Tips for coffee and hanging out in Canberra

Lonsdale Street in Braddon is a great place to hang out for a coffee or browse the quirky retail shops.  Its an area in flux as building takes place, so the complex below

27 Lonsdale street is home to a complex of pop up shops and restaurants, from nic nacs, clothese, 2nd hand/vintage.  A good place to browse.

Sweet Bones, http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/344/1720944/restaurant/ACT/Canberra/Sweet-Bones-Bakery-Cafe-Braddon

 Lots of gluten free and sweet treats.  Food OK, coffee OK.
 

However, I am told by my friends who live locally that Lonsdale St Roasters is this place to grab a coffee.  Judging by the queue, I am not surprised.

There are a couple of other places along the street that look worth checking out for a coffee and a bit to eat.
 

More shopping around on Lonsdale Street.
Other more mall like shopping is not that far away at the Canberra Centre.  The usual range of shops, from Big W, through to Zara and Hugo Boss.  So something for everyone.

Lots of cafes and restaurants in the precinct surrounding the Mall.  http://www.canberracentre.com.au/

Further afield is Manuka, which has arcade and laneways.  Paperchain bookshop is really worth a visit http://www.manukastyle.com.au/about-manuka

This is a great little thin crust pizza place, woodfired and v. reasonable.  Not too many tables and rather busy.

At 23 Lonsdale Street, Braddon, open in the evenings.

Review from SMH

Then onto a totally different suburb, Maple and Clove,
Realm Precinct in Barton.

A little grass courtyard.  This restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I wouldn't make a special trip to visit.  OK food and coffee, menu sounds good, but seems to lack "love". Dry bacon, that still managed to remain greasy, it had the feel, taste and smell of pre made hotel buffet food.  I had two lattes which tasted totally different.  One was Ok, but the second barely drinkable.  However, location is nice. 

Eating in London

After a few years away from London we were pleasantly surprised by the explosion of fantastic places to eat, both high and low budget.

Here are a few we would definitely visit again. 

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal - www.dinnerbyheston.com

Dinner

We couldn't afford the Fat Duck, so we opted for a Heston fix, by a visit to Dinner.

We weren't disappointed. The meal we had was delicious.

This is the famous meat fruit. Definitely worth eating.




Al Boccon di'vino Non Solo Vina Ltd

Al Boccon di'vino Non Solo Vino ltd  www.nonsolovinoltd.co.uk/

Course after course, keeps coming to the table.  Once you take your seat, a Venetian feast is served.  Apparently modelled along the lines of an Italian wedding banquet.

This restaurant is in Richmond.  This is our main course, by this stage we were totally stuffed, having already had pasta, antipasto and more.

I think going for lunch would be a good idea, as you could at least try to walk it off.

Hansen and Lydersen www.hansen-lydersen

Street food from the markets.  Malby Street on a Saturday.

This is just one of the many tastes on offer.

Lots of food to grab on the go. From jamon to Norwegian salmon, cheeses and jams.

Polpo www.polpo.co.uk

Polpo.  This was one of our favourites, the Soho restaurant was friendly and the food was fresh and delicious.

One catch is that there are no reservations.


Noodle Oodle for a cheap and cheerful bite to eat, just outside the borders of Chinatown.  Hand pulled noodles www.noodleoodle.com.  Its not that far from the British Museum.

Campania -no website

Bethnal Green

95 Columbia Rd
Bethnal Green, UK E2 7RG

Campania is at the end of Columbia Road.

Southern Italian food: the owner and the majority of the staff hail from Naples.

The inside is small with rustic mismatched furniture.  Staff are friendly and it is frantic.
Simple, short menu.  Great fresh food.

Finally, last but not least, was Ev Restaurant, this is a chain of Anatolian restaurants.  However the restaurant itself did not feel or look like part of a chain.

Food was fresh and delicious.  this restaurant was tucked away at the back of Waterloo and felt like a find for locals.  Large outdoor eating area and also atmospheric restaurant with railway arches.
Ev Restaurant

Saturday food trek around Maltby Street

A browse around the backstreets, Neils Yard, The Butchery, Monmouth, Kernel Brewery and more, than on to Maltby Street for more food grazing.

Monmouth Coffee - my tour guides Phil & Annie, 

experts on all the tastiest and most stylish places to eat in London

Monmouth Coffee Company, 34 Maltby Street

This only happens on a Saturday in London.  My favourite day of the week in London.

It's a much more relaxed vibe than Borough markets and only a short walk away.

You need a good map if you are going on this food trek. Don't expect sign posting. 

You will encounter people clutching their maps disappearing down alleyways and under railway arches.

I am not sure if this map will help you.  MAP AND INFO  But if you can find your way around, you can graze your way from coffee to cake, to cheese and antipasto plate washed down with micro brewery beer or a gin.  It's a delicious way to explore London's South East.

The Butchery

The Butchery Ltd, 1 Rope Walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kernel Brewery

The Kernel Brewery, 1 Rope Walk

 

More on Melbourne

One of the best things about Melbourne is finding new places to eat in places you might never expect.  Cookies is a good example of this, located in Curtin House, the entrance looks like the front of a gig venue, which I think it is as well.

