Last night (ACT election night) we went there with friends for a meal. All in all it was an okay night. The place is packed with tables and it was a little like being in a sardine can. The table we had had a chair combo with two seats being a lounge cushion thing and the other four seats stand alone units. It wasn’t great and our friends who ended up with the lounge cushion thing weren’t that happy. The place has two levels with the mezzanine being largely out of sight. Because of my deafness and tinnitus I like to sit with my good ear in the best position. That doesn’t always help if the place is noisy. This place is pretty noisy. Not their fault I know, but some sound baffling can help people with a hearing disability.
While I enjoyed my meal, one of our friends asked for the seafood risotto and it came with whole crab pieces rather than crab meat incorporated into the risotto. This made it pretty messy and unappetising. In addition, it didn’t taste too good. Bron and I both noticed the snapper a couple of friends asked for smelt pretty fishy which is something that would put us off asking for it.
Onto the good things. I had an entrée of lamb sausages which were delightfully spicy. I could eat much more of these sausages. The serving size was pretty good for an entrée. I also had a fillet steak cooked rare on a bed of mash. For $36 I expected some greens too. Oh well, not a big deal. The steak was well cooked and very enjoyable. If I compared it to Tommy’s Bistro from last week though, I’d go for Tommy’s. I finished off with the Crème brûlée which contained white chocolate and raspberries. It was pretty good.
Taze lamb sausages
Taze fillet steak [rare]
Taze white chocolate and raspberry Crème brûlée
We had a good night out. Civic is the place to be on a Saturday night if you’re young and want a good time. With Spring developing everyone seemed to be wearing suitable bright coloured clothes and revealing a heap of pale skin.
On paying the bill, the manager removed the price of the risotto which was very nice of him and for me would be a positive to come back and try some different dishes from the menu.
This weekend I completed my income taxation return and caught up on some work. I also spent some time with Bron and managed to enjoy some delicious meals. If you follow me on instagram you can see how I ate this weekend as well as some of my other activities.
The deciduous trees are blooming and my allergic rhinitis is getting worse. I must be snoring like a train because every morning I wake up with a sore throat like razor blades are cutting it.
Lake Ginninderra
Before breakfast I went for a walk and captured some images. We had breakfast at Black Pepper which is on the corner on the left of the image.
Fishing is popular in Canberra waterways. The lakes are full of carp. They are a pest and regarded as feral. If a carp is caught it is not allowed to be thrown back into the water. From what I’ve seen people go fishing, catch carp and then leave them anywhere they choose.
Green eggs and ham
Bron chose green eggs and ham. The scrambled eggs have avocado in them.
I ate poached eggs, Kransky sausage, mushrooms and hollandaise sauce.
Pan seared salmon served with a tower of potato mash, wilted spinach, pine nuts, peas and corn along with asparagus and broccolini. The mash potato was made with blue cheese.
Tonight I cooked a light meal of salmon. Click on it if you want a larger resolution view.
On Wednesday I spent the day in Sydney for a meeting. I flew back to Canberra on Virgin Australia. I was able to enjoy an afternoon snack of cheese and ice cream plus some quince paste.
A snack on a Virgin Australia flight. Cheese, quince paste and an ice cream sandwich.
On Thursday morning inspired by the Ranting Chef and a post on 09 August I made baked beans on toast. I added a little Holbrooks Worcestershire sauce and some chili flakes plus Tabasco sauce for spice. I would have added an egg but it was already going to be enough.
Baked beans on toast with coffee
On Thursday evening we went to celebrate the birthday of a friend. We went to Sanur’s Balinese Restaurant in Belconnen. We’ve been there a few times before and I’ve blogged about the experience. Bron and I shared an entrée (Sanur’s Deluxe Platter for Two $18.9 A platter of mixed spring roll, chicken or beef satay, sweet corn patties and battered prawns) and I asked for fried chicken (“Chicken” Char Grilled or Fried ½ Chicken $18.9 Sanur Style Chicken marinated in house special ingredients and served with sambal bajak). I was a little disappointed it was dry and not that flavoursome. Bron had the Crispy Ayam ($18.9 Battered marinated chicken thigh tossed with garlic and aromatic salt) which was delicious. The chicken was moist, tender and tasty. For dessert we both enjoyed the Coconut Delusion ($8.90 Coconut pancake filled with unti (shredded coconut) with pandan anglaise, ice cream & toasted almonds).
Entrée platter
Entrée platter
Fried chicken
Bron’s chicken
Coconut dessert
The evening was punctuated with hilarious stories of menstrual period iPhone apps and videos of a bloke called Merv who is good at sucking. The flow of the conversation had periods of tension and hilarity. There was lots of talk about the ladies cycling together. I didn’t know they all had bicycles.
This is Merv
On Friday morning Bron and I enjoyed our regular Mavi Breakfast wrap.
Mavi breakfast wrap
For lunch on Friday I felt like some hot chips from Urban Bean in my work building. These chips are delicious. A small container costs $4 which sounds expensive (and it is) but the container is quite large. It also comes with some aioli.
Great hot chips
On Friday night Bron made a light dinner. We had a baked egg in a creamy Italian style risotto. It was delicious. This is a split photograph edited before and after the egg was cracked.
