A beautiful view from Canberra Airport

Mr Shabu Shabu

Mr Shabu Shabu

I had heard about Mr Shabu Shabu from my friend Est, she said that their Ramen was really good.  I thought that there was only one place to get Ramen in Canberra that wasn’t from a chain (Wagamama), Tasuke.  But I fought the cold wind and rain and stepped outside my office in search of a bowl of steaming ramen.  I just hoped that the broth would be up to scratch.  When I got to Mr Shabu Shabu I was surprised at how well put together the place was.  It was warm and cosy with a cute trendy feel to it.

They had a great menu that was reasonably priced. It featured Sushi, Noodles, Shabu Shabu and Ramen.   I ordered the Curry Tonkatsu Ramen and it was great.  The broth was full and flavoursome, the pork chop wasn’t over cooked and it was well seasoned.  All in all a great Ramen for the $12.90 I paid for it.  I’d definitely go back and try some of the other things on the menu.

Curry Tonkatsu Ramen

Guacamole

I made this for my housemates for our weekly pool and beer sesh on Friday. They loved it. One of my housemates liked it so much that he asked me for the recipe. It was a little slap dash and I can’t say that it was authentic but it did taste good. I generally like my guac to be a little on the chunky side but you can always blend it if you like yours smooth.

1 ½ ripe avocados
1 lime – juice only
½ medium tomato chopped very finely
½ spanish onion chopped very finely
1 tsp Tabasco
1 tsp sweet paprika
½ handful of chopped coriander leaves
Salt to taste

1) Mash the avocado until it is smooth with a fork.
2) Add all of the other ingriedents and mix until well combined.
3) Serve with corn chips or crusty bread.

Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

My friend C’s parents are avid gardeners. They had given C a huge organically grown broccoli. So, C and I decided that we would have a broccoli dinner to celebrate this huge vegetable.

I decided to make something different and given that Winter is nearly over I thought it would be great opportunity to make a smooth creamy soup.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos for this recipe.  I hadn’t charged the battery of my camera up.

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil
1 large onion
2 large potatoes, cut in large pieces
500g broccoli, cut in pieces
2L chicken stock
125mL fresh cream
150g blue cheese, cubed

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pot and saute the onion
2. Add the potatoes and broccoli and cook for 4 minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil.
4. Reduce heat and cook for another 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are well cooked.
5. Use a blender to blend all the ingredients.
6. Add the fresh cream and the blue cheese and stir well on low heat until the blue cheese has melted into the mixture.
7. Serve soup garnished with pieces of blue cheese and toasted sour dough bread.

This soup is very easy to make and the results are great.  With very little effort you get a soup that is very impressive and a little bit gourmet.  The only thing is that you have to make sure that your guests like blue cheese.  People generally have a love/hate relationship with it.

Black Pepper – Belconnen

So Josh and I decided that we would go to Black Pepper for the second time in a row. It was so good the first time that we thought we had to come back and do a proper review of it. Black Pepper is on the banks of Lake Ginniderra and on an Autumn Sunday morning its a great place to start your day/afternoon. The food is great, presentation and value for money are amongst the main reasons why this restaurant is so busy during the weekend, even though the location isn’t the most convenient. I have also found that the staff are extremely accommodating and friendly. When Josh and I went to grab a table outside there weren’t any available so the staff quickly put one together for us. This is very rare for a busy restaurant in Canberra.

So on to the food….

I had the Black Pepper Vege Brekky which came with poached eggs with roast mushrooms, grilled tomato, pumpkin & olive roesti, asparagus, charred capsicum and spinach and a standard coffee. I also got sausages on the side so that I didn’t feel vegetarian 🙂

Everything on this plate was cooked to perfection. The eggs were softly poached with the yolk runny but with the whites completely cooked through. However the pumpkin and olive roesti was the stand out for me and I’m definitely going to try and recreate them at home.

Josh got the Black Pepper Brekky with poached eggs, bacon, chorizo sausage, roast mushrooms, grilled tomato & potato roesti , on farmhouse toast with a standard coffee. Josh was really happy with his breakfast the eggs were cooked to his liking and the mushrooms were full of flavour and cooked through

Ratings out of 10

Atomosphere – 8 – Out in a sunny courtyard where you aren’t too cramped and don’t fee l the rush to leave. You can easily spend a few hours there with a good cuppa and the paper.

Staff – 8 1/2 – Fantastic service, the staff were more than willing to go out of their way to give us exceptional services.

Food Presentation – 7 1/2 – The food looked appealing and was presented well.

Food – 8 1/2 – The food was fresh and well cooked. The roesti, the mushrooms and the asparagus were some of the features that made the Black Pepper breakfast unique.

Price – $$

I would definitely go to Black Pepper again to try their champagne breakfast.

Black Pepper – 1 Beissel St, Belconnen, ACT 2617

Eating and Cooking in Canberra

I have decided to start a blog about places to eat in Canberra.  I have been following many food blogs from around the world and have often looked for a blog that I can follow about good places to eat in Canberra.  So seeing that weren’t very many I thought that I would start one of my own.  This food blog will not only be about the places I eat but also things that I cook at home.  There will be recipes and photos and stories of great times to be had by all.  

One thing that will be an institution on this blog will be Sunday Breakfast with Josh, these posts will feature a new place each week.