Review: Debacle revisited - for dinner this time

Last weekend Mr D. and I had a big weekend of mountain biking in the Sydney 24 hour race at the beautiful Australian Botanic Garden at Mt Annan.  We had a team of four and had heaps of fun – think lots of dust and dirt, large rocks to drop off, tree trunks to dodge, big hills to climb, flowing downhill trails, little bright lights at night, plus a few minor spills and thrills along the way, and you get the idea.  All this riding of course leads to a big appetite - we usually crave protein with big savoury flavours after lots of exercise like this. 

Do I look exhausted and hungry to you?  At this point I was thinking thank goodness this was my last lap!

Mr D. told me he had fantasies of burgers and chips on his last lap of the race - but not just any burger, a really good home-cooked style burger.  Luckily we live within stumbling distance of one of our favourite Canberra eating places, Debacle.  So on Sunday evening we hobbled down the street with our tired legs after we had arrived home, showered and snoozed for a bit.  The great thing about Debacle is that it is open long hours and we can usually get a table when we rock up (we’re usually here for breakfast on weekends or take-away pizza).  Plus the service is usually friendly and efficient, which is what you want when you're tired and hungry.

Mr D. was not disappointed when his beef burger arrived.  This is an old favourite on the Debacle menu. Piled high with melted cheese, a fried egg, bacon, onions, barbecue sauce, beetroot, fresh rocket and tomato, Mr D. eventually found the tasty beef patty hidden under there.  He is one of those people that digs out the patty and leaves the rest of the burger untouched on his plate, something that greatly amuses me who likes to eat everything together.

Beef burger - $19.90 - tasty!

As well as the standard menu, Debacle usually has interesting blackboard specials which change every few weeks or so.  It was here that I spied the American-style barbecued pork ribs.  I had wanted to have ribs for ages, after having tried them for the first time many, many years ago in the USA as a wide-eyed teenager.   The ribs came with spicy potato skins and a sweet bourbon sauce.

Barbecued USA ribs - $22.90

A huge serve of ribs arrived in big slabs.  The potato skins were quite delicious, being crisp and well seasoned with a nice amount of chilli cutting through. The bourbon sauce was tasty and sweet, but I was hoping it would be finger-lickingly sticky and coat the ribs with a thick juiciness.  Instead the sauce drowned everything in its liquid at the bottom of the bowl, which meant the ribs didn’t have that intensity of flavour I was after and the spicy potato skins soon became soggy.   I found the dish not quite to my taste because of this.

I’m one of those people that will leave most of the dish on the plate if it is not quite what I’m hoping for, to Mr D.’s slight annoyance, especially when he is footing the bill.  “Why did you order it, then?”, he asks.  “Because I wanted to try something a bit different”, is my reply.  I’m willing to take a chance on most things when it comes to food, because you never know when you might just get the best meal experience of your life.  This obviously wasn’t one of those times, but at least I satisfied my curiosity about pork ribs for a while.

Thankfully a couple of schooners of our favourite Japanese Sapporo beer (which is on tap at Debacle) washed everything down beautifully with its crisp, clean flavour. 

So tell me, do you like to take a chance when ordering restaurant meals?  And what food do you get cravings for?

Debacle
30 Lonsdale St
Braddon  ACT
Open 7 days for breakfast, lunch and dinner
http://www.outincanberra.com.au/debacle

Review: Mojo Rising – Lonsdale St Roasters, Braddon

What is it about a little cafe that draws people in and keeps them coming back, again and again?  Good food?  Good coffee?  A little bit of magic, or mojo, perhaps?  Whatever it is, there is something about Lonsdale St Roasters in Braddon.  This place is ultra-hip, ultra-cool and very, very trendy.

Every weekday morning I walk past Lonsdale St Roasters on my way to work, longingly looking inside as I go by.  I envy all those hip, trendy people inside who can luxuriate over breakfast and a coffee during the week, while the rest of us mere mortals have to be in the office by 9am. 

