Canberra’s top ten restaurants 2014

Aubergine

In the capable hands of Ben Willis and his enthusiastic staff, this suburban gem is posh, polished and not without a touch of sass, too.

Read our full review of Aubergine.

Eightysix

In hip city-side Braddon, audacious Eightysix is the dining equivalent of social media.

Read our full review of Eightysix.

Italian & Sons

Order the porchetta alla Romana before you get your coat off. It goes fast. Battle your way down the long, narrow room to be near the wood-fired oven.

Read our full review of Italian & Sons.

Pulp Kitchen

There’s a touch of the wolf in sheep’s clothing to Pulp Kitchen this year. It looks every bit the café-cum-casual-eatery its thoroughly suburban locale would suggest.

Read our full review of Pulp Kitchen.

Water’s Edge

Duck à l’orange, passionfruit soufflé, beef tartare and prawn cocktail – is chef Clement Chauvin still living in the ’70s? In spirit, maybe, but not judging by technique.

Read our full review of Water’s Edge.

Sage

Sage’s culinary identity has settled somewhere between paddock-to-plate simplicity and Michelin-starred molecularism.

Read our full review of Sage.

Courgette

The carpeted and cosseted dining room of Courgette is a reassuring one. Patrons are assured an intimate evening of soft lighting and low decibels.

Read our full review of Courgette.

The Boat House by the Lake

There’s a disturbance in the force along Lake Burley Griffin. A troop of siphon-wielding young chefs has stormed Canberra’s lakeside bastion of safe function food, transforming plates visually and conceptually with the measured use of a modern culinary toolkit.

Read our full review of The Boat House by the Lake.

Mocan & Green Grout

Sean McConnell, while not short on advice from brother Andrew, floats on his own culinary cloud.

Read our full review of Mocan & Green Grout.

Malamay

We’re guessing the name refers to ma and la: the interplay between the numbing quality of Sichuan pepper and the burn of chilli.

Visit the Malamay website.