Eat Like Ushi

Modern Asian tapas is all the rage at the moment. Every new Melbourne place seems to be a variation on this type and the market is soon saturated (probably Sydney too but I don't know it as well). From Chin Chin (which I haven't eaten at due to the reputation of wait time & price:satisfaction ratio not being so high), to the excellent TA #1 Rock Papr Scrs and my growing list of Uncle and Northern Light and the rest, the question is really a matter of which Asian each restaurant is trying to reinvent.

Canberra recently acquired two Japanese versions - Lilotang and Akiba. After walking past the electric glow of Akiba a few weeks back, this was the first of them to try.

The drinks menu has a nice offering of cocktails. Akiba Pop are housemade soft drinks which can be "boomed" with a shot of alcohol. Both the pineapple, coconut & chilli (with Appleton VX dark rum) and sour cherry & vanilla (with Martell VS Cognac) had a nice complement of alcohol and sweetness, with my preferred being the sour 

- Soba Noodle Salad (with bamboo shoots, yellow bean, sweet & sour) $12 - a delicious refreshing dish to open with. Herbs, chilli, citrus combining extremely well;
- Soft Shell Crab Bun (with pickled baby gem, creamy ponzu) $9 each - the bun itself is terrible. You can see in the picture how dry it is such that the corners are torn and not malleable. The crab is tasty but could be more generous. Not good value for money;
- Korean Sticky Lamb Ribs (with sumac) $14 - when in doubt, go for ribs. Tender fatty meat, a slightly sweet and chilli charred coating. Not as good as the Bone Daddies' pork ribs, but it'll do me for now;
- Snapper (with jalapeno, yuzu, honey) $14 - very very strange combination. Snapper sashimi is one of my favourites and a more expensive cut usually due to a good biting texture, but the yuzu, jalapeno (tasted too similar to green capsicum) and single leaf of coriander didn't work;
- Japanese Fried Chicken (with lemon braised onions, parmesan) "supercharged" with mayonnaise & Sriracha $20 - thicker heavier coating than your typical kara-age and the pieces of meat much smaller and thinner also. This results in less juicy but more flavoursome from the fry and pick up of cheese and sauces;
- Black Angus Sirloin (with chipotle butter, zuni pickled onion) $28 - very tender and rare beef with very mild chipotle smatterings and onions. It was a nice dish, but felt a little disjointed with flavours and too expensive for what you get;
- Beef Short Rib (with tamarind caramel, Thai basil) $22 - the last dish was the one that excited me the most. Rib, caramel, Thai basil - the combination speaks for itself. A beautifully tender piece of meat that tore so easily and would mop up a sweet mildly tangy sauce. I needed rice for this to allow it to linger longer.

Even though there was only 3 of us, there was still space for the interesting sounding desserts.

- Mango & Coconut Sticky Rice (with macadamia, palm sugar ice cream) $9 - a gorgeous dessert of ice cream that was surprisingly balances and not overly sweet from palm sugar, crunchy nuts for texture and flavour, mango pieces and quality glutinous rice underneath. Very very good - perhaps a jackfruit version will enamour me even more;
- Lemon Tofu Cheesecake (with ANZAC crumb, pandan jelly) $8 - the deconstructed cheesecake with tofu was fantastic. I couldn't tell it was tofu rather than/in combination with cream cheese. The crumb added a reasonable crunch which could be a good base for an actual cake, but the fluorescent aeroplane jelly looking stuff had barely any pandan flavour which was disappointing.

Overall the meal was very good and the flavour and texture combinations varied. It seemed quite expensive ($170 for 3) but could be lessened with a few educated choices.

Next time I would order the same Soba Noodle Salad, Beef Short Rib and Korean Lamb Ribs. I'd consider trying the Sweet Corn Pancake or Prawn & Chicken Dumplings. 4 oysters for $10 is very cheap even for natural oysters so that is tempting. Something raw would be nice for variety so it would have to be the Kingfish or more likely shared Salmon Belly. I'd finish with the Sticky Rice dessert also.