Every now and again, when I make a special effort to get going early, I manage to squeeze inside Lonsdale St Roasters (and some mornings it really is a squeeze, but the service is quick).  The heady aroma of roasting coffee beans jolts all my senses awake.  And I am glad, for the coffee is good and the coffee is strong! (So strong it will grow hairs on your chest!). It is the best coffee I’ve had in Canberra.

Every so often, I grab breakfast on the run from this tiny cafe.  I love the raisin toast with oh-so-sweet-and-delicious cinnamon butter served in a little tub on the side.  Once in a while, if I am lucky, on a weekend morning I can sit down and eat breakfast and drink coffee and hang out, just like all those trendy, hip things I have envied during the week.  Then it’s the gorgeous waffles with honey butter that make my heart sing.  The music box plays cool, sultry blues like Billie Holiday, melding with the coffee aroma like a couple embraced in a slow dance. The darkened cave-like room hums with energy and I just mellow out and relax, absorbing it all and recharging my tired soul.

Waffles with honey butter - $7

Once in a while, I also venture to Lonsdale St Roasters for lunch.  The energy buzzes as I catch up with good friends and family.   Packed to overflowing as usual with beautiful, trendy people, the little cafe opens its windows and the people all tumble onto the pavement, sitting in the sun on upturned milk crates and tiny stools, among all the bicycles parked out the front.  If only there could be proper chairs and tables and umbrellas!  I guess shabby-chic is part of the quirky charm, but still! 

The panini are a lunch-time specialty, and Lonsdale St Roasters has got them down to a fine art, along with the kitsch artwork on the walls.  Slow roasted meats with chilli and spice, cransky, chorizo and roasted portabello mushrooms are the stars, arriving in beautiful, crusty toasted bread rolls with other tasty fillings like rich, melted cheese and tasty relish.  However, while this food is good, it is very heavy going.  I would love to see some fresher, lighter meals as well.

Panini with roasted portabello mushrooms and melted gorgonzola cheese - $11

Panini with cransky and sauerkraut - $12

I walk by Lonsdale St Roasters on my way home again every evening.  The little cafe is dark and quiet now – it’s well past closing time.  I look through the window as I pass, thinking when I might come in again.  The mojo keeps drawing me back.  And the great coffee.

So tell me, what keeps you coming back to a place again and again?  And do you believe in mojo?

Post Script:
Lonsdale St Roasters now has umbrellas set up outside.  Yay!

Lonsdale St Roasters

7 Lonsdale St

Braddon  ACT

Open Monday – Sat for breakfast and lunch.  Closed on Sundays. L

Lonsdale St Roasters Facebook page

Review: Mutiny, Fish and Chips - The Fish Shack, Civic

Ever wanted to rock the boat, shake the tree, rattle the cage, stick it to 'the man'?  I am meek and mild at the best of times, but every now and again I like to stir the pot a bit and cause just a little bit of havoc, especially when food is at stake.  One day I even managed to cause a small mutiny in the office over fish and chips. You see, my boss wanted to have a bit of a team lunch  - a picnic in the park eating fish and chips.  A lovely idea, to be sure.  Only the plan was to get the food from a greasy old takeaway joint down the road - not so lovely after all - there were even threats of chiko rolls and deep fried Mars bars!  So I decided to take matters into my own hands and checked all those fabulous food blogs for a well-rated alternative.  And so I came across the Fish Shack.

The Fish Shack is a bright orange little shack in the middle of Civic.  Open for a few months now, it does a roaring trade and fresh take on the old favourites - beer battered fish, salt and pepper squid, tempura prawns, Thai fish cakes and much more (view the menu).  And they are pretty damn good - the fish is very fresh, the batter is light and crunchy and the chips are lovely and crisp.  At lunch time there can be a bit of a wait, so a hot tip is to ring your order in ahead of time so it's ready to collect when you arrive.

