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.

Beer Day Out – Canberra’s Festival of Beer, this weekend!

If the word ‘beer’ conjures up stubby holders and cans of VB or Fosters, from your youth, then you are in for a treat this weekend.

Beer has entered the world of fine drinking and like wine, there is much pleasure to be had in beer tasting that showcases the subtleties and complexities of boutique beers created with much love by passionate and dedicated brewers (even for non-beer fans).

And it is true what they say some beers can be the perfect drink to have with food especially in the summer as many Asia travellers have discovered.
To know more about this new world of drinking joy or to indulge a long term beer love, join Anthony and Steve from Plonk who are the power behind Beer Day Out.

It’s Canberra’s own festival of beer that’s happening at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston this Friday evening and Saturday.
Hosting more than 30 local and international craft brewers…

….the line up includes the work of both well established local Brewers like Christoph Zierholz….

and Bentspoke as well as gypsy Brewers (those up and comers who borrow the facilities of others until they get their own space) like Kevin from PACT.

There’s also live entertainment, information sessions and a wonderful array of foods on offer including Frugii’s unique beer ice-cream, offering form Akiba and a cider sorbet.

Details:

4pm to 9pm – Friday 6th of November, 2015

12pm to 6pm – Saturday 7th of November, 2015

Former Transport Depot,Wentworth Avenue, Kingston ACT
Tickets purchased via Moshtix will be $28 (plus booking fee) or $47 including $20 worth of vouchers.

Pre-sale ticket purchases will also entitle the holder to early event entry on Saturday 7th (midday).

Additional vouchers can be purchased on the day.
Tickets will be available on the day for $40, with entry from 4pm Friday and 1pm Saturday .
Vouchers can be purchased from designated stands inside the event. Vouchers will be sold in $20 bundles.

Exploring some of Canberra’s best foodie haunts Part 2- At Westside with Eat Drink Blog 2015

Following in the footsteps of the Hamlet is Westside at the Acton end of Commonwealth Bridge.

Offering different cuisines to the Hamlet, but in a similar style, Westside is also a great summer spot to head with a group, your wine, glasses and a few dollars. Set up some folding in a nice position overlooking the lake and pick up a range of interesting foods from the friendly street food stalls, to split and share.

Or if you haven’t come prepared, just grab a table and a glass of wine from the Aviary bar on the top level.

Habibiz offers Mediterranean food and Limey’s…Gelato.

The One has some good looking soft Thai pork and beef tacos $12…..

The Fish Can‘s menu includes tempura prawns and sweet potato chips $13…

….some delicious Bao like prawn, fish, and soft shelled crab $13.50 in a surf pack….

….and perhaps even better chicken and pork belly Bao for around $4.30-$4.50 each…

….also they offer a Mars Bar Bao and Tempura Tofu Bao…

The sweet Bao Fries $3.50 with condensed milk glaze and black sesame are very morish.

Miss Van’s has an excellent Ginger Chicken, Vermicelli noodles and fresh herbs Vietnamese salad $12 in a generous size, and it is also famous for it’s Banh Mi.

Daana is serving up some great South Indian Street foods like the, hard to find idli, Vada, dosa and Uttapam according to Jude and Travel and Beyond.
A great place for families with younger children as parking is easy and free there’s plenty of space to run around nearby.

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.