on a cold Canbera Saturday. As the sleet and hail rolled in we were toasty warm enjoying Pialligo Estate’s fine wine, sampling the lunch menu and sharing our lives, joys and passions through cookbooks.
The idea is simple, yet brilliant. Bring along some cookbooks/foodbooks that you love and any that you have loved but are ready to share to a new home.
I’m always amazed at the many ways food can connect us with people and cultures, but I’d not yet come across a cookbook chat and swap.
As I looked through the cookbooks I’d collected over many years, to bring along, I wondered why some had survived many ruthless cullings.
I realised that it’s not that they are particularly good, but rather that they represent a part of my life. I’ve moved from handwritten family recipes that started me off as a child, through a spartan low fat eating era, to discovering the world of creating events around food. I will always be thankful for that commercial cookery training that dietitians once did. And I could see that now I collect cookbooks to remind me of places where I’ve travelled.
But it was fasciating to hear everyone else tell of their lives and loves through their favourite cookbooks. We only scratched the surface…there are more conversations planned!
Together with this wonderful cookbook inspired sharing, we enjoyed a Pialligo Estate Smokehouse Platter with Peppered rump, chicken roulade & cos lettuce, jamon, washed rind cheese from the Adelaide Hills and house made dukkah, served with Pepe Saya butter and crusty bread.
Followed by Southern Spiced Pork and Pickled Melon….
and Ham Bell & Garden Salad with red wine mignonette…
..and finished with a dessert of…
..and Spanish Herbed Sheep’s Cheese with rosemary (very delicious), pears & baguette
..Persimmon Crumble with lime mascarpone (wonderful flavours)
and Chocolate Delice & coffee biscuit..
All beautifully accompanied by Pialligo Estate Riesling and Shiraz.
Pialligo Estate generously subsidised our costs by the Platters are usually $42 per person (minimum tow guests) or the set menu is $48 pp for two courses or $60 for three.
Wine by the glass is around $12.
And we left with bags of Blood Oranges courtesy of RedBelly Citrus….to start new culinary adventures!
Fine Eating 