My first venture to the Nishi building was to see Gone Girl at Palace Electric. Nishi building seems like Canberra's version of Melbourne's Federation Square. It has a weird take on modern, and you either think it's cool (like I do Fed Square) or a little strange (like I do Nishi). In any case movies and food are really the only reason I can see myself in that area.
The dinner options for the area seem to be Mocan & Green Grout, Monster, A. Baker and Parlour. Interestingly (or not) the Urbanspoon ratings for these places all vary from 55% to 80%. Parlour's 80% is probably due to the fact the setting is nice and the food menu seems very expensive for what it suggests. I'm assured that it is good, so perhaps I'll test it next time.
The smell of the meats from A. Baker could be detected from the carparking area in between Nishi and the restaurant. I followed my nose to test the 55% Urbanspoon rating. The staff were fine on a half-full evening. Served quickly, smiled, answered questions without providing anything particularly extra (not that I need extra attention anyway). The initial serving of quality house sourdough (note the name - A. Baker) with grassy olive oil and salt satisfied my early hunger. It's interesting to note that the cured meat comes with house bread (according to the menu) but this is the same complimentary serving that you get anyway (as seen by tables around). It makes the cured meat pretty expensive for cured meat chopped into pieces.
- Longaniza Oscura (pork, pepper, squid ink) - a Spanish black sausage with a strong pork flavour. I have to admit I like the intense cured flavour of jamon/salchichon much better;
- market fish - an excellent dish of kingfish sashimi coated in a mixture of nori/green tea/charcoal powder, served with a delicious assortment of ingredients I had difficulty deciphering (salty black rice crisp wafer, mild horseradish mayo, a couple of green herbs that look similar to rosemary and coriander (now found to be land seaweed and sea spray), black rocks of salt, a green tea and roast rice powder);
- Golden Plains pork belly, heirloom carrots, endive marmalade, crackle - moist fatty piece of perfectly cooked pork belly, with a skin that had mild crackle and retained chewy flavour (I like it like this, others would prefer much more crispness), a marmalade a little too sweet for my liking and some carrot extras and an extra bit of crackling on top;
- Daily special of lamb, freekah, green almonds, curd, artichoke - the lamb (probably shoulder) is pulled apart, mashed back together and lightly pan friend. The meaty lamb was nice although I would prefer longer frying to accentuate the textures and Maillard char. The freekah and curd were nice additions. I believe the waitress said the yellow pieces were young almonds which were unusual in they were filled with a watery liquid. The downside was the artichoke which was firm and hard to chew or swallow.
Overall the food was good, the flavours and textures nice and the use of some slightly less common ingredients won me over. It isn't cheap ($13 starters, $19 entrees, $30 mains) so just be aware...
Next time I would order the market fish again. I think any of the meat dishes would be safe bets. The Fremantle octopus (smoked hot sauce, guanciale, apple, yuzu dressing) sounds like something I want next time also. I would avoid the cured meats as the value just isn't there given the bread is free anyway.
Add-on - I received a reply from the head chef Bernd Brademann who was nice enough to take a bit of time to answer my questions about certain ingredients. Very grateful.
