It’s a Thursday night in Canberra; Bron and I have a reservation at Temporada on Moore Street in Civic. Earlier in the week, Bron suggested we go there for dinner. Over the last few months I’d read some reviews from fellow Canberra bloggers who mostly seemed to enjoy their dining experience (I’ve provided a list of reviews at the bottom of this post). I made an on-line booking through dimmi which was quick and easy. A day or so later I received an e-mail requesting confirmation of our reservation. When we arrived, the reservation was in the system and we were shown to a table. Now if only I can get dimmi to accept a voice print so people know how to pronounce my last name. It’s Lum as in Yum (and not Lum as in loom, although I have been told when pronounced loom it’s like a Scottish word for chimney).
As we enter we notice a couple of people with Canon DSLR cameras and manfrotto tripods undertaking a photo shoot. My attention immediately goes to their equipment and what they’re doing. Bron suggests I go and invite them to join us which I know means stop looking around and focus attention where it should be.
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The menu we’re shown is slightly different to the on-line menu, I immediately notice there is pork belly available, and not only is pork belly available but it is accompanied with Brussels sprouts and bacon. I love Brussels sprouts and bacon!
The starters consist of several varieties of oysters plus some really nice sounding entrée dishes. I go for the soft shelled crab roll and Bron selects the venison scotch egg.
The main course dishes have a good selection of seafood including sea perch and crab, flounder and a seafood plate for two. I choose the pork belly (of course) and Bron selects the roasted flounder.
After our meal order is taken I look around and notice the central bar with surrounding tables. The ceiling is split level with a fairly high portion. The lighting is mainly tungsten and while reasonably lit everything had a yellow hue. Bron was impressed with the decorations. The floors are fairly hard and just after 7 pm you can tell noise will be a factor as the place fills up. Closer to 8 pm the restaurant is nearly full and we can hear the conversations of diners on tables closeby and also those who are raising their voices on larger tables hoping to be heard above the din. The tables are also very close together and as Bron says, “It’s too close if you have to turn sideways to get past the table next to yours.”
That said because I’m partially deaf I just accept I won’t understand a lot of what is spoken and the noise drives my tinnitus to moderate levels of discomfort. This is true of course for any venue where there is low level noise.
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When our entrées arrive I’m surprised by the look of soft shelled crab slider, it looks slightly rude with legs spread apart and the chilli dressing appropriately flowing.
Bron’s venison scotch egg looks very nice. She said it was cooked perfectly with a soft yolk and the right size for an entrée. I’ve never eaten a scotch egg. I must do it next time.
After the entrée course we’re treated to locally baked sourdough bread and butter flavoured with charcoal salt. It’s quite delicious.
The one complaint I’d have about our service on the evening is the delivery of our main course dishes. Mine came out first with a fennel, hazelnut and orange salad and then we waited about seven minutes for Bron’s flounder to arrive at the table. The aroma of the pork belly and bacon was too much for me and I started eating before Bron’s dish arrived.
The pork belly was delicious and after an excessively salty experience at Onred recently I bit into the pork crackling hoping for a pleasant experience. I wasn’t disappointed. The crackling was really good. Possibly up there with my Mum’s. The Brussels sprouts and bacon were fantastic as was the fennel salad which went really nicely with the pork.
Bron’s main was the roasted flounder which it was huge and big enough for both of us. It would have been nice if the waiter had explained to us that the main meals were for sharing (Bron heard him say this to our near neighbours). While not normally liking capers, Bron said when combined with the burnt butter it was a perfect accompaniment with a perfectly balanced dish.
Bron was kind enough to share with me some of her flounder. It was really nicely cooked and the burnt butter just gave it a beautiful taste. I’d happily eat that if we return, although picking bones, which is inevitable with flounder isn’t fun at a nice restaurant. I always feel a little self conscious.
After our main meals were taken away we were asked about dessert. Hell yeah, we wanted dessert. Who wouldn’t when you read salted caramel parfait!!!
So I chose the salted caramel parfait and Bron chose the baked apple and sweet potato terrine.
The parfait came with chocolate ganache plus orange and peanut. It was all nice, but really, I could have inhaled a lot more of the caramel parfait.
Bron loved her dessert and was intrigued with the structure of her deconstructed dish. The tube held the sweet potato while the rectangular prism of orange that you’d assume was the sweet potato was the baked apple in thin slivers.
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Final words from Bron. The wine selection was interesting, and very international although a little disappointing that there weren’t more local wines. It was a brilliant dining experience. Great ambiance, fantastic decor. Great food. Expert service.
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For me, all in all it was a great meal and a great evening. I rate it highly and would definitely recommend Canberra residents and visitors try out Temporada in Civic.
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I’m now going to try something new. I’ve noticed a few other local bloggers use a rating system for their dining experiences. For example, the CBRfoodie, aka Elias uses Canberra Raiders beanies. Being a pathologist I’m going to start rating my dining experiences with colonies of my favourite bacterium, viz., Chromobacterium violaceum, it has the prettiest colours of any bacterium on agar.
Here’s a joke. Q. What is the collective noun for a group of microbiologists? A. A colony!
I give Temporada four out of five colonies.
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Reviews from other Canberra bloggers
FoodPornJournal http://foodpornjournal.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/opening-night-temporada.html
Le bon vivant http://le-bonvivant.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/temporada-canberra.html
Tales of a Confectionist http://talesofaconfectionist.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/temporada/
HerCanberra http://www.hercanberra.com.au/index.php/2014/02/22/temporada-first-taste/
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