Barrio

The food at Barrio is never what I expect – they’re always trying something exciting and slightly off-kilter (which I mean in a whole-heartedly positive way). This time I picked their take on a potato salad, but don’t imagine it’s your usual staid boiled-with-mayo affair. No. Here, your potato is candied. What, I hear you ask? Like almonds? Not exactly – the potato is cooked but almost dehydrated, with a texture that reminded me of unknown but delicious vegetables in Japanese supermarket salads (again, a good thing). To contrast this almost sponginess are segments of fresh orange, which add a divine splash of acidity and freshness, slightly bitter green leaves and some sort of split bean/pea thing (woe is me for forgetting to photograph the menu). That’s not to mention the smattering of puffed wheat and fried shallots on top. I ordered this dish with a side of smoked salmon (the recommended optional extra), and was delighted by the three thick, not overpowering slices that brought great balance to the riot of flavours and textures in this salad. The whole thing was nicely complimented by a glass of fresh orange juice; I could have happily had a dozen more glasses as this was the real deal. Never expect the ordinary here.

Barrio Collective Coffee, 59/30 Londale Street, Braddon ACT                                  http://www.barriocc.com/

Eightysix

Part One is here. We were served the prawns and the curried fish salad at the same time, so we left the cold salad until after we’d finished the delectable prawns (I scooped up every last bit of that heavenly sauce!). My only criticism of the night was that too many dishes came out at once, rather than being well-paced over the course of the meal. We had just started the salad when the chicken biryani was served. The salad was the dish of the night for me – the curried ocean trout was tender and flaked into perfect pieces, and the cucumber, celery, onion and green beans were incredibly refreshing after the spicy prawns. We saved a bit to finish with, then got stuck into the biryani, which had been cooked until some of the rice was crisped (like bibimbap). The chicken had some sort of yoghurt coating which was luscious and perfect, and the almonds, herbs and sultanas added hugely to the flavour. Finally, we decided to share a dessert – the coconut sago and mango. We loved the toasted coconut and sesame topping, the pops from the sago pearls, and then deliciously sweet, fresh mango. All in all another spectacular kitchen takeover. Come back again soon?

eightysix, 11 Elouera Street, Braddon ACT http://eightysix.com.au/

Local Press

I usually stick to the breakfasty items on the menu at Local Press, but this visit was definitely at lunchtime, so I ventured into the actual lunch offerings. I was tempted by the kangaroo sirloin, but being a warm day decided for the cooler salad option – a soy ginger chicken and black sesame Vietnamese salad. The plate came out and I was impressed with the vibrant colours – getting stuck in, the salad was just as fresh as it looked. The snowpeas, capsicum and broccoli were all lovely and crisp, enhanced by the fresh mint and basil and rounded off with a good kick of chilli. The noodles were a bit underdone for my taste, although it made them easy to pick up, and I loved the fresh, tangy flavour of the vinegary sauce. The black sesame and cashews added flavour hits, but the star of the dish was the chicken – beautifully tender and packed full of flavour, these pieces were plentiful and moreish. I also had one of the cold pressed juices – orange, mandarin and passionfruit, which helped me cool down from the chilli. The citrus was sweet and refreshing, and the passionfruit added a nice bite. Lovely.

Local Press, 128 Trevellian Quay, Kingston ACT http://www.localpresscafe.com.au/

Bookplate

My team organised a lunch at Bookplate, the cafe at the National Library of Australia, which has come under new ownership this year. The menu is varied and extensive, making it hard to pick just one thing. One of my favourite lighter meals is a caesar salad, which was my pick on this visit. Whilst you have to order at the counter, meals are brought out to you – we sat under the beautiful stained glass windows. The salad was elegantly presented in a reasonable-sized bowl. This caesar was all about the individual flavours – the pancetta was beautifully crispy and salty, the lettuce really fresh, and the spring onion added a kick. I am a sucker for good croutons, and these were right up there, although a little hard to cut. My only complaint was the lack of dressing – a good, oily caesar dressing would have gone better than the sparing daubs of a creamy version. For dessert I ordered one of the giant hazelnut meringues in the cake cabinet – it was heavenly! There was a lovely balance of crispy outer and gooey inner and the hazelnut flavour was just perfect throughout. Oh yes, I’ll be back.

Bookplate, National Library of Australia, Parkes Place, Parkes ACT       http://bookplate.com.au/

Tiger Gyoza Hall

Good gyoza are an amazing thing. One night I went for a wander and found a particularly good gyoza place, although to be honest the only reason I ducked in was a) they had a huge tiger on the side of the building and b) my brain was tired of translating Japanese and the restaurant’s name was in English. It may have been the best decision of the whole trip. We ate four plates of gyoza on the waiter’s recommendation, plus the tomato and avocado salad. The salad had us in raptures – topped with fresh cress and corriander, the avocado and tomato chunks were doused in an oily corriander dressing – we licked those plates clean. Seriously, seriously good salad. The first two plates of gyoza were equally amazing – each plate had six dumplings – one normal-sized the other giant. The giant gyoza (called bukkuri gyoza) were the pick of the menu – packed with pork, crunchy sprouts and cabbage, they were to die for served with the corriander, onion and chilli condiment sauces. We weren’t as keen on the green soup gyoza which came third, but the yuzu gyoza on the final plate were refreshing and incredibly tasty. We dined here twice on this trip and I will most definitely be back.

Tiger Gyoza Hall, Hiroo 5-14-2, Tamachi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Japan (in the backstreets opposite Keio University East Gate)

Elk and Pea

Elk and Pea isn’t the first place I would think of for dinner, but when a friend wanted to try somewhere different to eat, off we went. We got a table without a booking easily on a weeknight and ordered a plate of wedges and the jerk chicken to share. This turned out a) to be an excellent decision and b) to be a heck of a lot of food. The wedges were beautifully presented, covered in corriander, tomato, cabbage, radish and sour cream (hello!), and drizzled with lime, they were scrumptiously soft and we couldn’t help but graze on them all night. We were warned that the chicken could be a 45min wait, but it came out in about 20mins and was visually very impressive. The chicken was hidden under a mountain of fresh salad, with cucumber, radish, carrot and cabbage, which was so light and contrasted the rich jerk chicken perfectly. The chicken itself was melt-in-your-mouth tender and is by far the best chicken dish I’ve eaten at a restaurant anywhere. Even better, underneath was the most delicious almond puree – denser than mash but very tasty. There was a fight over who got what for leftovers. I will be back!

Elk and Pea, 21 Lonsdale St, Braddon ACT                http://www.elkandpea.com.au/

Walt and Burley

This was my second visit to Walt and Burley and I was very impressed with the whole experience. We went for a friend’s farewell lunch, and were seated at an indoor table, explained how the menu works and encouraged to order at the bar. Having had one of the burgers before, I opted for the cajun tuna loin, as part of the ‘from the grill’ part of the menu. It was a great choice – whilst a little pricier than the majority of the lunch menu, the portion of tuna is large, and when my plate came out the fish was perfectly pink inside. The outside had been seared with cajun spices, something tomatoey and cheese, and the tuna was incredibly tender. Every mouthful was a delight. The salad was perfectly matched and had a fresh spring feel about it – the black-eyed beans and zucchini combination was light and felt healthy to eat. The meal was more than enough for me, although I was a bit cheeky and picked at some of the chips we’d ordered to share – so tasty! Friends ordered the buttermilk chicken, which is the next thing on my list to try.

Walt and Burley, 21 Eastlake Parade, Kingston ACT        http://www.waltandburley.com.au/