Italian and Sons, Braddon

I don’t expect to like Italian and Sons. I don’t really feel like Italian and just how many tables are crammed into the small space on Lonsdale Street raises my eyebrows – but I’m surprised with how much I like the food and experience.

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Fungi in Namadgi National Park

Lovely to look at. But don’t touch it. Don’t pick it. Don’t eat it.

Sage Taste and Test Redux

I loved Sage Dining Rooms’ Taste and Test last year. It’s a clever concept: offer five experimental dishes at a reduced price and, over the course of a few weeks, get a sense of what the Canberra dining public’s taste really is to help form the menu. But the last Taste and Test was only held in September – is Sage lacking some confidence in its future menus? Does it need to check with the public before it brings out each new season’s menu?

The short answer? No, and no.

Small Brewers Beer Fest – take two

In March, we had a good time at the inaugural Small Brewers Beer Festival at the Botanic Gardens (not to be confused with the Canberra Craft Beer and Cider Festival). It had a huge turnout, and, with it, a few teething problems: the lines were enormous, there wasn’t water available on the hot day, and some of the beer served was hot. With news that the festival was returning for a second time in late September, I was excited – the second time was surely going to be better, with the benefit of lessons learned from the first festival. The first good news is early bird tickets: for the same price it’s 20 tokens instead of 10, meaning double the beer. The second good news is its move to EPIC – an inside event, like Oktoberfest, will be ideal. Even though there are 50km/h winds, I don’t bring a jacket – what will be the point if we’re inside? My expectations plummet when we arrive to find the festival in …

Floriade Nightfest

Floriade is a huge event for Canberra, and while I appreciate all the good it brings for our fair capital, I’m always a little wary. Floriade is synonymous with traffic being backed up down Commonwealth Ave Bridge and Parkes Way thanks to those pesky (but necessary) traffic lights, and it always signals the start of hayfever season for me. But, every time I see Floriade’s Nightfest being advertised, I get more than a little excited. It always looks so other-worldly. Last year was going to be the year I finally went along, but we had a wedding overseas instead. So, as soon as it was announced this year, I booked tickets – and hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Taste and Test at Sage Dining Rooms

Clever, clever, clever is what runs through my mind during our two hour dinner at Sage Dining Rooms. Sage is one of the best restaurants in Canberra (I have been known to wax lyrical about it here, and here, and elsewhere!) and in August they announced a ‘taste and test’ month – essentially, for three nights a week over the month, the restaurant would become an experiment as they test dishes for their new menu, and the diners become reviewers. The price is marked down: five dishes for $60. I book us in immediately and look forward to it for weeks.

Truffle Degustation at Benchmark Wine Bar

It’s a typical cool cold Canberra evening in the middle of truffle season when my friends and I descend onto classy Benchmark Wine Bar (near the Novotel and bus station on Northbourne). Benchmark Wine Bar has had truffle degustations each Tuesday of the past few weeks, but the menu’s changed each time; we’ve no idea what to expect from our four courses.

Treasures Gallery and Bookplate

There are so many tourist places I’ve never visited in Canberra, or which I only visited properly once, when I first moved here. When I thought about it recently, it seemed odd: so many of our tourist institutions are living, working places which are always changing – or at least usually have a new exhibition on. It’s this which leads me to make a concerted effort to get to these places over the next few months: and the National Library of Australia is where I start!

La De Da above Ha Ha Bar

I notice it a long time before I hear about it: there’s something going on upstairs from Ha Ha Bar on Belconnen‘s Emu Bank. What is it? A club? Part of Ha Ha Bar? Eventually I hear about La De Da and my curiosity is sparked. With a new menu recently launched, visiting becomes a priority.

Hidden Gems at Grazing in Gundaroo

As part of the NSW Wine Festival (and in the lead up to the Canberra District Wine Harvest Festival), Grazing at Gundaroo hosts a “Hidden Gems” wine dinner. While the Canberra region is known for its riesling and its shiraz (for good reason), the dinner shows off those lesser-known but still highly regarded wines by pairing them with food. Win! We’re in.*