I'm waiting for the modern Korean tapas to come to Canberra. If you're thinking this idea is for you, look to the USA or BistroK in Melbourne.

After a gym session I ended up in Manuka looking for some lunch to add the calories back on. I originally wanted to get some good quality falafel from Kismet, but saw to my dismay it had closed in favour of a pizza place. Vaguely recalling many other places also had lunch specials, the search began wandering around and seeing what was on offer.

Neither Timmy's nor Abell's Kopitiam offered any lunch menu that I saw. Feeling like something Asian I strolled past Bambusa. I hadn't previously thought about coming here as it looked like another Western-based Chinese restaurant. But the 93% Urbanspoon intrigued me so eventually decided to try a lunch special.

It was only a one dish lunch, but the Roast Duck Laksa was quite good. The meat was tender and the thin broth had a lot of duck flavour with a touch of coconut milk added rather than a true thick creamy laksa soup. I probably would prefer a thicker decadent version with more coconut cream added but it was still very nice for a first impression.

Next time I would order a full dinner of their Modern Asian - Fluffy Duck, Yu Xiang Eggplant or King Prawns & Scallops, Mapo Tofu, Sizzling Lamb with Cumin. It's a little on the expensive side but let's see if it's worth it.

I've been frequently told how Lonsdale Street Roasters has the best coffee in Canberra, almost on par with the Melbourne equivalents. Considering I don't drink coffee and that ONA recently took out the best barista in Australia award, it wasn't the biggest enticement for me. But I knew I'd try the place eventually.

What struck me on the breakfast menu was how few options there are for food. Maybe that's a good thing or maybe I'm just used to being spoilt for choice. However I did note they advertised a BBQ for lunch so maybe that's the go for next time.

The coffee is strong and bitter. As a non-coffee person, I can't appreciate it but I'm told it is very good and the way coffee should be. Unfortunately the chai latte is an overly sweet (though not quite sickening) syrup drink that makes me sad. Luckily the food makes up for the liquid shortcomings.

- Quinoa, corn & "pico de gallo" on sourdough - the healthier, more refreshing option of the dishes with herbs, rocket, quinoa, avocado, tomatoes and corn served on sourdough;
- Sticky Pork Belly Roasters Benedict (served on housemade corn bread with dill hollandaise) with an extra of black pudding - I recently wrote about my joy in finding a breakfast place in Canberra (Me & Mrs Jones) that served black pudding. I'm delighted to say the black pudding here is outstanding - rich, porky, no metallic taste. The pork belly is great also with a caramelised coating, skin that was half crisp and half soft (prefer all crisp if possible) and thick decadent meat. Of the poached eggs, one was great and the other was moderately overcooked, but they soaked into and complemented the corn bread. I probably prefer thick grained sourdoughs but this was a reasonable alternative.

Next time I would order the same Pork Belly Roasters Benedict, more black pudding, or try the Eggs, Beans & Tortia (with black pudding of course). Otherwise I'll go later in the day and see if my BBQ cravings can be satiated. I'll save my drink for a smoothie or an iced coffee or good old Canberra tap water.

After the first visit to Temporada for my birthday 8 months prior, Valentine's day proved to be the second occasion worthy of a visit to this restaurant. Interestingly enough it was the only restaurant I could find (that I wanted to go to) that actually had any availability that evening. Considering I made the booking on a Thursday before the Saturday, I couldn't quite understand why there was a 6pm spare table. Perhaps it was the $75 per head fixed 3-course menu that deterred a few, but this is Canberra where incomes are supposedly high and similarly dining prices are too.

The preface to the set menu was rock oysters, of which the woodgrilled variety is the one clear memory I have from the first visit. Once again they were warm, lightly smokey (lighter than I recall), with the little traces of the mild oyster liquor. The vinaigrette is more of a palate cleanser than a topping for me as I like my oysters strong and plain.

