Oscars

We went to Oscars to celebrate my brother’s birthday, and absolutely everything about our experience was lovely. We started with a plate of the housemade port, thyme and Cointreau pate, which was served with cornichons, flatbread and a divine apple and pear chutney. Best. Pate. Ever. The flavour was utterly perfect and I would love to be able to buy this in bulk!!! For the main, I went for a pizza (I always think of Oscars as a pizza place) and had zero regrets. The Idaho comes with potato, rocket, sour cream, caramelised onion, bacon and sweet chilli sauce, which makes for one damn fine pizza. The base was lovely and the potato was cooked perfectly. There was plenty of sour cream and sweet chilli sauce, and every mouthful was delicious. If I could have eaten more, I would have. Somehow we were persuaded into dessert and three of us shared the Belgian chocolate mousse – it was far heavier than I would usually expect from a mousse, but despite that wasn’t sickly rich, although my stomach was really struggling for space. A special mention must go to the staff, who were so friendly and welcoming and set the right tone for a truly lovely celebration.

Oscars, 201 Main Road, McLaren Vale SA  http://oscars.com.au/

Meating Room

I met my friend at the Meating Room in Weston for dinner a couple of nights after their opening, and was immediately impressed with the fitout and the atmosphere. The place was full of all sorts of groups (families, couples, groups of friends) at 6:30pm on a Sunday. We were seated in lovely armchairs and ordered a few things to share. The tapas came out together – arancini balls with a garlic sauce and pulled pork sliders – and really that would have been enough dinner for the both of us. The arancini was the highlight for me – with a crispy panko crumb and full of veggies, parmesan and rice, they went perfectly with the garlic sauce and were great value with 12 pieces on the plate. The sliders (2 in a serve) were tasty to start but the flavour faded after a few mouthfuls (not enough BBQ sauce?) – the pork was tender but my friend’s slider was very oily. Finally our Meatingroom pizza arrived – it was clearly made on site as the shape was imperfect, but the base was lovely and crispy and the topping was full of meat – chorizo, bacon, salami, pulled pork and beef – so good. The staff were exceptionally friendly and I look forward to many more cozy evenings exploring their menu.

Meating Room, 45B Liardet Street, Weston ACT                        http://meatingroom.com.au/

10″ Custom Pizzeria

Four of us headed out to the Hamlet in Braddon for lunch one weekday, and I was determined to try something different this visit. After much deliberation, I picked 10″ Custom Pizzeria, on the menu item the Napoletana. It sounded like a perfect pizza dream – tomato, anchovies, basil and black olives. Yes please! The lovely lady behind the counter made it in front of me and I watched it go right into the wood-fired oven. We dined in and so my pizza was served on a chopping board after being freshly cooked. It was heavenly. The base was beautifully thin and puffed up at the edges, with a lovely balance between soft and crisp. The anchovies were the star of the pizza, adding incredible flavour and saltiness that tasted better than any other pizza topping I’ve had in Canberra. I loved that you could appreciate the simple, distinct flavours of each ingredient, in authentic Italian style. I then spotted another customer with an icy drink (I’ll have what she’s having!) – a strawberry granita, served in a huge takeaway cup and full of strawberry sweetness. My friend had the pineapple and coconut one and loved it as just as much. Simple, fresh and tasty pizza, highly recommended.

10″ Custom Pizzeria, 16 Lonsdale Street, Braddon ACT, no webiste

Melt

This was my second time eating at Melt, and it was just as good as the first at their other location on King William Road. The Waymouth Street restaurant has a green theme – it runs through the tiles, the website and even into the water jugs, which are packed with fresh mint leaves to make tap water refreshing. We opted for the CBD lunch special – a selection of tapas, pizzas and salads, and were amazed at the high quality of every single dish. The tapas included fried zucchini balls with an amazing mayonnaise, pan-fried haloumi, the best baba ganouch I’ve ever had and chilli green beans. This was promptly followed by three pizzas (between five people) – ‘albondigas’, with Spanish meatballs and cherry tomatos, ‘funghi’, with mushrooms, egg and watercress, and ‘the 38’, with zucchini, speck and mint. I’d requested ‘funghi’ as it was my favourite last time, but this time I was sold on ‘the 38’ – the flavours were perfect for spring and very fresh. All the bases were lovely and thin with just the right amount of crispiness. I absolutely expect there to be third, fourth and fifth visits here, at the very least.

Melt Pizzeria, 38 Waymouth Street, Adelaide SA http://www.meltpizzeria.com.au/

Mint

There’s really nothing like sitting in a garden bar on a summer night, especially when you’ve managed to escape work early! We headed over to Mint at about 4:30pm on a weekday for a friend’s farewell, and arrived to an empty bar, giving us a monopoly on service and our pick of the tables. I ordered a Hendrick’s and tonic, which was poured into a long glass with great care and served with a wedge of cucumber. Unfortunately, the tonic tasted a bit watered-down, but the measure of gin was full and the service friendly. After lounging around for a couple of hours, we got peckish, so ordered a plate of hot wings and the pepperoni pizza. They came out promptly, and in serves of 6 (6 wings, 6 slices of pizza). The wings were quite salty but the dipping sauce was delicious and there was quite a bit of meat on each one. The pizza was the highlight though, with a perfectly thin, crispy base and minimal but tasty toppings in true Italian style: rich tomato, completely melted cheese and spicy pepperoni. I’ll be back to try their other pizzas and chill out in the leafy green space.

Mint Garden Bar, Gorman House Arts Centre, Batman Street, Braddon ACT http://www.sagerestaurant.net.au/mint-garden-bar/