Temporada

After several attempts of trying to making a booking at Temporada (I think I left three calls on their answering machine at various times), they finally rang back and said that they could reserve a table for four people at 7:30pm on the Thursday with no problems.

It is located next to the Hellenic club in the city which limits you to street parking or parking aaaaaall the way near the court house unless there is a secret space that I’m unaware of? Not the most convenient location.Inside shows very limited seating with a lot of the dining area around the central bar, one side has small tables and raised bar stools and the long length of the wall has table and chairs. I was very happy that we were shown to a table and not the area around the bar.The outdoor seating looked flimsy and was made from thin metal, sitting on the high stools on the side or at the bar didn’t look comfortable but the seats we sat on weren’t that great either. Let’s make this meal quick before my bum gets sore.I like the funky light fittings they have on the wall.To start~

House sourdoughand cultured butter ($2.50 each, apparently this is two serves of bread). Was the butter really soft and creamy? Yes, but the one thing it lacked was the touch of salt that gives it that extra oompf and flavour. The bread was cold too making the beginning of the meal off to a bad start. Unless you’re waiting for people and you’re starving, I’d skip ordering the bread.

Pigs head roll, romesco, coleslaw ($7.00 per roll). I’m not usually drawn to menu items that say ‘pig’s head’ but I thought I’d be adventurous and try this. The pig’s head meat was made into a little patty and I couldn’t even tell it was pork let alone meat from the head. One of the prominent flavours was the charred burnt bun which was unpleasant.

Beef short rib roll, fermented cucumber, horseradish mayo ($8.00 each roll). I could smell the succulent scent of rib when I held the bun up to my face and I thought to myself ‘this was going to be amazing’. It didn’t disappoint, this meal was starting to turn around! YUM YUM YUM! I wish I could add scents and flavours to my blog, but I guess you’ll have to come here yourself to get one.

I love the bag hooks that they have at the bar but the seats look really uncomfortable to sit on especially during the whole duration of a dinner.Plates~

Grilled sweet corn, lime butter, coriander ($9.00). Yep you read that right, I paid $9 bucks for a cob of corn, a very delicious corn, but just for one cob nonetheless. The flavours of lime and coriander incorporated with the butter does wonders though, I might try this at home.Cape grim beef rib eye, chimmichurri, garlic kale, zucchini ($35.00). I couldn’t tell if it was the only thing on the menu the guys were willing to try or if they were sick of waiting for me to quickly take photos of their food before they could start eating but all three boys ordered the same thing. A good piece of beef, but that’s all it was – ‘good but not great’, nothing special here which was disappointing with the attached price tag.Grilled lamb ribs, spiced eggplant, lemon dressing ($33.00). I really liked the ‘lemon-y’ touch but towards the end of my meal I felt like I was heavily weighed down by a lot of oil and I didn’t feel that great afterwards (like the feeling you would get if you were to yum cha and ate all the fried food without drinking Chinese tea). The lamb was tender and fell easily away from the bone, despite being oily I liked this more than the steak because I thought it had more interesting flavours.

The wait for/between meals was rather short with the staff being efficient, very friendly and attentive.

I had high hopes for this venue after getting such rave reviews from other bloggers but for me this was overall pretty disappointing. I hope they weren’t influenced by the hype of who owns Temporada just because it is the same people from Aubergine. If it wasn’t for all the initial bread intake, I’m pretty sure I would have been just as full as when I left Mocan and Green Grout (i.e. still hungry).

I’m not about to give it a thumbs down but I’m not exactly going to rush out there anytime soon either. I think I would have just been content with three beef rib rolls which would have meant my bill total would have been $24.00 rather than $60.00. It has almost fine dining prices without the same standard of food or atmosphere i.e. had decent seats and ambience.

Venue: Temporada

Address: 15 Moore St, Canberra, ACT 2601

Phone: (02) 6249 6683