- Roasted Duck Breast (with liver parfait, caramelised whitlof, pickled cherries) - the rare duck was exceptionally flavoured and tender with a creamy and medium strength liver that can almost emulate my memories of meatfruit. Easily one of the best livers I've had. Pickled cherries cut through the heaviness and I was lucky to be granted additional bread slices (which are warm and great in themselves) to smear the parfait;
- Spanner Crab (with chilled gazpacho, heirloom tomato, tomato jelly) - I don't envy the person who had to pick out the crab meat, but I applaud their efforts. The meat was superbly sweet and delicate. It is good enough to eat alone but the various tomato varieties and textures were impressive;
- Woodfired Beef Shortrib (with smoked potato, beetroot, horseradish) - my affection for ribs continued with this tender version that sliced so easily. The potatoes were whipped smooth and had a nice strong smoke flavour that I haven't had before;
- Grilled Swordfish (with pepperonata, octopus, lemon, capers) - the fears I have of overcooked restaurant fish dissipated with the expert handling here. I'm happy to eat swordfish raw usually but this one was cooked beautifully. The octopus added a different texture and flavour;
- Chocolate Ganache (with blood plum sorbet, liquorice, pinenut brittle) - this could be the perfect dessert combination. Rich smooth dark chocolate ganache, tangy slightly sour exceptional sorbet, very mild contrasting liquorice cream and the mother of your standard peanut brittles in an expensive packed pinenut crisp. The flavours and textures were all covered. Maybe add a little chilli next time to take it even further... but it isn't necessary;
- Champagne Chiboust (with strawberry jelly, hazelnuts) - good textures here also with smooth champagne cream, crunchy nut pieces and strawberry bits that had me reminiscing slightly about the strawberry dessert at Akelare (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/akelare-san-sebastian-06-2012).

What a fantastic set course well worth the money and up to the occasion. Thanks Temporada.

It was surprising that on a Tuesday night, Chairman & Yip was full. It was lucky there were tables available, but if not Akiba nearby had available tables, music and a neon atmosphere. It made me almost realise the appeal of weekday dining - available parking, quieter streets and restaurants and not having to make advanced bookings.

Anyway it was a good opportunity to try the 3rd of the Chairman group restaurants. I have to admit that the menu interested me the least of the 3, which is why it had been left until last. Fine Cantonese cuisine is something I had only tried in London at HKK (sadly noone was willing to pay the £128+ for the Hakkasan Hanway Place signature menu) and both times were sensational lunch meals most impressively featuring a tea-smoked Peking duck.

The Chef's Tasting menu at Chairman & Yip seemed to feature most of the dishes that interested me on the menu except for the Chairman's Red Curry Chicken, so it was easy to select that as the option. Each dish is brought to the table, and with the exception of the calamari at the start and the lamb and vegetables at the end, the wait staff automatically serve it onto your plate. If it isn't serve on individual plates, I much prefer it to be on a shared central plate to pick off myself. This is only a small thing - maybe it has something to do with the better photo opportunities.

- Fried Calamari with spicy salt & chilli - slightly crispy, nicely fried, salty with occasional slivers of chilli;
- Light-fried King Prawns with sweet chilli vinegar sauce - medium sized prawns topped with something similar to standard honey sauce;
- Sesame crusted salmon with cinnamon infused soy - very nicely cooked salmon with a soy crust, nice thin (would have preferred thicker) rice cakes and a delicious drinkable cinnamon soy. Delicious;
- Roasted duck & shiitake mushroom pancakes - quite disappointing diced duck and mushrooms. A far cry from the great Peking ducks I've had around the world;
- Grilled field mushrooms with herb & cashew pesto - slightly out-of-place dish of a mushroom with a thick pesto on top, served with noodle pieces and continental parsley;
- Spiced eye fillet skewers with lemongrass & galangal dressing - medium-rare tender eye fillet topped with pineapple pieces and a tasty lemongrass sauce;
- Crispy lamb Shan-Tung style (with vegetables & steamed rice) - a large dish to finish with lamb (rib meat I think) tender meat with crispy edges and a strong salty soy dressing. I'd prefer a touch more sour and chilli in the masterstock-type sauce, but it was a very good dish;
- Choice of Dessert - one was a mild flavoured silky Japanese matcha creme brulee with a very thick caramelised top and wispy Persian fairy floss which was overall nice; other was an excellent cinnamon semi freddo (couldn't detect any chilli) with a firm poached pear slice and a great ginger palm syrup (couldn't detect any pandan);
- Coffee or tea - selected a hot chocolate and chamomile tea which was a pleasant civilised end of the meal.

