Canberra dining - a conundrum. A small city with a lot of expendable income, where very few people voluntarily come to. Consequently food is expensive no matter what you look for and no matter how cheaply it may be found elsewhere in Australia.
Even the online ratings are a little difficult to judge - you're always not quite sure what taste people have (if any) and when the discrepancy between a chain store in Canberra and other states differ in rating by 30-40% (ie. Canberrans rate it much higher), it makes you wonder...
In any case, it's uncommon that a reputed source such as the Good Food Guide (mostly known to me from The Age in Melbourne) gets finer dining completely wrong. I'm sure there are instances where (like Michelin) the name of the restauranteur has to be catered for more than the quality of food. I wouldn't think there are that many major toes in Canberra to step on.
Eightysix opened less than a year ago. Funnily enough it rated #3 in the Good Food Guide to Canberra for 2013 and landed itself a 73% Urbanspoon rating. Conundrum. Reading the comments, a few seem to relate to inappropriate tactile tactics from staff toward female patrons. It sounds strange. I think I'm safe.
The space is nice. Open kitchen with bar seating, rows of wine, a picture of MPW on the door in the kitchen and even outdoor area for warmer evenings. Our host leads offers the bar seating experience and identifies us as "86 virgins" (sounds like a dream waiting in heaven) before explaining the menu written across the restaurant wall. It's different and fun. People wander around to read the menu.
- Sous Vide Corn with Lime & Coriander - 75C for 45mins then charred and topped with grated cheese and salt crystals. Beautifully cooked and flavoursome. It was resting on a few salt crystals that made the occasional bite salty;
- Steak Tartare with Prawn Crackers - diced (not minced) steak mixed with a sauce of tabasco/wasabi/English mustard, topped with raw egg, onion, chives, salt and pepper. An unusual take on tartare with diced beef chunks eaten on prawn crackers. The taste of the sauce was also stronger than the usual relatively plain French-style. Not bad, just different;
- NZ Bream with lemon & green beans - 57C for 14min in olive oil, topped with salt crystals, pepper, blanched green beans, spring onion, parsley & lemon rind. Soft white fish that pulled apart easily but still kept some firm texture. The outside flesh tasted a little too salty though;
- Charcoal Chicken & Buttermilk Slaw - chicken legs sous vide 67C for 2hours with a long-list marinade of maple syrup, cumin/cinnamon/chilliother spices, and a cabbage/carrot slaw with walnuts, capers. Excellent juicy chicken with a savoury and slightly chilli/sweet edge. Skin wasn't crispy which would be my only other preference. It was topped with salt crystals which probably wasn't necessary;
- Caramel Popcorn Sundae - salted caramel icecream, salted caramel sauce, crispy caramel pieces, salty popcorn and a cone. Gorgeous icecream in a fun dessert. A little too much salt crystals on the bottom.
The food was very well cooked and presented with good portion control. My only recurring theme criticism would be the heavy handed addition of salt (maybe this is a local preference?). At the start of the meal we were given a small dish of salt crystals for our own use. Each of the dishes had full salt crystals sprinkled on top which made each a little over salty (except probably the tartare where it is necessary).
Service was really excellent. Two female hosts spoke to us briefly through the night to see how things were. Two young male chefs preparing food in front of us provided some slapstick entertainment as well as genuine interest in informing about the food and cooking methods. They also gave us extra prawn crackers and ice-cream cone without us asking. A few groups of (attractive) young females weren't getting any additional attention or unwanted advances. Overall a good experience.
Next time I would order some corn and the Charcoal Chicken again. Black Pig (jamon, figs, peaches) looked like a great sharing starter and the whole Lamb Shoulder to share looked heavenly if you had 4-6 people.
07-2015
It has been a long time in between trips to eightysix. I remember the great food last time with a little too much salt. I was keen to see what had changed in that time.
The first thing I noticed was the menu is now also in paper form as well as on the back blackboard. I suppose too many people complained about having to arch their necks and backs to see what was on offer. Unfortunately didn't get any photos so it'll just have to remain in imagination.
- Duck bun with hoisin sauce $8ea - very thin open bun with a small amount of duck meat. Tasted nice but too expensive for the portion;
- Steak tartare with prawn crackers $24 - seemed much more plain than last time reading about it. The diced beef was mixed with a raw egg to top the prawn crackers. Simple and tasty;
- Calamari agnolotti with angel hair chilli $34 - 4 deep fried parcels with crispy outsides and a pretty non-distinctive inside. The topping with angel hair chilli made it special but still too expensive for the offering;
- Black chicken with slaw $40 - an excellent two marylands of beautifully cooked chicken with a thick marinade coating the skin. Served with slaw;
- Beef cheek with potato mash $35 - a perfectly delicate sous-vide cheek with gelatin and flavour. Outstanding.
The $66 lamb shoulder and an interesting spaghetti with "lots of truffles" $50 await me for next time. I was really glad to see the salt has reduced but the flavours remain great. Very impressed.
