Three Mothers

Having been somewhat disappointed with Zen Yai lately - our former favourite - we've been looking for a new Thai place in Civic. Last week, having quickly downed a gin and tonic at a clearly private-school-graduate establishment a.k.a. the Hippo, we got hungry, as always (ha ha ha), and decided to try our luck at the Three Mothers.

So, we walked across Garema Place and into a busy and noisy little restaurant, bustling, shall we say, with reasonably happy-looking customers and staff. Blocks of bright fuschia, yellow and green silk (some with the King of Thailand meets Andy Warhol-esque prints) lining the walls grab your attention before anything else - and keep grabbing it throughout the evening.

We were after something quick and straightforward - so had a tofu larb as the veggie option and the panang nua for the carnivore. The menu is extensive (and dishes seem at least a couple of dollars cheaper than the more up-market Thai options in Civic - i.e. Zen Yai and Lemongrass) although somewhat repetitive. What we mean here is that the same sauces, combinations of veggies and herbs make an appearance under different subheadings of 'chicken', 'beef', 'vegetables' - not that there is anything wrong with that... Nonetheless, what we ordered was fragrant and delicious. The presentation could have been more snazzy, although we did appreciate the hand-carved piece of radish in the shape of a rose. For a quick Thai meal before catching a movie, Three Mothers is a good option.

Zen Yai

Unfortunately sometimes good restaurants good bad. Chefs or other key staff move on, ownerships change and production values go downhill. This is even more unfortunate when this happens to one of your favourite places - like for us, Zen Yai.

Whenever we were hungry in and around Civic we used to know that Zen Yai was always there for us with its delicious, moderately-priced Thai food, served by always-friendly staff. Sure, it can be popular and difficult to get a table without booking on a Friday night, but that is saying a lot if that is the worst that can be said about a restaurant.

Basically, the food has suddenly and emphatically gone to rubbish on our two most recent visits, within a few weeks of each other. There had been some rough patches in the past, that later corrected, but they seem in retrospect to be relatively moderate, and there really seems to be a problem now. On our last visit we both ordered Pad Thais - the comparative benchmark for Thai restaurants. Both dishes were 1) thoroughly bland, and 2) short on ingredients, particuarly vegetables, beyond a few sprouts. We mentioned this to the front-of-house staff and asked if there had been changes in the kitchen staff, but were told that the same chef was still there.

Given this quite bizarre turn for the worse, we think we may have to defect to Lemongrass next time around.

Sushi Sushi

Malls and franchises, no matter how hard they try to suggest quality and sophistication, are not often known for their culinary excellence. In the world of eating, certain individual food products aside - typically sweet or preserved things - mass production and homogeneity very, very rarely lend themselves to tasty meals. Against this background, we were happy to recently find Sushi Sushi, in the Canberra Centre.

Located where the Flaschengeist outlet used to be, across from Supabarn and the deli, Sushi Sushi does perhaps as good a sushi experience as could be hoped for from, what we suspect, is a chain, in a mall in a medium-sized Australian city. The food is freshly made (prepared seemingly by Just-In-Time production methods), with the individual rolls not being wrapped in plastic, and the ingredients we've had are also notably fresher than comparable places elsewhere around town.

Unless you really detest sushi, this is probably your best option for a cheap and quick lunch the next time you find yourself in the mall that slowly seems to absorbing Civic piece-by-piece.

Chairman & Yip

Why "Chairman & Yip"? (Why the name, rather than why go there). There must be some quirky historical, possibly literary, connection there. Any suggestions are very welcome here. As to why we were there, and why perhaps you should also go there, read on...

One of us was recently wined and dined at the Chairman & Yip (a fusion - Chinese/ModOZ - restaurant) as part of a pleasant 'business dinner' of sorts, although you never would have guessed it given the limited amount of 'talking shop'. With only three dinner guests (including one of the Always Hungerians), this was a highly unusual, intimate, reflective sort of affair, which Chairman and Yip - food- and atmosphere-wise - only complemented. So, the details then.