Baked egg and risotto
For breakfast on Saturday we had poached eggs and ham. I wanted a little cranberry sauce too.
Poached egg with ham and cranberry
After doing some washing and house work we went out to Ricardo’s café in Jamison for afternoon tea. Bron had a golden mousse and I ate a swan.
Golden mousse
Swan
For dinner on Saturday we celebrated another friend’s birthday and went to Chairman and Yip after drinks at Benchmark wine bar. I was a little disappointed by the Benchmark wine bar. The drinks were really expensive and I got the feeling they were trying to get us out yet the restaurant was only about a third full. There was a huge hens party going on and we had wait staff asking us if we wanted more drinks every five minutes. My greatest disappointment as someone who cannot drink alcohol though is the absence of pineapple juice. That’s what I wanted. In the end I settled for a lemon lime and bitters. To be fair it was our waiter’s first shift. A friend asked for a Chardonnay and he received Chandon sparkling wine. Our waiter was very apologetic and smiled a lot.
At Chairman and Yip it was very different. The wait staff were efficient yet unobtrusive and allowed us to enjoy our meal. This was one of the nicest meals I’ve eaten in Canberra. For en entrée I asked for duck pancakes and ended up sharing with Bron who had pan fried Kurobuta Rich River (Victoria) pork cake with red wine vinaigrette. Both entrées come for $16.50. Both were delicious although the pork cakes were more filling.
Duck pancakes
char-grilled fillet of beef with shallot and spring onion sauce
For a main course I asked for a char-grilled fillet of beef with shallot and spring onion sauce. Bron asked for beef and scallop ground pepper hot pot, M asked for chairman’s red curry chicken and L asked for pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chili and kaffir lime.
pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chili and kaffir lime
My first plate, in the end we shared everything amongst each other.
For dessert I asked for a panna cotta with a passionfruit sauce. Bron asked for Pyramid of chocolate mousse over white chocolate mousse that sounded like chocolate fellatio which created uproar at our table.
Panna cotta with passionfruit sauce
This morning we had breakfast at Ellacure in Bruce. We’ve been meaning to do this for a long time. It didn’t disappoint. I asked for poached eggs on toast with a side of hollandaise and avocado while Bron asked for Eggs Benedict with bacon (this is Bron’s instagram image). Breakfast at Ellacure is very worthwhile. The service is very good and the food is delicious. The service verged on trying to get us out, but really, it was 0900 in the morning and they would be very busy after 0930. They were very efficient. I would rank this a great place in Canberra for breakfast or brunch.
Look I got pineapple juice
The best thing was I got pineapple juice
Poached eggs, hollandaise and avocado. This is one of the best photographs I’ve taken.
Yesterday was a slow kind of day. We started with brunch at Black Pepper in Belconnen. This is a local café that does a good breakfast and brunch on weekends. It is very popular amongst locals and especially cyclists and walkers who exercise around Lake Ginninderra.
When our meals arrived, the Eggs Benedict were sitting on a muffin. Rather than waste time and send the dish back, I shared my Turkish bread.
Beautiful eggs Benedict
The plates were cold and the bacon was also cold. The eggs were slightly over cooked. The yolks were still soft but they weren’t really runny like we like them. Otherwise, the Eggs Benedict and Black Pepper Breakfast were very nice. As you can see I also asked for a bowl of hollandaise sauce to go with my breakfast. Along with our coffees, it was a good start to the day.
The day got better with a visit to Costco. I wanted to see the optometrist, although I didn’t realise I needed an appointment. I’ll be returning next Saturday. To compensate my disappointment we went to look at the meat section. There is a whole cold section dedicated to Australian produced Wagyu beef.
The Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood restaurant is on 13 Trenerry Street in Weston. The menu is a combination of Croatian, seafood and beef. The surf and turf/reef and beef options look amazing.
We started with baby fried calamari and then went onto a Maestral seafood platter.
Baby fried calamari
The calamari was perfectly fried. It was juicy and tender.
The Maestral seafood platter. The soft shell crab was the highlight.
The platter had a combination of oysters (natural and oysters Maestral [see menu]), scampi, prawns, fish, soft shell crab and fried potatoes.
Me smiling because I love seafood platters
I would definitely go back and try other dishes on the menu. It’s a very popular restaurant. We saw a number of familiar faces and friends there last night.
After the Maestral we thought we’d enjoy dessert at Max Brenner in Belconnen. I chose the waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.
Max Brenner waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream
This morning we went to breakfast at Flint in the Vines. This restaurant is within the Shaw vineyard estate.
We arrived at 0930 AEST and there were already diners seated at tables. Before choosing food from the menu, coffee was needed. The coffee wasn’t as good as I hoped. My long black was very bitter and even though I ended up having a second (because that’s what you do), I would not recommend the coffee.
The breakfast menu included the interestingly named morning salad. If you’re wanting a low carbohydrate meal, this is ideal. It is basically two poached eggs, crisp bacon pieces, sautéed button mushrooms, and warmed baby spinach tossed in a balsamic reduction. It is a large breakfast and very filling. I would rate this menu item 8.5 out of 10. The meal overall was a 8 out of 10. If the coffee had been better it would have rated 9 or higher. The view out of the windows is very relaxing and consists of paddocks with young lambs.
