Borsch i Vodka

Recently the Polish Club in O'Connor decided that its future did not lie with problem gamblers. So, breaking with standard club practice, it cleaned out the pokies and turned the place over to a restaurant serving Polish cuisine - Borsch i Vodka.

The exterior of the Club building housing the restaurant itself is, to at least one pair of our untrained eyes, quite attractive - typical Canberra 70s brutalism-meets-Frank Lloyd Wright, and opened by Pope John Paul II before he was Pope John Paul II. Upon entering, you are presented with a view straight into the kitchen, with the back-of-house staff looking believably Polish. The dining room itself is off to one side, and feels appropriately enough, perhaps how you might imagine a 1970s-80s Polish restaurant open to people with hard currency might look like.

The Always Hungrys have been to the Club three times in the past few months. Once on our own, once with a couple of friends, and once on a Saturday afternoon when after lunch across the road we chanced upon markets in the main hall selling fresh pork products, sausages, and canned and sachet goods imported direct from Gdansk or wherever.

The food at the restaurant proper has generally been excellent and reasonably priced ($15-20 mains). Just keep away from the deserts - which on both occasions were not that flash. Otherwise, as you would hope, the borsch was delicious (and bright pink), as were the cheese pierogi (dumplings), meat pierogi, and cabbage rolls. These, of course, were well accompanied by freshly pickled, but not-too-sauer, sauerkraut.

Funnily enough, we haven't actually had vodka there, but the various Polish beers we have tried from the bar were also tasty. With a few families, and far fewer young APS-types and graduate accountants, All Bar Nun it is not, the merits of which or otherwise will not be discussed here. However, if you are looking for something different, we would definitely recommend it.

Poorly Nourished Minds? The Sorry State of Food At The ANU

You might think that, being perhaps more refined and cultivated than the average Canberran (for argument's sake), and often not being particularly shy about voicing their opinions, the staff and students at the ANU would contrive to eat well. You'd be wrong.

Both of the Always Hungry team have been hungry at the ANU for periods of several years. These are the exasperated views of one them, who has now moved on to better lunches elsewhere.

Although it routinely claims to be among the world's top 20 universities in terms of research, unfortunately its on-campus catering is unlikely to be near the top of any league tables. All but one of the cafes, restaurants, and food outlets across the sprawling green fields and trees of Acton seem to be systematically incapable of consistantly providing quality food at a reasonable price - whether we are talking about student or professorial budgets - or for that matter any price. To be sure, some cafes do manage one or two OK meals for periods of time, before seeming to eventually, inevitably resume the standard offering of (overpriced) mediocrity.

To clarify, I contend that there are essentially two markets that are not being met. The first, is for a simple sandwich for a student's everyday lunch for, say, $5-6. These do not exist, and have not existed since Calypso became the god-awfully renovated Degree and upped its prices to pay for its contemporary-tacky decor. Second, all of the places catering in the $12-18 cafe-style lunch market - bar Chats in the art school with its risottos and Ocker-service - are problematic. At best, including the sometimes praised Gods, they will consistently have at least one or two dogs or lemons in their menu; at worst, all of their dishes are poor, almost all of the time.

This raises the questions of how and why? On over-pricing, a friend of mine involved with student politics once put forward the argument that, compared to alleged practices elsewhere, caterers on campus are unable to get away with underpaying their staff. I have subsequently put this theory to another friend who works in a managerial role in the hospitality industry in Sydney - who called bullsh*t. A more sophisticated explanation is required - anyone who has eaten in foodcourts or any number of cafes in Sydney or Melbourne knows that better eating at lower prices is possible.

It is perhaps then no wonder we routinely see the V-C choosing to entertain at Mezzalira.

Blue Elephant

So you’ve made it almost to the end of Lonsdale St (Braddon)—most likely on the off chance that you’ll manage to squeeze your way in to the trendy, crowded, and noisy place that sells average pizza and reputable European beers. Yes, some people really get off on that kind of thing… In search of something a little different, we (have on many an occasion) decided to give the ‘scene’ a miss and try our luck across the road—at Blue Elephant.

Up the stairs and pass the “Australian Republican Movement” office (yes, you read right) the first surprise awaits—the most lavishly decorated and comfortable take-away waiting area ever. Behind the counter is one of the friendliest elderly restaurant owners (we presume) we’ve ever come across—not friendly in a smarmy way, just a genuine “I’m happy to be here and I’m happy you’re here” vibe. Nice. We call him “The Guy”.

The Guy is the only person on the ‘floor’—he sets your table, takes the order, and brings the food, once the invisible chef downstairs has finished doing his/her magic and the bell rings. How cute and retro! The food is, like, seriously good. Oh, damn it, it’s delicious, OK? Because one of us is a vegetarian, we tend to go for the veggie options—malai kofta, devilled paneer, potato and spinach curry, and eggplant curry are favourites, with naan and saffron rice. We once had a thali (me a non-veggie version) and weren’t impressed—so, stick to the menu. Oh, and Kingfisher beer is a must—it’s perfect with the creamy, spicy and fragrant dishes they serve here.
What puzzles me most about this place is just how good a time we seem to have every time we come here. I don’t know—it’s welcoming, and calming (weird, I know), and sort of homey. A place at peace with itself, and with its guests.

In the Beginning...there was Lemongrass

Hello there.

This blog has emerged on a whim from a dinner at Lemongrass in Civic last night where we - myself and my partner - decided that we should use our expensively developed observation skills, cultivated palates, and withering wits to write about our experiences trying to feed ourselves in Canberra.

We are aged somewhere between 25-35, and seem to spend a lot of our spare time collecting, preparing, and consuming food and/or drinks. The plan is to relate our experiences eating in and eating out, and otherwise being consumers of markets, supermarkets, bottle shops, restaurants, fastfood joints, food and booze industry media, in the ACT, or whereever else we might happen to visit. We call Australia home, although we were both born elsewhere. One of us is also a vegetarian, who nonetheless enjoys cheese and a good omelet.

Anyway, introductions aside, last night we went to try the Thai restaurant in Civic, Lemongrass, after years of devotion to Zen Yai, its competitor futher down London Circuit. Having a bit of loyalty to the latter, I at least, had a critical eye, noting divergences from my old favourite. On the whole, Lemongrass did not disappoint, if though it didn't have the same feeling of comforting familiarity. The food was excellent (a vegetarian Pad Thai, and a spicy beef salad), if slightly more expensive than Zen Yai, and the staff were a little too keen to move us along to manage their bookings. Generally, the place also had an older crowd than Zen Yai - more fifty year old plus senior manager types dining with similar looking friends or their kids - than Zen Yai's 20-somethings dressed up for a night out. Overall, it was all very adequate, but didn't really do enough to really make me want to reconsider entrenched habits the next time we feel like Thai.