Digress Restaurant & Lounge

We were at Digress Restaurant & Lounge for a Christmas work dinner - a place that was highly recommended by the manager. We were greeted by two Asian-looking lion statues at the entrance before heading downstairs where the restaurant and the lounge are. The restaurant is dimly lit to create a more relaxing environment (but not too good for photo-taking) with the wall recesses adorned with vases in a simplistic manner and tables neatly presented with purple tablecloths. Forgot to mention that Digress' specialty is to serve Italian and Indian fusion dishes which i thought would be quite an interesting combination to try. 

The menu offers a lot of choices which made it hard to decide, so we ordered a Naan Basket and some Mozzarella & Paneer Fritters to start with. The naan basket came with 3 different types of naan: fetta naan, sundried tomato naan and garlic naan. The fetta naan was quite nice with the gooey and yummy centre but my favorite was still the garlic naan.

The mozzarella and panner fritters were lovely - nice and crispy on the outside with a soft and melt-in-your mouth texture inside. It came with a jalapeño aioli which gave it a nice kick too. 

Kindle Cafe & Catering

I must confess that I didn't know the existence of Kindle Cafe & Catering (Shop 10, 240 City Walk, Civic, tel: (02) 6169 6169) until a friend, who utterly loves this place, told me about it. You can't really physically see Kindle Cafe when you are walking past and you wouldn't know about it unless you take a detour upon seeing the blackboard sign, if you see it. You should definitely check Kindle Cafe out if you haven't done so and you will certainly be surprised when you find it. It's not your typical looking cafe but a very petite cafe which has vibrant coloured walls and beautiful comfy Victorian-styled couches. The walls are adorned with posters, you have foliage drapping on top of the blackboard specials and a Victorian lamp near the kitchen opening. Everything fits in so well that makes the whole place just nice and welcoming. The staff is very friendly and attentive...ohn, and i like how they serve water with slices of cucumber in it, very refreshing indeed.

Sage Restaurant

Located in the quiet surrounds of Braddon in the 1920's heritage building Gorman House is Sage Restaurant. You don't immediately see the restaurant as there is a garden bar just outside it - the 'Mint Garden Bar' (same owner)- which serves an array of cocktails and canapes. Going past the garden we manage to make our way into the restaurant which has a cozy and welcoming atmosphere. Sage is understated but it has subtle hints of French elegance that sets the right tone for the start of a good dining experience. More exciting fact is that the new head chef, Clement Chauvin, used to work at a few Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe. Quite promising, we thought.

We chose to go with the 4-course meal ($80) which was enough to try most of the menu without being too full. We started with some House Baked Bread Roll served with Sage Butter which was nice but we were wondering why it wasn't complimentary like in most fine dining places.

A weekend in Canberra?

Here is the article that I wrote for Tiger Airlines Magazine, Tiger Tales, for their July - August Issue. It gives you a rough idea of what to do, where to eat and visit if you are coming to the capital for the weekend! Of course, there are many more good places to eat...drop me an e-mail if you would like some more suggestions.

Farmer's Daughter

I came across this newly added cafe in Yarralumla, Farmer's Daughter, when i read its review from a local magazine. 'Quite promising' - i thought, so i quickly looked through my schedule book to see when it was the next free weekend and scribbled 'Visit FM' down.

The day finally arrived and we went to Farmer's Daughter for brunch. It was a beautiful day but we ended up sitting inside because a table was just being vacated. The cafe is not big but it surely utilizes its space quite well with the kitchen and the coffee counter compacted at the back and the rest of the cafe, eating area of course. We sat down at a table bench, which was lovely adorned with some fresh white lilies, and were given a clipboard with the breakfast menu attached to it. It took us a while to choose but we ended up ordering the 'No Ordinary Soldiers', the 'Poached Eggs' and a lovely cup of Red African Hot Chocolate. 

 Cool and edgy bottle of water!