We shared three mains and a veggie side, and then had desserts. Trying some of the entrees would have been nice, but it sort of didn't happen (it did happen on another occasion, a few years ago, and they were excellent). The mains we chose this time around were shantung lamb, duck breast on a bed of what tasted very much like chestnuts, and prawns in plum sauce. While I could happily have any of the three again, it was the lamb that stole the show. It was crisp, without being chewy, and spiced just right - fragrant, aniseedy, a little hot and a little sweet, with refreshing slivers of cucumber and leak on top. The duck was also memorable - although the skin could have been crisper... The prawns, while nice, was the dish that perhaps the least justified the $30 (or thereabouts) price tag. The desert I chose was green tea creme brulee and it was perfect (a particularly nice touch was a white cloud of Persian fairy floss perched on the side of the plate). It's the availability of a wide range of delicious desserts that really marks this place as primarily fusion, with the rest of the menu being far more easily identified as excellent Chinese fare.

The waiting staff were some of the best we've ever come across in Canberra - attentive without being overbearing, welcoming without being sycophantic. Just right. Rather than the food per se, we wonder if it is this kind of 'tender love and care' that makes (relatively) expensive meals seem worthwhile (see also previous post on Ottoman)?

Rice Paper

We may have expressed this thought before, but we'll do it again after experiencing further confirmative evidence - if the name of a restaurant features a certain dish, you should probably order that and not be tempted otherwise. Our latest case of this was ordering entrees at Rice Paper, a Vietnamese restaurant in Civic, where the curry puffs turned out to be average, but the rice paper rolls were, of course, delicious.

On that visit and our previous visits the food has generally been pretty good. Among the vegetarian dishes the mushroom and tofu dish is clearly the better option; for meat-eaters we recommend prawns with chili and lemon grass, and the red duck curry with lychees and potato. The soft-shell crab is possibly a little overpriced though, for what it is. The service is generally very friendly, and the carafe wine cheerful - unlike (who we presume is) the owners' son sulking behind the counter. On the wall are photos of opera houses and street scenes from the French colonial period. Whether these represent a certain nostalgia of the owners or are attempts to pander to a possible nostalgia for 19th/early 20th century Western imperialism among the majority of the clientele is, however, somewhat unclear.

Turkish Pide House

In one of Pulp's less well known songs, Jarvis Cocker sings with lament of someone who is "like a friend" to him. At the beginning of the song Jarvis implores the said person to "Don't bother saying you're sorry/why don't you come in/come on in now/wipe your feet on my dreams". As the song develops Cocker runs through a string of critical analogies to this friendship: "the last drink I never should have drunk", "the car I never should have bought", "the party that makes me feel my age", and so on. Clearly, while he is accutely aware of the unreliability of this "like a friend", Cocker is also apparently compelled to forgive them for almost any transgression.

We too perhaps have similar relationships with a couple of restaurants and cafes around Canberra. We continue to go to Izumi freely despite one of us' gripes with the frequently shrinking portions and missing ingredients, and the other's frequently feeling sick afterwards due to the food's greasiness.

Our relationship with the Turkish Pide House can probably be seen in a broadly like vein. In this case the flaw we cannot help but to ignore is the variability of quality of the food we've both eaten in and taken away. At their best, the House's pides are wholey delicious and possibly the cheapest way to feed two people well in Civic for less than $15. At their worst, as we experienced recently, the pides are one or all of undercooked, understuffed, dry, or just plain dull. The "banquet" we once had there was also very mediocre in both food quality and pricing.

To clarify using other pop song staple themes, this is not a tainted love, a hopeless devotion, or an addiction. Rather, despite itself and its perpetual half-emptiness, the Pide House is a friendship of ours that we can't turn our back on, for reasons we can't fully explain. We'll probably take our chances there again.

Happy's

We're not sure why, but apparently the ALP has historically preferred to do much of its business in Chinese restaurants. In one of many instances of this phenomenon that we've come across, in his diaries, Mark Latham, for example, recounts members of his dining party adopting the persona of Kofi Annan and making prank calls to Gareth Evans' farewell dinner across town from the Civic restaurant The Chairman and Yip.

