Hello! Just finished fish n chips from bernies in charnwood, and holy shit that place is awesome! Can only assume nothing else in canberra even comes close.
I want to hear about your favourite places to eat in the capital and srrounds. Green grocer in goulburn? Sun-doo in duffy? Lets hear what is great!
I just moved to Dunlop, right near Charnwood shops. Iāve had fish and chips from Charnwood, but I just donāt know which shop because Iāve never been the one to go and buy them.
Most of the bakers at EPIC markets are incredible, especially the lady whoās only there once a fortnight. She has such an awesome selection of tasty cakes. Also good are Gumtree Pies. I donāt know where their shop is but they also have a stall at EPIC markets. Probably some of the best pies Iāve had: slow cooked chunks of beef, not mince, and tasty gravies.
On the topic of pies, big tip: donāt eat the āaward winning piesā at Tharwa general store.
Boffins at ANU University House is the go to place for the Mrs and I want to go somewhere fancy. The servings arenāt huge but the food is always fantastically presented and perfectly cooked. Staff are super helpful and friendly too.
Sandwiches at Cafe As You Like it (Street Theatre cafe) are always a good lunch option. Iām lucky that itās a 2 minute walk from the office. About the same price as a regular Canberra lunch ($9-10) but the serving size is decent, the quality is good, the service is quick and the bread selection is gourmet (pumpkin bread is the best).
Dickson Asian noodle house has an awesome laksa that comes in huge portions. I donāt really eat out much as Iām pretty broke. Need to make it down to the markets more. The award winning pies of tharwa come with surprise frozen chunks! Anyone know any good places for vego food?
It comes in a huge bowl but it must be 70% water. Plus, the owner has no class. Who puts āminimum order of $10 for a tableā on a menu?
The microwave makes the pastry oh so crispy.
For a vego lunch I either get thai, zambreroās or a sandwich from street theatre, coz they have several good vegetarian options.
Iām addicted to the deep fried chili beef from roti house in civic.
The civic noodle house laksa is better!
then theres the saigon fresh bahn mi rolls
There is a vegan restaurant in that court bit in dickson, near sfoglia, right in the corner. Its real good stuff. Utofia, great dish! I only ate at noodle house once, barely made the walk back to hacket before the shits started. Dont rate it all that highly. There used to be a fake meat place just near wig n pen, and that was unreal, but maybe its gone? The markets are busy, and i am a grump, so i stay away
Au Lac is around the corner from that place in Dickson and is another decent vegan restaurant. I defintely rate it. Iām a fan of The Fish Shack in the city as they do soft shell crab burgers! Iām also a sucker for Brodburger in Kingston.
Best Japanese is Tasuke in civic.
Feels like being back in Nippon
After a bit of a prod to contribute to this thread and having a really good hard think about what I do eat around Canberra. I donāt have too much to add so I will just go through some of the places I have been lately.
Bicicletta in New Acton - terrible. Avoid.
Elk and Pea in Braddon - Had breakfast here, I was really hung over and ate two breakfastsā. Both were delicious. Would go back, wondering what dinner would be like?
Hangari Kimchi at Dickson - Dinner, was a little underwhelmed by the service and food. Would not go back.
Smoque - I heard a bunch of mixed reviews for this place. Tried it out for myself and was extremely happy. Reminded me of being back in the States.
Mountain Creek Whole Foods in Griffith shops - their little kitchen in the back serves up nice and healthy lunches.
thatās right near work, I might have to try it out soon.
$12 for a lettuce, tomato, cucumber and egg salad seems a bit much tho.
Yeah it isnāt the cheapest place to eat. There is a $99 meal that will feed 4-6 easily. Pulled Pork, Pork Ribs, Brisket, Beef Rib, 1/2 chicken, 12 Buffalo Wings and 3 sides (Mac n cheese, Fries, Red Cabbage Coleslaw, Potato Salad, Mexican Street Corn).
Sean, you want to go? Sounds like your kind of meal.
Iām getting used to that in Canberra
Im down for a feed (if welcome lol)
Sorry, that was a joke because heās vego
When did you last go? They (bald guy and staff) moved toā¦(wait for it)ā¦ BELCO MALL a few months ago! Lunchtime goodness is had by me by the bucketload. Not sure who is running the old shop at the interchange now.
I agree that Tasuke is good, though I think if you stick to more traditional kit at Coo (and suckers in civic now have little choice), its just as good/better. Cooās spicy handrolls are ridiculous (in a bad way).
Kanagawa (Kamigawa? Kamagawa? I dunno, near brazillness restaurant)(i just made brazillness up! awesome) in dickson is also alright, I think their ramen is pretty good, their stupid little steel hot bowl things in wood boxes are lame. Like watery nabe without the brown, so it looks less disgusting but tastes just as sweaty and bland.
Finding good tonkotsu ramen in Aus is proving tough, though. Some places get the noodles about right, some places do a good broth, Iāve not found anywhere that combines both yet.
I was going to say that Au Lac is definitely worth steering clear of, but it survives, so what do i know?
Oh, my favourite turkish here is definitely yarralumla. Their kebabsā¦ far out, theyre good. I think overall canberra is spoilt for turkish choiceā¦ its everywhere and seems to be at least decent wherever you go.
Malaysian Chapter (again in belco, sorry for the theme) is great, by the way. Its out of the way, but maybe worth it if you want hawker fares. The Ho Fun is real good.
One place that I think is def too expensive is the Ethiopian in dickson. Iāve had great Ethiopian meals before (take care to capitalise there in reverence of Bikila, Dibaba, Bekele, Geb (both) et al) and for cheap, but that place serves tiny meals for huge money piles. Should be better. Wish it was better.
I want to give smoque a go, but will have to be without family as that sort of stuff is vetoed/mocked by wife.
I am thinking a bit of a CBR MTB + Smoque day is in order.
Was thinking the same thing 
Morning out at sparrow/kowen, maybe 3 hours to empty the tank, then massive chow-down on pigs,cows,cheese and bread. and corn.
It would have to be a dinner - they donāt open for lunch on weekends.