Canberra Good Food Month has announced the line up for its Friends of Good Food Month and Let’s Do Lunch events.
Each year, Good Food Month invites Canberra’s best restaurants to curate and host unique experiences to showcase their culinary excellence. The 2019 event series features everything from weekend brunches at hatted restaurants to chef collaborations and sustainable degustation dinners.
Let’s Do Lunch also returns, with lunch at Canberra’s Good Food Guide hatted restaurants offered for a specially curated price of $45 including a glass of wine, beer or soft drink.
The Friends of Good Food Month series includes events at restaurants such as Temporada, Eightysix and Courgette.
The hats:
Temporada | Temporada x Terra: 6 and 19 March
A two-night collaboration between Terra (meaning land) and Temporada (meaning season). The produce kings form Terra (6 March) and Ben Willis’ Temporada (19 March) will offer a set menu with matching wines, specially designed by the chefs to celebrate Good Food Month.
Eightysix | Weekend Brunch: every weekend in March
Chef Gus Armstrong will turn his hand to brunches every weekend in March at the six-year-old Canberra institution.
Courgette | A Taste of Courgette: 12-3pm every day
This hatted Canberra restaurant will be serving up a four-course tasting menu that best showcases Courgette’s love of simplicity and freshness.
Temporada | Burger + Beer Power Lunch: every weekday in March
The Burger + Beer Power Lunch offers up Temporada’s wood-grilled, grass-fed beef cheeseburger, and a tap beer for only $24.
Other friends:
Parlour | Reducing Our Ecological Footprint: 28 March
Focused on how to live a sustainable life in Canberra, this event is hosted by Parlour, situated in the bustling cultural precinct New Acton. Guests will be treated to a three-course degustation menu featuring local and seasonal produce, together with interesting and engaging talks by Canberra-based environment and sustainability industry leaders.
Pilot | Babyface x Pilot: 30 and 31 March
Chef Andy Burns of Wollongong’s Babyface is coming to Canberra for one dinner and one lunch to collaborate with Pilot’s chef Malcolm Hanslow. Babyface epitomises what is happening in the modern Australian kitchen, with sustainably sourced aquaculture and the highest quality cuts of meats prepared in their legendary onsite smokehouse. Hanslow, who was shortlisted as one of the Josephine Pignolet Young Chefs of the Year, brings his skills from working at hatted restaurants such as Oscillate Wildly, Ester and Automata to Pilot.
Agostinis | Pranzo Italiano, every day in March
Throughout March, Agostinis is offering a selection of their house-made pasta or pizzas to enjoy with fresh salad and a glass of TAP wine (they are on a mission to prevent bottles going to landfill).
Tipsy Bull | Three Martini Lunch: 31 March
Guests will be served a three-course lunch experience, featuring plates from Tipsy Bull’s extensive tasting menu, perfectly complemented with three martinis created by their resident mixologist.
Canberra Wine Week | Launch Tasting Festival: 30 March
Good Food Month is celebrating the launch of Canberra District’s Wine Week with more than 50 wines on offer at the annual Wine Tasting event — hosted in the courtyard at New Acton. From 2pm to 6pm, guests can collect the Canberra Wines ‘Tasting Glass’ and embark on a taste of their ‘liquid geography’.
Lilotang | Lilo/Bar Happy Hour: Tuesday-Friday in March
To celebrate Good Food Month, Lilo/Bar will be serving up happy hour specials every day after work from 5pm to 6.30pm, Tuesday through Friday. Guests can drop in for a Japanese-inspired cocktail, the wide range of stunning wines, sake and beers – all served alongside bar snacks from the Lilotang kitchen.
RAKU | Modern Classic Degustation: 4-6, 11-13, 18-20 and 25-27 March
Showcasing the experience of chef Hao Chen and his talented team, this special tasting menu for Good Food Month has been crafted to show guests a selection of dishes influenced by both tradition and modernism.
Chifley’s Bar & Grill | The Butchers Block: every day in March
Sourcing locally produced cuts straight throughout March, internationally renowned executive head chef Saju Rajappan will then use his expertise to cook these cuts to perfection.
National Arboretum Canberra | The Master and Apprentices: 14 March
A one-off night to celebrate the mastery of Cheong Liew’s cooking through an evening of canapes and a four-course dinner with matched wines. Liew has been honoured as one of the ten hottest chefs alive by the American Food & Wine Magazine and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the World Food Media Awards. He was also awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours “for service to the food and restaurant industry through involvement in developing and influencing the style of contemporary Australian cuisine.”
Sage Dining Rooms | OzHarvest for Good Food Week: 5-9 March
Sage believes that everyone should have access to good food, so for Good Food Month, they are partnering with Australia’s leading food rescue charity, OzHarvest! Between 5 and 9 February, Sage Dining Rooms will be donating 25 percent from each meal sold to help bring good food to those who need it most.
Marble & Grain | Beef Tasting Board: every night in March
Enjoy a very special beef tasting board throughout Good Food Month, available every night throughout March. This special dinner will feature four different cuts and styles of premium beef as a main to share between two people.
Marble & Grain | Lunch with Wally Masur: 23 March
In partnership with Tennis ACT, Marble & Grain are bringing Canberra Lunch with Wally Masur, as he shares his stories and advice over a three course lunch in Marble & Grain’s warm and inviting space.
Monster Kitchen & Bar | Curley Flatt’s: French Saloon Meets the Monster
This collaboration will result in a four-course menu and canapes designed by Ian Curley of French Saloon and Daniel Flatt of Monster Kitchen & Bar. Each course will be served with matching wines by winemaker Matt Harrod from Curly Flat wines.
Capitol Bar & Grill | Three’s Company
Capitol Bar & Grill are inviting QT executive chefs from around the country to join forces and create a four-course feasting menu and collision of flavours that is built to share. Exclusively designed and served by QTs chefs, the menu will feature dishes from QT Sydney’s Michael Box, QT Perth’s Nic Wood, and QT Canberra’s Josh Smith-Thirkell. This exclusive dining experience will be matched with wines from the award-winning Canberra cool climate wine district.