On Red has an undeniably outstanding view over Canberra and it’s hard to beat for a great setting.
It also helpfully offers a wide range of smaller entree sized serves, designed ‘for you to ‘build your own’ tasting menu’.
The options are three $67, four $78 or five $89 dishes.
However, while dishes sound interesting and creative flavours are not as outstanding as other similarly priced top Canberra restaurants.
The Pickled Octopus at Tuross is a true South Coast favourite. Offering both casual fish and chips and BYO (cheap corkage) down by the water , under the verandah, if you go early as well as a la carte dining (BYO corkage $10) upstairs. Great views where ever you decide to eat.
Pride Of The Catch BBQ’D w’ Chefs Sauce Salad & Chips
BBQ Pickled Baby Octopus Marinated w’ Chilli & Garlic Sesame Crusted Tempura Prawns w’ Honey & Soy
Cork Street Gallery Cafe in Gundaroo is a lovely spot for lunch on a sunny day.
The gourmet pizzas are good value and have a gorgeous thin crust. (Half and half toppings available.)
BYO only and corkage is low.
The setting and atmosphere is relaxed, casual and child -friendly.
Great pick for a weekend lunch and worth the drive (39km from Canberra).
(25% discount for Entertainment Book holders).
The Public is a good spot for a meal with friends or a drink, but does get busy and noisy. Two for one pizza night on Mondays is good value.
Moroccan Lamb Pizza $22
Salt & pepper squid salad $21 Shredded iceberg, fresh chilli, crisp basil & nam jim dressing
Slow cooked lamb $23 With quinoa tabouli, mint yoghurt, fresh pomegranate & pistachio crumble
Burger $20
The Treehouse on Northbourne Ave, Canberra City offfers a range of great specials.
Particularly wonderful is the Rollers Wednesday night special available 4-10pm.
$10 includes a glass of beer or cider (5-7pm wine is $5 a glass if you would prefer) as well as a gourmet burger with hand cut chips and aioli.
Chilli beef meatball, caramelised onion and cheddar (especially good)
Pulled pork, apple and fennel slaw (also very nice)
Haloumi, hummus and tomato saffron salsa
Gourmet bread pockets served with a side of
hand cut chips and aioli (also very good)
Mexican chicken fajita and guacamole (probably not as good as the others)
It’s especially nice sitting upstairs with the view through the golden leaves to the main bar.
Floriade each spring in Canberra, is undeniably about flowers.
But a closer look reveals plenty of opportunities to try, taste and learn about new foods and wines.
And there is no more gorgeous setting for picnicing on the wide range of foods for sale.
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
The Forage last weekend, in it’s new home at Fairbairn, was another wonderful spring Canberra foodie festival opportunity. Coupled with the Hustle and Scout twilight fashion market, it’s a very lovely opportunity to taste and try, admire and enjoy.
Pulled Pork Roll $10 Smoked Goat Pita $10
Mix and match muesli B St Bakery
Sweet Bones Bakery Poacher’s Pantry
Spring is a great time to be in Canberra for festivals and September-October coincides each year with the Gujarati community’s Navarati Celebrations – colourful, spectacular and great fun, featuring amazing traditional clothes, music, dances and food!
Organised by the Gujarati Samaj of ACT, the Festival of Dance, Raas Garba and Dandia runs for ten nights – this year from 25 September to 4 October 2014.
The Sur Vrund Group from Vadodara, Gujarat India is providing some great music that inspires some amazing dancing.
Everyone looks so beautiful, dressed in some very special outfits and there is an obvious pride and pleasure in celebrating shared traditions and experiences.
Much effort has gone in to creating some wonderful traditional Indian vegetarian food with new dishes being added to the menu each night.
Chocolate Baklawa Methi na Gota $5
Ras Malai $5 & Mango & Cardamon Lassi $3 Behl $5
Samosa Chat $5 Dabeli $5
Pav Bhaji $7 Mancuria with Gravy $7
Mango Kulfi $5
And Canberra joins communities all around Australia and the world, celebrating Navarati at the same time.
Here’s a great fun Bollywood version of Garba sent by a lovely friend.
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.
Fine Eating 