Eat

Mama Buoi, Surry Hills Sydney

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Spoilt for choice, it would be easy to overlook a smaller spot like Mama Buoi Vietnamese restaurant. But that would be tragic as you would miss the nostalgic, relaxed decor, the story of the family behind the restaurant,the great value but most of all the most delicious food!
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Ask the staff for their recommendations as these are excellent!

The Saigon influenced duck curry is fragrant with ginger, tamarind and Vietnamese herbs in a rich flavoursome sauce with sweet potato – $18  ($3 per serve of rice).
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This teams really well with the vermicelli salad with Vietnamese herbs, lemongrass pork, pork spring rolls and an incredible sauce $14.
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Both are very generous and very shareable serve sizes. In fact one dish could feed 2 people with an entree, but it would be hard to miss out on these flavours. Two dishes is plenty for three people.

If you do have an entree, choose the duck pancakes $14 for two as these are very good with pineapple, picked carrots, mixed herbs and honey.
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The food is so excellent you can’t bear to leave any!

Staff are friendly and welcoming and service is quick and efficient.
Mama's Buoi Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Belluci’s, Woden – update on the lunch specials

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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.

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The chicken caesar salad is still a good lighter choice…

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

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

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

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

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Belluci's Italian Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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).

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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!

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Cafe Arirang Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

High Tea at home – a great idea for a large group

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If you have a cupboard of inherited, mixed not matched, china and perhaps some interesting table cloths, ( or even if you don’t) then hosting a high tea can be a great way to bring people together.

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It’s relatively easy, because everything can be made ahead (much even frozen) and set out on tables before guests arrive. You can choose to serve savoury options as canapés first with a glass of bubbles, before everyone sits down for tea and sweets delicacies.

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By creating a high tea at home you have lots of flexibility with the food, drinks and seating arrangements. You can cater easily for dietary preferences and plan the event so that everyone can chat and get to know more people. Also more people  can afford to join in than when you book a $50 per person set menu, and where you only get to talk to those directly next to you.

Good ideas for savoury canapés in include cheese chorizo and corn muffins…..

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….smoked salmon on cucumber or 1/2 scones…

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Asian style frittata….

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pinwheel sandwiches with smoked oyster, cumin, lemon juice and cream cheese dip ( ask the bakery to slice the bread length wise)

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Pikelets with blue cheese/cream cheese dip and caramelised pear with date and walnuts.

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It’s also easy to make these options gluten free is required.

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Sweet options that can be made ahead include chocolate dipped strawberries….

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….scones with jam and cream ( less preparation if served halved with whipped cream and jam separately)..

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…mini cup cakes decorated (e.g. Lemon curd centred muffins, with lemon icing and candied lemon…

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…pancake swirls with cinnamon and brown sugar and cream cheese and walnuts..

…chocolate rum balls..

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…meringues with chocolate…

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…chocolate caramel slice…

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Mini trifles in shot glasses ( available from Home Base, Woden Westfield).

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You can also accept offers of help with food preparation if you choose as things are easy to add to the table as they arrive.

Cups and saucers can be matching or miss matching. It works well with mugs and small plates too. Look out for inexpensive three tier stands at Aldi or use cardboard versions available from Home Base or Reject shops.

Trestle tables are about $34 and folding chairs about $8 each from Bunnings.

Space, Woden- amazing breakfast dishes all day!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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And there’s even more amazing creations in the cake cabinet in the way out that you must not miss! A work of art – everything!

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Space Kitchen Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Cream, Canberra City – breakfast!

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Cream, on the lower ground corner of the Canberra Centre near Gus’ is a great all-rounder at any time.

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With stylish decor and excellent service, it’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. It has a good range of interesting dishes on the menu and easy parking in the Canberra Centre nearby (great for the middle of winter).

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The options for breakfast are varied and include:

Spanish Omelette $18 with chorizo, peas, roasted red peppers, manchego cheese and sourdough

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Big Breakfast $19 free range eggs with bacon, chorizo, mushrooms, oven roasted tomato and chat potato

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Pancakes $17 with caramelised toffee apple, butterscotch sauce and vanilla icecream

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Poached eggs with feta, smoked salmon, avocado smash on sourdough (very good!)

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Cream also offer Canberra Entertainment Book holders two mains for the price of one.

Cream Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Urban Corner Cafe, Fyshwick – a convenient spot for lunch if shopping.

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The Urban Corner Café, located opposite Harvey Norman in Fyshwick, offers Canberra Entertainment Book holders
two meals for the price of one.

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This means you can choose something like Fish and Chips with salad as well as Grilled Barramundi with salad and chips and just pay $17 for both.

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Other options include a range of burgers or breakfast dishes as well as risottos and schnitzel.

A fairly plain setting and a bit of a wait if it’s busy, it is still a light and open space in a convenient location if shopping.

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Phone: 0474963158 / 0451321861

Urban Corner Café Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Urban bean Expresso Bar, Woden – some good salad options for lunch

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Urban Bean Expresso Bar in the heart of office worker buildings Woden, has always offered a range of great lunch options.
The gourmet wraps and burgers are always good, but it may be the salads that are the very best options on offer.
The Thai Chicken Salad ($14.90) has a great sesame and chilli dressing.

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However, it’s worth checking the menu and the daily specials.
The French Green Bean and Chicken Salad had a very generous serve of chicken and was great value at $9.90.

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There’s also a range of ready to go wrap/ gourmet sandwich options for about $9….

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….such as the marinated vegetable wrap (lacks flavour and very oily)….

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or a roast vegetable filled Turkish bread.

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It gets busy so go early to grab a table.

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Urban Bean Espresso Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Thai Chiang Rai Restaurant, Phillip – a budget friendly, tasty meal for three

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Thai Chiang Rai in the Woden Southern Cross Club certainly has the nicest setting for lunch in the Woden CBD.

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Serve sizes are generous and if you usually only need to order one main per two modest appetites to try some good dishes but not end up with more food than you want.

But an odd number (e.g. three people sharing) can be tricky.

One solution is to order one main and one smaller express lunch.

But then it can be tricky to order the rice in the right amounts.

Another solution is to order one curry and one of the special fried rice (and skip the plain rice).

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The chicken and prawn fried rice $16.90 is a good option.

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The Jungle Curry with Pork $17.90, is very good (possibly the best dish so far). It is very light, no having any cream or coconut milk added, with fresh flavours. It is very spicy though, if chilli bothers you.

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The pork and chicken meats are tender at Thai Chiang Rai and good options to order for the curries and stir fries. (The beef is not so tender).

If you are wanting a light meal (also light on price) then the $9.90 serve of plain rice would also be good with the Jungle Curry with pork or chicken (one serve of each for three).

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Canberra Southern Cross Club members are offered a 10% discount.

At lunchtime a glass of wine is $2.90 (although this may be increasing to $3.90 soon).

Thai Chiang Rai Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato