Eat Like Ushi

Last year I lamented the lack of food trucks and street food in Canberra. Since then I've tried RJs (now closed I've heard), Westside Acton Park, the Hamlet but never made it to Mandalay Bus, which is probably the highest rated of the lot. On a sunny Friday evening, the Hamlet was pumping with people filling the seats, queuing and eating along the streets. It was the perfect opportunity to keep walking past and join the younger demographic with their BYO alcohol and hysteria.

- Prawn twisters $9 - prawns chopped into pieces and deep fried into thin rolls;
- Jalapeno aioli waffle fries $9 - exceptional waffle-shaped potatoes topped with mild aioli. Some of the most memorable fries I've ever had. Add some extra chilli to this fantastic dish.
- Satay chicken with kimchi on roti $9 - very nice tender satay with a tasty salad. Couldn't detect any kimchi in the salad and the roti quality was pretty average (flat, firm and chewy rather than flaky, buttery and soft). To me a roti should be soft and flexible whereas this one conformed to the bent boat shape of the box.

Overall the food quality was excellent, especially considering the price and setting. There aren't many places in Canberra you can eat for that price (the baby Brod being the possible exception). I'm quite keen to try the fried wings and pork belly saigon roll with tikka slaw & sambal next time. Of course the waffle fries are a given.

During the winter, Santa is a Brazilian churrasco with meat skewers (and assumably smells) filling the room. In the relatively warmer and quieter summer season, there is an a la carte menu that has Brazilian elements but certainly much less so. In any case there were enough Brazil bits to bring me here (and honestly the other options in Thredbo for dinner are quite limited...)

Immediately upon sitting the hostess asked if I'd like some Brazilian bread whilst reading the menu. My reflexes said no to bread, until I read it on the menu and reconsidered my decision. Next time just don't say no to Brazilian bread.

- Brazilian Cheese Bread (tapioca cheese bread wit brazil nut dukkah & olive oil) $6.5 - warm firm outsides and a doughy interior that is actually cheese rather than unrisen dough. The dukkah was salty and delicious although it was impossible to get any balsamic through the olive oil;
- Prawn & Snapper Moqueca (northern Brazil fish dish with coconut milk, tomato, capsicum, dende & coriander served with quinoa puff) $34 - a good number of prawns and reasonably well cooked fish in a creamy coconut milk-based curry;
- BBQ Pork Fillet & Spicy Chorizo Rotisserie Sword (with house sides of rice, polenta chips, black beans, salad) $34 - the meats were removed from the sword at the table. Chorizo was very mild but the pork was extremely tender and well flavoured;
- Baby Beetroot, Palm Heart & Fetta Salad (with crispy polenta, kiss peppers & salad leaves) $16 - a nice salad mix of juicy beetroot, heart of palm (which I have a can of at home and been waiting to work out how to use) and these small kiss peppers that look like tomatoes but have an unusual tangy sourness.

The food is quite expensive overall (as are most dining options in Thredbo) but nonetheless satisfying and filling. I'd happily eat these dishes again or hopefully try the churrasco adornment of meats.

As the number one TA place in Thredbo, I was curious how this breakfast and lunch cafe was going to be. Considering the (very) small village I wouldn't be surprised if everyone ate (or at least ordered their coffee) at this central cafe. Once I walked past and actually saw the menu printed outside, I could see why. The lunch options looked excellent and showcased the Asian influence that did seem almost slightly unexpectedly out of place in a small part of Australia (although I accept there's quite a lot of traffic especially during snow season).

Unfortunately I couldn't stay for lunch (Bali lamb, beef ribs, pork belly, lemongrass duck etc.) but one breakfast item really piqued my interest and convinced me to checkout late just to come here. The real tragedy is that after sitting down the next morning I was told the Fried Eggs on Kumara and Zucchini Rosti with Katta Sambal and Hot Smoked Agave Salmon was not available. What the hell... I didn't bother to ask why. Sadly the side extra of salmon was "standard" and not hot smoked agave. Oh well...

- Soy chai latte - an extraordinarily sweet and syrupy concoction topped with way too much cinnamon powder until it clumped. Definitely one to avoid next time;
- Balsamic Marinated Mushrooms (with crisp haloumi, dusted with pinenut dukkah & organic poached eggs) $20 - portobello mushrooms that exuded juice, topped with unexpected thin haloumi strips;
- Breakfast Burrito (with bacon, cheese, spinach, hash brown, jalapeno salsa, sour cream & poached egg) $20 - a delicious heavy combination of all good breakfast things wrapped in crisp toasted wrap. I was sold on the hash brown and all the elements came together very well.