Tempura prawns and chips - $13.50

Salt and pepper squid and chips - $12.50

Premium beer battered classic fish and chips - medium size - $9.50

Back to the mutiny... I managed to convince all my work colleagues that we could do much, much better than the greasy old takeaway joint.  What could the boss do when the power of the people was against him?  All ended well, of course, and we had a beautiful hour in the sunshine eating our yummy Fish Shack food.  The boss still had the greasy old takeaway joint food, though. J

So tell me, where's your favourite fish and chips joint?  And what little revolutions have you started?

The Fish Shack
Petrie Plaza (off Bunda St)
Civic  ACT
ph. 6248 5885
Open for lunch Mon - Sat, dinner Tues - Fri
http://www.thefishshack.com.au/

Review: More than a Pretty Place? The Oaks Brasserie, Yarralumla

What better thing is there to do in Canberra on a nice day than ride your bike around Lake Burley-Griffin? ... Combine it with a brunch stop, of course. 

Mr D. and I headed off one recent weekend morning on our bikes to do exactly that.  After chasing Mr D.’s cracking pace for kilometres, we finally arrived at one of the most scenic parts of the lake foreshores – Westbourne Woods. 

The bike path wound its way through a stand of big, old shady trees and scraggy bushes, then across a little wooden bridge over a pond with water lilies, and up a long, long grassy hill.  On top of the hill stood a beautiful garden, and nestled in the garden was a little white cottage. 

The little white cottage in the garden was The Oaks Brasserie.   The cottage has been on the site since Canberra’s very early days, providing a home to Canberra’s first official nurseryman, who nurtured trees to beautify the young city and grow new forests in the surrounding hills.  Nowadays, almost 100 years on, the cottage is right in the middle of beautiful parkland on the shores of the lake.

The Oaks Brasserie really does trade on its fabulous location - it is not known for its food.  On this day, the breakfast menu was weighted with heavy eggy dishes and a little uninspired, with the effect that Mr D. and I settled for a simple croissant and jam.   The croissants seemed to be from a frozen box instead of a bakery and the coffee was not great.  However, the service was attentive and friendly, if a little inexperienced.

I had to laugh when I saw the section of the menu especially for dogs – yes, the cafe will serve your pampered pooch a plate of tasty pasta, chicken or sausages as long as it is well behaved.

Speaking of animals, the birds also gave me a laugh that morning.  A pair of currawongs and some other birds greedily eyed off our breakfast the entire time.  Quick as a flash, one of the currawongs swooped down and grabbed the last quarter of Mr D.’s croissant while he was away from the table.  I wasn’t quick enough to shoo him away, the cheeky rascal.  Can you see him smiling to himself in the photo?

So, a pretty place The Oaks Brasserie certainly was that morning.   But like so many other pretty things, there seemed to be not much else behind it.

Tell me, do you choose a book by its cover?  Or is it all about what you might find behind?

The Oaks Brasserie

Cottage 1 Yarralumla Nursery

Weston Park Road

Yarralumla  ACT

Open daily from 10am – 5pm for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea

Open on Saturdays and Sundays from 8.30am for breakfast

http://citysearch.com.au/places/act/yarralumla/yarralumla%20gallery%20and%20the%20oaks%20brasserie

Review: The Great Breakfast Debacle

We have a lovely little ritual on Saturday mornings.   You will usually find Mr D. and me enjoying brunch at Debacle in Braddon.  This place is our ‘local’ and we love it - we just have to stumble out of bed and wander down the road to get our fix of good coffee and yummy food. 

Debacle is wonderfully laid back and relaxed, and a great place to meet up with friends, although mostly it’s just Mr D. and me doing our own thing.  We’re usually able to walk straight in and find a cosy table just for the two of us, even on a busy Saturday morning.  The service is always friendly and efficient, which is what we want for a hassle- free start to the weekend.

Our favourite dish is the crepes with lemon curd and fresh lemon wedges to squeeze all over them.  The crepes are always light and fresh, although I tend to scrape most of the huge dollop of rich, buttery curd to one side.



