Easter long weekend – Canberra

I can’t remember the last time I was in Canberra over Easter, but I’m glad to see that the whole city doesn’t shut down completely. Here are a few places open over the long weekend (I’ll keep adding to the list as I find more places).

Happy Easter!

p.s. double demerits 24th – 28th

p.p.s. there will probably be public holiday surcharges at most of the dine in places

Friday 25th	Saturday 26th	Sunday 27th	Monday 28th
	Lolo and Lola 10 am – 4 pm	Lolo and Lola 10 am – 4 pm
Daana 11 am – 9 pm	Daana 11 am – 9 pm	Daana 11 am – 6 pm
	Ricardo’s 7:30 am – 4 pm	Ricardo’s 7:30 am – 4 pm	Ricardo’s 7:30 am – 4 pm
The Fish Shack 11 am – 9 pm	The Fish Shack 11 am – 9 pm
	Eighty/twenty food 7 am – 1pm	Eighty/twenty food 7 am – 1pm	Eighty/twenty food 7 am – 1pm
	Ona coffee house (Fyshwick) 8 am – 3 pm	Ona coffee house (Fyshwick) 8 am – 3 pm	Ona coffee house (Fyshwick) 8 am – 3 pm
Snapper on the Lake 8 am – 8 pm Fish&chips from 11 am	Snapper on the Lake 8 am – 8 pm Fish&chips from 11 am	Snapper on the Lake 8 am – 8 pm Fish&chips from 11 am	Snapper on the Lake 8 am – 8 pm Fish&chips from 11 am
	Fox and Bow café From 8 am		Fox and Bow café From 8 am
	Mocan and Green Grout 7 am – 9 pm	Mocan and Green Grout 8 am – 4 pm	Mocan and Green Grout 8 am – 4 pm
		Old Bus Depot Markets (Portobello Road) 10 am – 4 pm (get your Dream Cuisine hot cross buns!)
	Dream Cuisine 8 am – 2 pm
Elk and Pea 8 am – 3 pm 6 pm – late	Elk and Pea 8 am – 3 pm 6 pm – late	Elk and Pea 8 am – 3 pm 6 pm – late	Elk and Pea 8 am – 3 pm
	Frugii 12 pm – 11 pm	Frugii 12 pm – 11 pm
Common Grounds 7:30 am – 4 pm
Double Shot 6:30 am – 4 pm	Double Shot 6:30 am – 4 pm	Double Shot 6:30 am – 4 pm	Double Shot 6:30 am – 4 pm
	Dobinsons 8 am – 5 pm	Dobinsons 8 am – 5 pm	Dobinsons 8 am – 5 pm
Bicicletta Breakfast 7am – 11am Lunch  12noon – 3pm Dinner 5pm – 10pm	Bicicletta Breakfast 7am – 11am Lunch  12noon – 3pm Dinner 5pm – 10pm	Bicicletta Breakfast 7am – 11am Lunch  12noon – 3pm Dinner 5pm – 10pm	Bicicletta Breakfast 7am – 11am Lunch  12noon – 3pm Dinner 5pm – 10pm
Four Winds Vineyard 10 am – 5 pm	Four Winds Vineyard 10 am – 5 pm	Four Winds Vineyard 10 am – 5 pm	Four Winds Vineyard 10 am – 5 pm
	A.Baker 8 am – 10 pm	A.Baker 8 am – 4 pm	A.Baker
	Mr Papa 12 pm – 9 pm	Mr Papa 6 pm – 9 pm
	Stripey Sundae 10 am – 5 pm	Stripey Sundae 10 am – 5 pm	Stripey Sundae 10 am – 5 pm
Barrio Collective Coffee 8am – 12 pm	Barrio Collective Coffee 8am – 1 pm	Barrio Collective Coffee 8am – 1 pm	Barrio Collective Coffee 8am – 1 pm
Penny University From 7:30 am	Penny University From 7:30 am	Penny University From 7:30 am	Penny University From 7:30 am
	Clonakilla Wines 10 am – 5 pm	Clonakilla Wines 10 am – 5 pm	Clonakilla Wines 10 am – 5 pm
	Robyn Rowe chocolates 10 am – 5 pm		Robyn Rowe chocolates 10 am – 5 pm
Flint in the Vines 12 pm – 3 pm (5 course seafood lunch)	Flint in the Vines 12 pm – 3 pm 6 pm – 8:30 pm	Flint in the Vines 12 pm – 3 pm

 

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Pod Food redemption

Not long after my some what disappointing degustation at Pod Food, I found myself back there for the a la carte menu for a friend’s birthday. I noticed some familiar menu items from the degustation and decided to steer clear from those to avoid disappointment.

 

Snacks~

Sour dough bread with fennel seed butter (4 pieces $6.00). After wildly enjoying the bread and the butter previously, I lavishly order two serves for the table. I realised it is a different bread to my previous experience but I still enjoyed the seedy crusty exterior of the bread (does sour dough come with grains throughout the bread?). I found the cut of the bread really thick and you would think who would complain about getting more bread, but it made it really hard to chew and threw the butter to bread ratio way off. We definitely did not need two serves especially when they were cut so thick.That is one thick slice of bread!

Kimchi pork hock toasty (2 pieces $10.00). Yes more bread, we didn’t really think this through. Nothing really special, the toasty didn’t have a melty ‘glue’ to really hold everything together which made it a little floppy to eat. The kimchi wasn’t over whelming and went really nice with the pork hock.

Salmon croquettes, sesame mayonnaise (4 pieces $10.00). Not an overly fishy centre and extremely crunchy without being oily. These were thoroughly enjoyed.

3 courses $70.00 per person

 

Entrees~

Soft egg, poached chicken, soba noodles, pickled cucumber, wild rice. Without telling my friends that I had something similar during the degustation and I didn’t like it, they ordered this dish and it looked very different to when we had it. Alas, all three of them left a nearly full bowl as they found the dish very bland and unappealing.

Hiramasa kingfish tartare, nectarine, radish, rice crisp. TimmyC really enjoyed this from the degustation and happily ordered it again. It didn’t look as pretty as the first time we had had it but TimmyC thought it tasted even better than before.

Java pepper beef carpaccio, parmesan, caramelised onion, portobello mushroom. The beef was paired perfectly with the saltiness of the parmesan, sweetness of the onion and the earthiness of the mushroom. Great flavour pairings made for a delicious start to the meal.

Mains~

Chargrilled pork neck, pumpkin, Pialligo smokehouse bacon, baby gem lettuce.This wasn’t my main but I liked the succulent pork neck and the crispy bacon. I think the idea of serving pumpkin is long ribbons is visually stunning and provides a different texture.

Duck breast, sweet potato gallette, fennel, plum, mustard. I really enjoyed my duck breast as the fat was cooked nicely giving a great juicy skin but I found the gallette a little dry and didn’t finish it.

Smoked ricotta and potato “canneloni”, pepitas, peas, parmesan.

Dessert~

Lemongrass panna cotta, grape, burnt butter crumb, verjus jelly. There might have been mosquitoes in my dessert, but I didn’t get bitten nearly as badly as last time because we were seated inside. The panna cotta had a beautiful wobble to it and a nice subtle lemongrass flavour. I thought the skinless grapes added an extra sweetness to the dish while also providing another dimension of texture.

Coconut parfait, caramel popcorn, gingerbread, banana. A nice light refreshing dessert.

Pistachio brownie, local berries, puffed spelt, yoghurt .

The service was attentive as usual and I found my experience with the food to be a little inconsistent but overall much better than the degustation. Phew, it might have just been a bad night during my previous visit.