Next time I would order the Fried Eggs dish I wanted (if available) or otherwise the Breakfast Burrito. Otherwise try and time your visit to have the lunch menu instead. The coffee must be better than the chai.

Considering the many Thai restaurants everywhere in Canberra particularly close to where I live in Kingston (Chiang Rai, CocoNine, Chong Co, Amarin and Baan Latsamy in Manuka), it's surprising I haven't been to Morks before. This is even more impressive considering possibly my favourite restaurant in the world (Melbourne's Longrain) is modern Thai and so is Morks. I did manage to go to the mothership David Thompson's Nahm in London (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/nahm-london-07-2012) before it closed, but unfortunately this was at a time after it had lost the Michelin star and was on the verge of closing in favour of the Bangkok version (which is rated the best restaurant in Asia).

Until I can get back to Bangkok, I'll have to settle for Longrain (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/longrain-melbourne-10-2012) in the meantime and whilst remaining in Canberra I was hoping Morks could help in this regard.

- Soft shell crab roti, yellow curry, house pickles $8 - reads as a more exciting dish than it was with a half-crab on roti triangle. I think I expected a roti roll (maybe just because what I've seen in the markets in Darwin);
- Shantung style eggplant, chilli & cucumber salad $12 - one diner was gluten-free so ended up without the Shantung sauce but was still an excellent juicy eggplant dish with beautifully flavoured salad on top;
- Morks cheeky wagyu beef salad $20 - outstanding tender and disintegrating cheek in a mixed herb salad with classic dressing;
- Morks duck red curry, crispy rice cake $29 - duck red curry is one Thai staple that I pride the cuisine on, but unfortunately the curry itself lacked real potency. The lychees added a nice sweetness and the crispy rice cake was reasonable but overall I felt the dish was a bit flat;
- Pork belly, caramelised soy, young mango, Thai herbs $29 - probably my favourite main with perfectly cooked pork belly, well seasoned and herbs accentuating the thick savoury sauce;
- Crispy whole Flounder, turmeric & garlic rub, nham jim $38 - quite a good rendition with soft fish flesh and a crispy top. I found it odd that the fish was served with the head removed as I like eating the cheeks (Maybe it's used for soup? Maybe the clientele aren't used to seeing fish with a head on it?);
- Crispy rice salad $20 - only tried a small sample and it seemed fine.

One large bowl of rice for $16 was a very excessive ($4 per person). I think it should be cheaper or charged per bowl for instances like this, but this would be my only gripe.

Overall the food was of high quality with delicious clean take on Thai food. Maybe it's my own preference but I like bolder flavours in my modern Thai and for that Longrain will always be #1 for me (comparing the red curries of Longrain and Morks exemplifies this the most for me). In any case I'd still be very happy to return to Morks as the cooking is excellent.

Next time I would order Shantung eggplant, Pork Belly and either Street Fried Chicken or Mussaman Beef Curry with 1 serving of rice. I'll have to try and save enough space for the Egg in Hay (coconut icecream, pashmak, roti) dessert also.

Deep in the heart of business Woden is a new stylish cafe, bringing well-constructed food and inventive desserts to the expendable income of the workers in the area. It's a welcome addition considering the extremely limited quality eating options around Woden (previously limited to food courts, Kingsley's and that now defunct foodvan). Set in a modern building and frequented by mums with prams, business suits and the odd group of stragglers seeking out something new (like myself), it's a pleasant atmosphere and easily to people watch through the high glass walls and the queues waiting for coffee and eyeing desserts.

Honestly the main reason I wanted to go was seeing a picture of the Golden Gaytime-lookalike breakfast. Once you see the Ricardo's-style cronuts and inventive sweets in the cabinet (which makes sense since the owner of Ricardo's opened Space Kitchen), and the sense of greed overwhelms you into making calorie-balancing decisions.

- Nutella Shake $6.9 - the alcoholic version has Frangelico and burnt marshmellows. On another day this would have been perfect, but I hoped the non-alcoholic shake would at least have the marshmellows but sadly not. This was essentially a nutella/chocolate milkshake. I prefer thicker shakes generally so maybe the Oreo or Vanilla versions next time;
- Polenta Waffles (with lemon thyme sauteed mixed mushrooms, goats cheese, poached eggs, corn puree, salsa verde, truffle oil) $18.9 - some of the best version waffles I've had considering the insides weren't dry. The mushrooms were delicious, the corn potent and the salsa verde acidic and tangy for contrast. I couldn't detect any truffle oil;
- Space Benedict (pulled pork croquette with poached eggs, beetroot hollandaise, pork crackling, brioche crumble & pea puree) $18.9 - the "Gaytime" of fried pulled pork on a stick was an excellent crisp coating and soft moist pork strings. The beetroot hollandaise was interesting and the other elements seemed to add texture, colour and a bit of flavour contrast also.