The meal was overall nice but I did feel slightly dissatisfied from a flavour and creativity point of view until the lamb and desserts. I do think Lanterne Rooms is better, and possibly equivalent to Malamay in that some dishes were good and others not so.

Next time I would order a la carte with either calamari or try the Pan-seared Quail for entree and either salmon or lamb or try the Red Curry Chicken for main. The semi freddo is my preferred dessert also.

Leaving work at 9pm, I felt like I needed something unhealthy. The options were limited to a Brodburger and chips or trying what I'd read about several months ago which was closeby. One of the few food vans in Canberra that seems to have lasted a while is RJ's. Part of the appeal is the 7 days open from 8pm (until 1, 3 or 5am depending upon which day) meaning nasty food is never too far away.

Located in the carpark of Woden Westfield, I should have known what to expect but it took me by surprise. Late teens exemplifying the most bogan in town with multi-coloured hair arrays, wack clothes, balloons attached to cars, drinking cans of cheap booze and eating chips with minimally educated voices to match. What a place.

I felt equally sorry for the American middle-aged lady sitting next to me as we sat in silence waiting for our food and observing the fauna. As I picked up my order our eyes met and we smiled knowingly. "Interesting demographic here," I said. She laughed and nodded.

- Hamburger with the Lot - thin, very well down patty and fried egg both of which had a typical burnt grill edge to it, melted cheese and the refreshing ingredients of lettuce, nice beetroot and pineapple and some bacon;
- 1/2 Chips - a good sized bag of McCain's frozen deep-fried and topped with salt and pepper. Very good and satisfying actually.

The burger was pretty average and filled a hole in my stomach. The chips were the bigger winner. I'd eat here again although Brodburger certainly is more satisfying and has a better atmosphere.

I had a course in North Canberra that required a very early Saturday morning start of 8am. One of the few perks of the course is my meals will be reimbursed. Whereas I'd ordinarily have a mixed bowl of Carman's and 247 muesli before dashing off, I decided it was as good as reason as any to find a North side early morning breakfast.

Options that were open on a Saturday by 7am came down to Mocan & Green Grout, Autolyse, Lonsdale Street Eatery and Good Brother. Autolyse has by far the most interesting food menu with Mocan & Green Grout second (taking into account LSE doesn't have an online menu) and I recall the two times I've sampled Autolyse sourdough were happy moments.

Whilst waiting for my order I couldn't help but observe the mesmerising baker rolling out pastry in the machine then systemically cutting, rolling, decorating and egging various items to place them in the baking queue. I also couldn't help but notice the queue of people who then starting lining up for meals and coffee which remained 5 deep for all of 730-8am. I wonder why everyone is awake so early on a Saturday.

- Soy Chai Latte ($5 small) - mild sweetness with hints of cinnamon and cloves served in a lovely red pot. Fresh ingredients and no syrupiness. If they ever read this, I'd suggest experimenting with added ginger too;
- White Bean, Tomato, Chorizo Cassoulet with Baked Egg ($16.9) - a nice hot baked egg protecting slices of mild chorizo, large beans and tomato pieces. The prevailing flavour was tomato rather than salt which was great for first thing in the morning. It came with an unexpected large half-loaf of sourdough which had beautiful crispy shell, soft (minimally sour however) inside and complemented the dish perfectly.