French crepes with lemon butter and icing sugar- $11.90



The pancakes with pear, berry compote and ricotta are a close second for me.  They are so dense and satisfying, loaded with all that creamy ricotta, I can only ever get through half.  I’m also a big fan of the freshly squeezed juices on offer – the apple and ginger juice is a particularly spicy and delicious pick-me-up!

Pancakes with grated pear, wide berry compote and ricotta - $13.90

Mr D. and I like to take our time on such lazy weekend mornings.  Seated across from each other, Mr D. will engross himself in his favourite newspaper on his i-pad, while I become absorbed by the latest postings from my favourite food blogs on my i-phone.  Neither of us will say a word, simply just enjoying each other’s company.  Bliss!

Debacle definitely doesn’t live up to its name for a great weekend breakfast experience. J

Debacle

30 Lonsdale St

Braddon  ACT

Open 7 days for breakfast, lunch and dinner

http://www.outincanberra.com.au/debacle

So tell me, do you have a favourite food ritual?

Review: Wilbur's at Hackett Shops

Canberra is a funny town.  Sometimes the best places to eat are tucked away in little suburban shopping centres.  It’s only the locals that have this special knowledge, and they usually don’t let on.  So, it was armed with local knowledge that we headed down to Wilbur's at Hackett shops for a relaxed Saturday family lunch.  

Family gatherings are always a rather loud, noisy affair, expecially for my family.  So you can imagine the poor staff when in I walked and asked for a table of eight for lunch, right then and there, no booking.  The friendly waitress blanched for a millisecond and then said, sure no problem, of course they could fit us in.  Then mum, little sister, her baby boy, little brother, uncle and auntie, grandmother and Mr D. piled in - pram and all.

Wilbur's is a reasonably cosy little place, with bright red leather seats placed around a slow combustion fire place and small tables tucked into corners. Nice for a lazy coffee and newspaper reading afternoon (and the coffee is good). Of course, the eight of us were seated in a long row, hastily rearranged just for us and the pram.

Mr D. and I were hungry - a tasty margherita pizza and garlic pizza bread to share between the two of us sounded like a good idea.  We thought we would get a couple of small pizzas to share.   What came out was huge! The two pizzas were large enough to feed a small army (or at least six people).  This turned out to be a good thing, as the pizzas were delicious and I was rather greedy.  So much so, that I only thought to photograph the food half-way through devouring it.  I won’t tell you how many slices I ate. J

The margherita pizza had lots of tasty, fresh tomato topping with melted bocconcini and basil, the crust was crisp on the bottom as it should be - very, very good as far as pizzas go. The garlic pizza was covered in melted mozzarella and parmesan and was pungently garlicy – a definite thumbs up.

Wilbur's margherita pizza - $17.50

Wilbur's garlic pizza

Sharing food brings my family together – along with lots of joking, poking fun, teasing, fighting and laughing.  This is something that the newest member of our family is discovering.   My three month old baby nephew is very cute and the centre of attention at the moment.  He’s not quite at the grabbing stage yet, but it won’t be long before we have to move all the sugars and cups of coffee and cutlery out of the way when we take him out.  I can’t wait!

No doubt we'll all be coming back to Wilbur's.

Wilbur's

Hackett shops

14 Hackett Place

Hackett   ACT

Open Tues-Sun for breakfast and lunch, Tues-Sat for dinner

http://www.outincanberra.com.au/articles/newhackettcafebringsshopstolife
http://wilburscafebar.blogspot.com/

So tell me, are you greedy too when it comes to good pizza? And do you have a large family that loves to get together to eat?

Review: Brunching at Bills in Sydney

I’d always wanted to try Bill Granger’s cafe in Surry Hills, ever since I bought his first fabulous cook book a few years ago.  On a recent weekend trip I finally got my wish!  

We arrived after a brisk walk from our hotel downtown, just far enough to get our stomaches really growling.  It was late on a Saturday morning and people were lining up out the front waiting for tables. 

Will we or won’t we, we thought – is it worth the wait?  Luckily we were patient and managed to get a table for five of us within about ten minutes.  This proved to Mr D. that good things come to those that queue J.