We have no idea if Happy's is likewise popular among Labor officials, but if we were ever to scout locations for a film featuring discrete deals among party heavyweights in a dim restaurant, we're fairly sure we'd put it at the top of our shortlist. Downstairs, off Garema Place in Civic, Happy's is what could be described as a traditional Australian-Chinese restaurant, complete with a giant mural of the Great Wall. Being underground, often slightly crowded - with only one way in or out - and with a few disorientating design oddities (such as the elevated bathrooms), the place has a feel of slight unease and surreptitiousness that perfectly insinuates where we think insider politics ought to be done.

Foodwise, we recall things being pretty good, although typically when we have visited in the past it has generally been in a celebratory mood, with large groups of friends. Similarly, the staff are generally friendly - unless it's 11:00pm on a Monday evening and your party (who have also been the only customers in the restaurant for over an hour) doesn't appear to want to leave any time soon. At about this point, you'll be given a plate of sliced fruit, which is apparently a sign that you should leave very shortly.

Overall, as well as perhaps incongruously transporting us to a world of factional struggles, for us, Happy's otherwise generally lives up to its name when we're looking for Chinese in Civic.

Probably the best subterranean restaurant in Canberra.

Izumi

We've been meaning to write about Izumi for a while, but haven't really had occasion till our motivation was jogged from a visit last week on a evening when we didn't feel like cooking.

Like a lot of other former and present ANU students, Izumi has at times been something of stable stand-by in the feeding of ourselves, being the closest off-campus food outlet, and open in the weekend and evenings. We've eaten there on chilly Canberra winter evenings when the neighbouring carpark seems particularly cold and barren, and at midday in mid-summer, eating Bi Bim Bab while hopelessly trying to swat away the thousands of swarming and fearless black flies.

The food is OK, slightly greasy, but yummy Korean staples. The signage says that it's also a Japanese place, but I've told by people who know the nuances of the these two cuisines that this later claim is really just marketing. In the past things appeared to be overseen by an older couple who we haven't seen for a while - with things now seemingly passed over to students who unfortunately can be a bit surly, and also have had a tendency to cut back on the size of the servings. Overall, while certainly not the-best-place-ever, it compares very favourably to almost anything on offer at the ANU.

Tip Top Gourmet Restaurant

When a VB is the high-point of your meal, and the most prominently printed thing on the menu is the phrase "No added MSG", it should be clear that a place should have been avoided.

Recently, the Always Hungry team was feeling a bit adventurous and walking through Civic decided to try somewhere they had heard nothing about before. In doing so we stumbled upon Tip Top Gourmet Restaurant in Garema Place, upstairs from Clouston's academic remainder bookshop. Upon entering we were a little wary as the place was half-empty on a busy night and the food on the tables of some of the people already there looked a bit average. We decided however to stay - which turned out to be a decision we both regretted.

While the menu was impressive at face value, containing all of our favourites from restaurants in Australia serving dishes in Chinese, Malaysian, and Thai traditions, the execution of these dishes was appalling. Bland sauces, poorly cooked vegetables, and so on. We have never eaten so poorly in Canberra (apart from maybe at the ANU). And while perhaps being on the cheap side, the pricing is certainly not outright cheap.

And the toilets were disgusting.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is a true hidden gem of Northbourne Av eating. Located upstairs and next door to an 'Adults Only' establishment, its discovery requires a certain willingness to get off the beaten track (i.e. to keep walking by Lemongrass, Mezzalira, Zen Yai, etc.). We were first introduced to this rather charming Indian restaurant by a friend with a fondness for joints stashed away from the 'bustling' al fresco hubs of Civic (e.g. he also introduced us to Happy's Chinese Restaurant and The Cube).

Everything about this place is so nicely and competently done that we wouldn't be surprised if it was still here in 20-30 years time. The service is impeccable, the food delicious and promptly delivered, and the prices just right. We have now sampled a few dishes and really like the vegetarian malai kofta, lamb madras, and chicken korma. Dahl is available as a cheap and yummy side dish, and the chapati (roti) bread is excellent. The true Taj Mahal secret, however, may be in its soothing and intimate atmosphere - the background music and the decor are tasteful and the lighting soft without being seedy.

Taj Mahal, you should be proud of yourself.