The cassoulet is an excellent satisfying and warming meal that would have been perfect if I had given myself more time. It took about 25mins to come out and such I had about 5-10mins to eat. I'll go back on a less rushed morning (probably at a later time) to have that, other options (including an ox heart salad which I was impressed to see) and/or bakery items again.

Sometimes you crave a big pizza all to yourself. The last time for me was back in 2013 when I got a 20" (half bone marrow/spring onion/watercress and half pork belly/chimichurri/smoked onions) all to myself at Homeslice at Seven Dials near Covent Garden or the Georgian khachapuri (cheese, cheese, cheese) in St. Petersburg a few months later. On those occasions despite the more unusual ingredients and my greed, I could only finish half each.

Tonight was another of those pizza moments and Arte seemed a good choice. I'd read about it and the menu seemed conventional and nice, albeit a little expensive. Once I went inside the small home business I saw how large a family pizza is and the prices made sense. The small and medium are significantly smaller so don't really seem good value (unless you can't bear the thought of eating day old pizza - shame on you).

- Calzone Traditionale - a huge calzone filling a family sized box with thin pieces of ham (not smoked or cured), tomato, an occasional basil leaf and a load of molten mozzarella;
- Prawn Pizza #1 - 6 high quality prawns (cut in half to form 12) on a thin pizza base topped with cheese and a nice tomato base. Garlic was a listed ingredient but although I chewed through a few granules I couldn't detect any of the flavour;
- Garlic Pizza - very thin crispy like flatbread rather than pizza base with a few chunks of garlic. Prefer much more garlic, some butter and a little burning. Disappointed overall.

The pizzas were decent quality but I did feel slightly unsatisfied (not dissatisfied) at the end. Given the other local options are Domino's and Crust (which I don't mind actually), this is a clear step up above in quality.

My favourite pizzas of all time (other than the simple fresh passata and buffalo mozzarella in Rome) have had anchovies or capers or speck or proscuitto. So I think I probably just like much heavier seasoning/salt with my pizzas. I still have half a calzone, 3/4 family prawn pizza and half a small garlic pizza left. I'll easily get through it and it should satisfy my pizza needs until I decide to recreate Franco Manca's recipe for the 2nd time.

Once upon a time in London I ended up at a place called MEATmarket in Covent Garden up above the stalls. It was a spin-off from one of the best London burger places that had started out as a food van called MEATliquor (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/meatliquor-london-03-2012). Other than burgers, they also had gourmet slick hot dogs on the menu and an exceptional chilli cheese fries that I tried to recreate from their cookbook with limited success. 

If you combine Brodburger and Broddog menus and story, perhaps you have the same fairytale on the other side of the world.

Brodburger surpassed my expectations in terms of burger taste and quality. It is a different burger to those rampaging around London and MEATliquor but not necessarily inferior. Brodburger is a cleaner burger that is a great version with standard ingredients; MEATliquor is a dirty burger with grease and filth. The best hotdog I've eaten (admittedly my experience is limited to Germany, Poland, Australia, UK and Norway) was on one solitary occasion at MEATmarket which consisted a deep-fried bacon wrapped pork frank topped with mustard, onions, danish sauce and spicy relish. I wondered and prayed if Broddogs could deliver something that I could remember 2.5 years later.

The setting is cool - a bright red van serving in the same courtyard as a shakes van, a coffee van, Peruvian van and a few others (all closed on Tuesday evenings if you're planning to visit meaning you can either get a dog or a 10" pizza).

