These are the best restaurants across the state, as reviewed for our annual Restaurant Guide.
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Pilot | Ainslie
Pilot needs no “for Canberra” addendum. This clever and sophisticated dégustation restaurant, somewhat camouflaged by a minimal concrete-floored fit-out and quiet suburban location, would be impressive wherever it washed up, kicking goals with its original food, warm and careful service and wine list emphasising the skill and creativity of Australian makers. There’s dreaminess and humour in a snack of “reverse fish and chips” where crackers made from blue mackerel are served with a soft, warm potato dip flavoured with lemon and fresh herbs. There’s simple precision, too, evidenced by slices of textbook barbecued rib-eye or the glistening lemon-thyme glaze adorning an ovation-worthy caramel-apple terrine. A Sri Lankan-style green mango and mud crab curry served in a hopper, meanwhile, proves the kitchen’s deft touch with seasoning, just as a sesame-spangled spanakopita scroll and an excellent pretzel accompanied by crème fraîche attest to its baking cred. Gratifying stuff from one of Australia’s best.
Bar Rochford is a masterclass in balance, here for the party but bringing a level of food, booze and service that’s truly special. Sure, the pared-back, concrete-floored space can get raucous, but the pitch-perfect vinyl soundtrack (Grace Jones, Fleetwood Mac, reggae and dub) makes hubbub integral to the experience. It mirrors the menu of wine-friendly food – grill-striped bread topped with anchovies and caper-forward sauce gribiche; deftly cooked and smoky beef tongue skewers; orecchiette tossed with cavolo nero, parmesan and punchy Calabrian chilli – that has the flavour volume turned to 11. Then again, the cracking drinks list might just be Rochford’s raison d’être, highlighting artisan makers from across the globe alongside concise, considered collections of everything from sherry and Armagnac to amaro and Madeira. A cherry and frangipane tart proves there’s good sweet stuff, too, yet the endearing attitude might just be sweetest of all: a perfect calibration of welcoming and cool.
barrochford.com
Australian
First Floor, 65 London Cct, Canberra
(02) 6230 6222
Price guide $
Bookings Recommended
Wheelchair access No
Open Dinner Tue-Sat
Mu Omakase| Canberra
Be warned: access to this Japanesque 10-seater is through suave Cicada Bar, a lush purveyor of precise cocktails that may encourage staying put and skipping dinner. That would be a mistake. Mu’s finely tuned 12-course menu, based on the Japanese omakase tradition and served at a timber-topped counter, delivers an array of small jewels both subtle – glistening swordfish sashimi lifted with fennel and preserved lemon – and robust – a drunken king prawn soaked in Chinese yellow wine, lolling in rich lobster bisque. Rockstar ingredients abound, from deeply marbled wagyu beef to yellowfin tuna and Patagonian toothfish, but striking flavour combinations rightfully hog the spotlight, such as duck udon spiked with smoky lapsang souchong tea, or squid “noodles” seasoned with salty anchovy foam. Throw in excellent service and a deep cut of small-producer sake, and what you get is an omakase that may not adhere to tradition but very much knows how to please.
Onzieme’s name and clean-lined fit-out – bentwood furniture, glass partitions scribbled with the daily-changing menu – might suggest Parisian bistro, but it’s actually a quintessential modern Australian diner, mixing global influences with quality ingredients grown and produced nearby. Take a deftly spiced and textured mutton kibbeh nayeh, topped with an egg yolk and served with pickled turnips, which shares menu space with precision-cooked kingfish skewers dressed in deep-flavoured yuzu sambal or crisp-fried enoki fritters with sweet-salty miso mayo. There’s a rustic honesty to the cooking here, so much of it wood-fired, but there’s also finesse, in sweet little roasted carrots lifted by an addictive peanut chipotle sauce, say, or a crunchy-edged potato galette finished with salmon roe. It’s an approach mirrored in the charmingly relaxed but focused service and the wine list embracing minimal intervention, perfect for the kitchen’s smoky moves. As for your pre- or post-dinner moves? Hit up Onzieme’s basement bar 11e Cave.
The funky, punky younger sibling of Canberra’s renowned Pilot knows how to have fun. That might mean setting off flavour explosions by chucking well-seasoned steak tartare on an excellent anchovy and sage cruller. Or creating fusion sensation with the tzatziki-esque tartare sauce served with fried prawn cutlets. Or staffing the joint with servers as humorously eccentric as they are efficient. Eclectic interiors heighten the mood – terrazzo floor, coloured lights, witty art, green bouclé and timber detailing – as does the drinks list, amusingly annotated and packed with treasures from the organic, low-intervention wine world and thoughtful non-alc alternatives. The section of the menu loosely dedicated to pastas and dumplings (carbolicious pierogis plump with potatoes, chicken-stuffed momos) deserves a standing ovation, as do the crumpet-like sourdough flatbread smeared with salty toum and the pork cutlet, perfectly cooked over charcoal and amplified by a sweet and sour sauce. Good times, big flavours, happy campers.