It is home to a range of restaurants, plus a rooftop bar and open air cinema.  Shame the lift doesn't work after 7pm.

Cookies is at 252 Swanston Street, very Golden book in decor.  Image is from some of the wall decorations. 

Food is tasty and it has that great Melbourne vibe.

Huge range of beers and you could spend a while reading the wine list, which is hefty.  Food is Thai influenced.  Definitely worth a trip.

Cookies

Another place we tried, (still carrying on with the Asian theme and in the groove of bunnies and rabbits.  The icons seem to be all over town, even down to the busker who was wearing a rabbit outfit), was Chin Chin.  Visit the website and you'll see what I mean.

This is a tad more upmarket and indeed, extremely popular.  No reservations taken and when we rocked up on a Friday night the wait time for a table was 2 hours.

However, we were offered a seat at the bar, which suited us perfectly.  You can have lots of little tasting plates and if you can't make a decision they'll choose for you.

Asian theme with Thai influences and it felt a tad Malaysian as well.  We had kingfish sashimi, dumplings and a massaman curry with roti, so we really toured the Asian region.

Chin Chin, 125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.

I'd definitely be happy to return to both of these restaurants.

Also, another place to grab a bite to eat before a show is My Mexican cousin which is adjacent or inside the Melbourne Recital Hall.  Cnr of Sturt Street and Southbank Boulevard.

Another place where they don't take reservations, unless there are more than 4.  My friend tells me they can be table nazis here.

They serve Mexican influenced food.  We had some rice and a chicken curry and whilst we thought it was pricey, really these two dishes could have fed two people quite easily. 

A good option for a pre or post theatre bite.

Restaurants and shopping Buenos Aires

El cortijo
Santiago del Estero 20, Cap. Fed

An old fashioned, very good value restaurant. In particular the daily specials are worth checking out.

Vegetable soup of the day for only 5 pesos.
We had a meal with people having steaks, wine, beer etc. For 10 the bill was 415 pesos.

Definitely worth a visit.

Mundana
Beautiful jewellery at this shop. Locations at 5 different places around Buenos Aires
http://www.mundana.accesorios.com.ar/

Bits and pieces from Bueos Aires

Fantastic city, even though it has been freezing cold and raining.

We have spent time in Palermo. A great place to wander around if you like shopping, the interiors are like works of art themselves

Had lunch at Bar 6, Amenia 1676, Palermo
www.barseis.com

Ultra cool place to hang.

Had dinner at Sattua, vegetarian restaurant
Montevideo 446, BA
www.sattva.com.ar
An atmospheric quirky kind of place, great veggie food, we recommend the tacos, rice was good.

Tonight we had the most amazing buffet and grill at a place called
Brasas Argentinas
Alicia Moreau de Justo 1108
Puerto Madero
Reservas al 4331 4386

They had the usual buffet, plus chefs making fresh pastas, seafood and meat grills, sushi, parrilla and we were just too stuffed to have dessert. We went at peak time ie Friday night and paid $35 each for loads of food, beer and wine and as we said, we were too stuffed to move afterwards.

We love the Argentinian way, if three people order a bottle of wine, the wine gets poured in one go into all three glasses.

Hotel Tribeca
Downtown BA - good location, big rooms, great place to stay

Disfida Restaurant

In my newfound infatuation with Haberfield we went to Disfida this week.

109 Ramsay Street
Haberfield
02 9798 8299

We had a great meal here. Starters were mussels, caprese salad and venetian sardines.

We then shared a couple of pizzas one with prosciutto and one with fresh tomatoes which were pretty good.

The service was great, attentive, efficient. Total bill was $102 with one glass of wine. By the way really good wine list.

We'll definitely be going back Joanne

Kawa, Surry Hills

On what is fast becoming the very trendy part of Crown street, full of posh fresh food with Thomas Dux and a specialist butcher.

This is a welcoming, nook in the Crown Street landscape. Tables outside or an air conditioned space inside. Very friendly staff.

The feel is healthy and organic, but not overly so. Fresh juices here and good coffee.

As you can see my meal was huge. I had corned beef salad with hash browns, beetroot and other good things. Sandy had the big breakfast, which he didn't think was huge, but it was a decent size. He had poached eggs, which were on the point of just becoming solid. Personally I prefer my poached eggs runny, but I guess that is personal preference.

Reasonable prices that fit within the food trek budget. There is a surcharge on Sundays and public holidays.

They are open all day and also do some dinners.
346-350 Crown Street
Surry Hills 2010
9331 6811

Joanne
www.placesandspaces.com.au

Kammadhenu

This one had been recommended by Bobby Singh and Ben Walsh. They sometimes perform music upstairs.

The masala dosa was nearly as big as Arran.



The food was really yummy and lots of it.

Great value here in Newtown where we had mango lassi, 3 dosas, a beer and a soft drink for $38.

Kammadhenu
377a King Street
Newtown
9557 2186



Joanne
www.ceressolutions.com.au