It was a beautiful, sunny spring day and pleasant to sit outside.  The waiter was friendly – he liked us, he said, because we were nice, polite customers.  The coffee was good and strong.

Choices, choices – what to order?  Four out of five of us were going to run the City to Surf the next day, so a fair amount of carbo loading was in order.

Mr D. and I couldn’t go past Bill Granger's famous ricotta hotcakes.  We weren’t disappointed.  They were light and fluffy and soaked up all the luscious maple syrup.  You can try making them at home with his recipe.

Ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter - $17.50

Our good friend Ms Y., a staunch vegetarian, chose the delicious corn fritters, opting for smooth avocado over crispy bacon.  However, she was unfortunately charged extra for the privilege.

Sweet corn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and avocado (instead of bacon) - $18.50 (+ $4.50)

The lovely Ms E. chose soft boiled eggs with toast soldiers for dunking, a dish which always brings back happy childhood memories for me.  The yolks were lovely and runny.

Two soft-boild eggs with buttered sourdough soldiers - $11.50

While Mr J. decided to go all out with the big breakfast option.  A mighty feast!

Full Aussie breakfast - $24.50

Good food, good company, lots of laughs - life doesn't get better than that!

Bills

359 Crown St

Surry Hills, NSW

www.bills.com.au

Open 7 days

Tell me, where do you like to brunch with friends? 

Review: Steak Dinners at the ‘Kingo’

Do you fancy a succulent steak dinner?  Then, the ‘Kingo’ (as Canberrans fondly call the old Kingston Hotel) could be the place for you.  Mr D. and I recently attended a good friend’s birthday bash there and had a blast.   It was the first time I had visited the old dear (the hotel that is) in many years, and I was pleasantly surprised.

When I was a uni student in Canberra many moons ago, the Kingo was one of those places you went when you wanted cheap beer, cheap grub and a game of pool. The Kingo still delivers these, but the decor is so much nicer than I remembered.  The 1920’s heritage-listed building is looking pretty good these days.

The Kingo is renowned for its cook-your-own steak bistro.  Call me a snob, but isn’t the whole point of going out for dinner so you don’t have to cook your own food?  I was relieved to find there was quite a decent steakhouse in the room next door with no self-cooking required, which is where we were headed.

In fact, the steak was beautifully cooked. When it arrived, the steak was medium-rare to order, tender and juicy, and full of the beautiful charred flavour you can only get by cooking on a proper chargrill – delicious!

Served with crispy fries and fresh salad, the decent-sized angus scotch fillet proved good value at $29 per serve.  I particularly liked the fact that our chosen sauce was served on the side, as there’s nothing worse than soggy chips (and everything else on the plate) drowned in the stuff!

The dessert menu was basic pub food, but done well.  We both ordered the individual pavlovas with passionfruit syrup (Mr D. didn’t want to share!).  There was a conspicuous absence of fresh fruit unfortunately.  But the pav itself was lovely and fluffy in the middle, with a very light, crisp crust.  I watched the couple across from us devour a sticky date pudding, which looked pretty scrumptious as well.  Good value again at $7 a serve.

Now for a bit of trivia!  The Kingo is rumoured to have been home to some Cold War espionage activity in the 1950s.  ASIO agents supposedly based themselves at the hotel so they could monitor KGB spies visiting the Soviet embassy across the street. 

For you political history buffs, the Kingo is infamous as the place where the ’36 Faceless Men’ of the Labour Party met in 1963 to develop their party manifesto.  These were the unknown officials who ran the party.  Menzies used knowledge of this meeting to his advantage to create a perception of secrecy and lack of accountability around the then Labour Opposition.  He held onto power in a thriller of a Federal Election later that year, winning by the narrowest of margins.

The Kingston Hotel

73 Canberra Avenue

Griffith  ACT

Open 7 days for lunch and dinner

 http://www.outincanberra.com.au/kingstonhotel

What’s your favourite steakhouse?