I was told the coffee was good too (for those who are inclined).

One day I'll have to come back for the Snickers Icecream since I couldn't justify it after the Nutella Shake. Additionally I'm interested to see they have a chai latte $4.0 and also a real chai $4.9 (assumably made from spices rather than syrup). The Smoked Salmon breakfast with coconut roesti will be the next breakfast item to complete the decadent meal.

*I've just read that the polenta waffles are apparently meant to be drizzled with a truffle oil cloud at the table. I wonder why I didn't get that...*

I'd read on the Good Food website about The Meating Room and there were two things that stuck most in my memory only - unmissable beef ribs and deep fried cheesecake. As a serious sucker for all ribs and most cheesecakes, I wanted to make this journey.

For whatever reason the first time I ended up here was during breakfast. It isn't that it was too early for cheesecake (or ribs even), more that after breakfast I really couldn't fit it in.

- Breakfast pizza (bacon, cheese, mushroom, tomato, rocket, baked egg & avocado salsa) $16.5 - tasted exactly how you'd expect given the ingredients. It's a different way of presenting and eating the standard full breakie.
- Gluten-free hash brown $3.5 - beast of a hash with very crisp outside and textured potato inside;
- Mint slice milkshake - chocolate milk with mint syrup and leaves was ok but a bit too sweet and syrupy for me.

A month later I made the trip back there for dinner. I didn't take any photos but managed to try the 6 hour braised beef short ribs ($32 - quite good, two solid ribs reasonably tender) and the elusive cheesecake ($14 - crisp outside, cheesecake inside that held together well and wasn't melted). Apparently the original was a mars bar cheesecake, but I'm certain that would've been too sweet for me, so this was a better alternative.

Overall the dinner was much more enjoyable to me than the breakfast. Neither of the dinner dishes were the best versions I've had, but both were good and satisfying.

I'd definitely come back, for dinner rather than breakfast. Bring your stomach.

Every good roadtrip requires a fish & chip stop whenever possible. My trips to the Merimbula (Tathra Seafood), Sydney (A Fish Called Coogee) and Jamberoo (Jaws at Kiama) have all followed this tradition. On a recent trip to Thredbo/Kosciuszko, the return home included passing through the gorgeous little lakeside town of Jindabyne and a searching for one reputed fish & chipper.

At 12pm on a Sunday, 3 young and obviously hungover males adorned the outside settling their stomachs and preparing for the headache of a day ahead.

Inside the machinery of cooking was in action, with the fish of the day (blue grenadier) fried to perfection. The crisp batter, tasty skin and soft flesh was lightly salted. The chips were fine and completed the meal.

In a hungrier state, I'd be interested in also trying some of the other seafoods on offer. Given the town location, most of the other seafood may be frozen rather than fresh. Also I'd read the fish burger and tempura prawn burger are also worth beholding, so that leaves some anticipation for if I'm ever again there this lifetime.

I read about XO on the HerCanberra website of new restaurant openings. It seems Canberra has come a long way in terms of online information about new places, and even though still far from Hot Dinners (due to sheer city size more than anything else) it's a good start to see these articles floating about.

The decor inside is interesting in a cool fashion - each corner seems to have a different feel to it due to the varied seating types, wall decorations and the view. The music was an interesting mid-2000s club style R&B reminiscent of the old days of Next Blue etc. in Melbourne (including Flo-Rida, R. Kelly and Chris Brown). The staff are of varied background but seem to share the same youth and good looks. Kisses & Hugs cocktail (tequila, some kind of alcohol blanc, peach & lemon) and topped with sichuan peppercorns was a nice cocktail to kick things off.

Modern Asian always piques my interest and this menu was no different (although a lot of places around Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra are doing similar things these days).