Asian Noodle House (Northbourne Ave)

The Asian Noodle House in the Sydney Building in Civic is a bit of a mixed bag. It has a few quirks that detract from it, but at the same time it excels in providing what its name suggests - noodles cooked in an Asian tradition.

Although many places offer meals associated with perhaps one or two countries, the Asian Noodle House is a little unusual in being explicitly pan-South-East Asian and doing a good job of it (i.e. on the menu are Thai, Malaysian/Singaporean, Vietnamese, Lao, and Chinese dishes). One of us had the Kwangtong noodles, the other a Laksa - and both were very tasty (although I would have felt the noodles would be a small serve if one was reasonably hungry).

However, the service was a little slow for a quiet Sunday evening, and some apparent simmering mother/daughter front-of-house tension made for a bit of a weird tone. Also, we had differing views on the entrees, with the quality of the tofu blocks and spring rolls being debatable.

Overall, as a parting thought, we would suggest that the place is possibly not called the Asian Entree House for a reason - stick to the noodles.

Pizza = La Posada (Not La Porchetta)

I really like pizza. It's not only yummy, it's also super easy to make - and to make it well. This is especially true if you stay away from apricots, tandoori chicken, and pineapple (sorry all you Hawaiian fans out there) and stick to the few basic ingredients, such as good quality bocconcini, some basil, and a tomato base with plenty of garlic, pepper and olive oil. Although I make my own pizza bases (using spelt flour - you may cringe at its hippy connotations, but it tastes delicious), even store bought bases can be OK if treated with some forethought (i.e. a really hot oven).

Anyway, the point of all this is that if I'm going to pay someone else to make a pizza for me then I expect, well, awesomeness. At La Posada (Civic), awesome pizza it is. This cute and cozy restaurant may also do a good job of pasta, risotto, etc. - but we wouldn't know. Having received some insider advice early on to stick with pizza, that's exactly what we've done. Some of our favourites are gorgonzola (I know I made a rather 'purist' pizza statement only a paragraph ago, but blue cheese really works on this one), veggie deluxe and chorizo. I won't go into the whole thick crust/thin crust thing - suffice it to say, the crust is just as it should be. Also, we highly recommend the chilli bread (a spicy alternative to the usual garlic/herb varieties) and the orange pudding for dessert, if there's any space left. Speaking of space, one large pizza ($20) should be plenty for two adults - it is, as the name suggests, large.

Not that this should be seen as something unusual and therefore worth mentioning, but the staff there are just so damn good - it's kinda hard to explain, but I think we've decided that they treat us like people, rather than customers, if you know what I mean.

Oh, and it's not that I have anything against La Porchetta, but you can do so much better...

Gus's

Gus's is something of a celebrity among cafes in the Canberra hospitality cosmos. It's reputation as fashionable and superior is often quickly communicated to newcomers and visitors to the city. It even has its own Wikipedia page, repeating the locally well-known battles of the original Gus-from-Vienna in establishing outdoor eating at his venue (the page also suggests that the original Gus has long moved on (presumably) to al fresco dining in the sky). However, it is the contention of the Always Hungrys that like most celebrities, it is usually a disappointing experience when they are encountered in person.

Whatever the merits of Gus's in the past, it is clearly now no longer a leader among Canberra's cafes. This decline is both relative - i.e. in part due to the existance of many superior alternatives - as well when simply compared to the Gus's of a couple years ago.

An analogy with major fast food chains might be fruitfully made. The menu is predictable - in this case, stock-in-trade Australasian cafe food (mushrooms on toast, wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce, generic pasta dishes, and so on). Often, it would appear that they are prepared without a noticebly high level of care. Further, to stretch Haywood's observation below that the only acceptable substitute for good beer is very cheap beer, the food is not particuarly cheap - being priced at standard Canberra cafe levels (i.e. you could eat at the apex of local daytime eating, Silo, in Kingston, for around the same money). In sum, as with major fast food chains, one is probably going to be served food that only the young and callow are likely to be uncritically satisfied with.

To be clear, this is not to suggest the current Gus's is any worse than an all-too-large number of Canberra cafes, rather, that you can probably do better.

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.