- Broddog (spicy kransky with bacon, coleslaw, pickles, ketchup, corn relish topped with sweet potato ribbons & shaved gruyere cheese) - kransky is flavoursome with a touch of chilli and the other ingredients compliment it well. It's pretty decent overall but not as exciting as in my dreams (or unreasonable expectations);
- Omi Dog (Vienna frankfurt salad with white onion, gruyere cheese & Omi's secret mayonnaise dressing) - didn't particularly like this dog for a few reasons; The frankfurt is sliced and mixed with the dressing meaning that is gets cold really fast. The frankfurt also has less intrinsic flavour than the kransky meaning you get a bit of frankfurt taste, a bit of onion texture and overall a cheese mayo flavour;
- Cheesy Chilli Chips (beef chilli, fondue cheese sauce & grated gruyere cheese) - a good interpretation with Brodburger's good quality chips with some strong beef mince and cheese. Overall the amount of chilli and cheese are too small for the amount of chips meaning most chips are eaten plain.

Next time I would order the New Yorker with Cheesy Chilli Chips or the Chilli Cheese Dog (with kransky) with plain chips. I think my favourite tastes of the meal were the kransky and the parts of the chips that had chilli on them. Overall I think the satisfaction:price ratio is much higher at Brodburger and I'd only cross town for Broddogs again if the other stalls were open so I could try a variety of things at the same time.

In October 2014 I took a taxi to the airport. It's an expensive $25 10 minute trip but what options are there? In any case on this one occasion, the friendly driver Mohammed and I were talking about his background. He comes from Bangladesh. This interested me somewhat - I haven't met a Bangladeshi person (that I know of at least) since leaving Whitechapel. I mentioned how Whitechapel is full of Bengali people and similarly has a large number of restaurants that I had my pet dishes. Mohammed mentioned how he used to work in an Indian restaurant in Canberra and happened to be soon opening a restaurant in Manuka with the best naan maker in town. I was intrigued and promised to visit the restaurant when it opened.

Our conversation took my memories back to the first meal I had in Whitechapel at Royal PFC (Perfect Fried Chicken https://www.facebook.com/pages/Royal-Pfc/146879172016202) and the odd friendship I made with the owner Ripon. The memories of Bangladesh fried chicken and biryani (at Royal PFC) and Pakistani lamb dishes of dry curry and biryani (at Needoo) still fill my dreams.

I finally found an opportunity to visit Taste of Bangladesh (and India). I get the feeling the India part was added to make it more mainstream to the public who probably otherwise would not know what food to expect. I think this is unnecessary but it's advertising. The restaurant is inside an arcade and upstairs which makes it much less obvious and without the foot traffic from the sidewalks outside that every other place in Manuka benefits from, which is a shame because the food is better and cheaper than what is around.

- Sour Lassi - probably the only thing that wasn't to my taste. It seems much more salty than sour, and not quite what I'd expect from a lassi. It is near identical to the buttermilk drink I had in India - a definite acquired sour fat drink;
- Mango Lassi - made from mango pulp, a nice sweet yoghurty drink. I'd prefer it a little thicker and less sweet, but it wasn't syrupy and there was no discernible sugar crystals which is great.

I was only interested in the Bangladeshi dishes, which are helpfully marked on the menu.

- Kacchi Biryani - a uniquely flavoured biryani with tender pieces of goat (I think). Identical flavour to Royal PFC but less oily. Unlike the various Indian biryanis (ie. no vegetables, seeds, fruit). I can't explain the flavour, you just have to try it;
- Prawn Masala - very generous serving of 8 king prawns (for $16.50) cooked with some fresh crunch in a flavoursome grainy curry;
- Duck Curry - two tender duck legs in a very mild understated smooth curry;
- Eggplant Bhorta - roasted eggplant with the skin stripped then pulped. Had a powerful smokey char personality;
- Garlic Naan - very soft, crisp on top, not thick and pillowy (if you like it that way) but very very good. I'd personally prefer much more garlic on top.

The food was excellent and very different flavours to Indian restaurants (and cheaper/better value than those in Canberra also). The biryani gave me a nostalgic smile. I'll definitely be back.

Next time I would order any of the food dishes again and keen to try the other Bangladeshi dishes (Fish Bengali and Goat Curry).