- Shangtung Bao (twice-cooked pork belly with cucumber, pickled daikon & ginger) $8 each - interesting concept of a slider using the rice bread from a bao and containing a very soft piece of pork belly with nice condiments complementing texture and taste;
- XO FC Wings (marinated in butter milk with Kewpie mayo) $12 - very delicious fried wings. Nothing more to say;
- Hiramasa Kingfish (beetroot cured with lemongrass, mixed herbs & ponzu nuoc cham) $16 - quite nice but a bit expensive given the price of the dish and the price of sashimi kingfish;
- Asian Bolognaise (stirfried udon in XO chicken ragout with a 60 degree egg) $16 - essentially XO sauce Chinese noodles with a poached egg. Nice but pricey;
- Sexy Squid (fried baby squid with sweet chilli salt) $16 - crisp morsels of very well cooked squid;
- Barramundi Fillet (steamed in sesame soy with cherry tomatoes & pickled mustard leaves) $32 - nice Cantonese-style steamed fish dish;
- Beef Rendang (slow-cooked black angus chuck reduced in coconut milk & spices) $29 - soft meat but not what I'd call classic rendang. Much milder and more coconut than the deep flavoured Malaysian version I'm used to. Still adequate;
- Chilli Kumara (fried sweet potato with smoked paprika, garlic & chilli) $10 - heavily flavoured fried sweet potatoes which were delicious.

Desserts
- Chrysanthemum Tea Soft Serve $5 - unusual icecream;
- Black Rice Pudding (with coconut icecream, golden honeycomb & lime meringue) $14 - coconut icecream was full and flavoursome and the other elements were additions in texture and sweetness in my opinion;
- Pandan Panna Cotta (with gula melaka syrup & sesame tuile) $12 - excellent dessert with a strong initial coconut then solid pandan aftertaste. Really good. We didn't get the sesame tuile as one diner was GF (but the restaurant should have served it separately for the other diners).

I really wanted the Crispy Lamb Ribs, however wasn't able to order them due to a fellow diner's Coeliac disease. The tables around me did get them and I secretly hoped they wouldn't finish them, notice me staring, and offer. Alas it wasn't to be.

Next time I would order the Shangtung Bao, Wings and Crispy Lamb Ribs with Chilli Kumara and the Pandan dessert. That's probably the perfect amount for 2 people.

I'd been meaning to get to Soju Girl for quite a while. It was probably the first Canberra restaurant I had ever heard of when it was described as Canberra's equivalent of Longrain. Since that time 3 years ago I have managed once on a Tuesday when there used to be a 2-for-1 deal. I don't quite remember that meal so this new visit had a high level of anticipation.

I finally had my opportunity when I achieved enough Dimmi points to redeem a $50 dining voucher. Of the redeemable options in Canberra, The Boathouse by the Lake and Soju Girl (and recently Akiba has been added) probably are the highest reputed, and since I've been to the other two it was choose this occasion.

The menu has pan-Asian influence with noticeable Japanese, Thai, Korean, Chinese and a touch of Indian-Malaysian tinges. Overall the items sounds fantastic, but with the large plates being advertised as actually "large", there's a unfortunate limit as to how much can be ordered by 2 people.

- Zucchini flower, sticky rice, with Korean pickle capsicum compote soy mirin $8ea - unusually large zucchini flowers stuffed with black rice that added texture and colour. The dipping sauce had a nice tangy contrast with Thai basil leaves adding zest;
- Korean gnocchi, sauté mushrooms, truffle snow, cassava crisps $16 - rice cakes masqueraded as gnocchi, couldn't detect much truffle but it had a strong salty flavour;
- Pulled pork roti, cheese, chili mayo, soft herb salad $18 - excellent crisp and tasty roti filled with soft pulled pork;
- Beef cheek, pickled cabbage salad, Penang cashew curry $44 - a nice rich nutty and coconut curry with very soft cheek meat. A little expensive for a curry;
- Soju special fried rice $14 - rice with pork floss, some kind of black sauce and meat, son-in-law egg.

I initially ordered the Black Angus short rib in soy caramel (which sounded and looked fantastic and looked more worth the $46 main price tag) but unfortunately they had sold their last and so settled for the cheek instead. Great cheek is in no way inferior to rib (although easier to cook well) but the dish probably didn't have the price value in comparison.

The service was a little strange - I made an online reservation, called once to change it, got an email to confirm the original date, emailed twice to reconfirm the change, called once more on the day to confirm and yet turned up on the night to find it wasn't there. The seemingly disgruntled hostess showed us to the table before the waiter took over. Things seemed find until the end when he was incredibly flustered by the bill and didn't even acknowledge when I said thank you and left. I sent an email about the reservation difficulties and didn't receive any reply.

Maybe I'll return again with the same Dimmi $50 voucher as the food is quite good and I particularly want the beef rib. Otherwise the cost and service (although to be honest I don't tend to discount any place due to average service) make it a little uninspiring.