Warning: You should not read this if on a diet. No clean eating here.
When you’re having one of those days where you need something fatty and oh so bad…here’s a list in no particular order of Canberra’s Best Fat Feeds.
1. Mr Papa’s Chanchito – the juiciest and most delicious thickly cut pork belly stuffed in a burger with sweet potato. You need this in your life.
2. Smoque’s waffles – whether it be fried chicken and waffles with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, or peanut butter, bananas, bacon and maple syrup, this is artery clogging stuff. Note: waffles are only available at Smoque Woden.
3. Chez Kimchi’s fried chicken – offering 14 types of fried chicken, Chez Kimchi coats their fried chicken in gangjung – a Korean rice cookie made of puffed rice, honey, peanuts and sesame seeds, as well as serving regular fried chicken. Half portions are available if you want to get through all 14 quickly!
4. Chilli jam soft shell crab from Kinn Thai – delicious crab covered in crunchy batter with special homemade chilli jam sauce. A powerful combination of flavours. Good portion size and highly enjoyable.
5. The Croissant French toast from Penny University. I’ve tasted different versions of this from PU, and all are just as delicious and truly indulgent. The last version on offer was the Banoffee croissant French toast with banana, crushed peanuts, vanilla whipped mascarpone, caramel popcorn, salted caramel and shaved chocolate.
6. Smoked burrata at Joe’s Bar – this burrata cheese is so soft with the middle of the cheese oozing out when cut in half so it spreads easily on bread. Hint: Have it with some Nduja – the mild milky cheese takes the heat away from the Nduja, which in turn adds some flavour to the mellow cheese.
7. Kusina’s all you can eat Mondays – for $22 per person, you can indulge in all you can eat fried chicken wings, crispy pork belly (lechon kawaii), marinated pork belly (inihaw na liempo), marinated spring chicken (chicken inasai), unlimited rice, papaya salad and soft drinks. Only available Mondays and you must finish each plate before ordering more serves which is a good idea to reduce food waste.
8. Pizza and arancini balls at Locale – I love the pizzas at Locale, made fresh with love and baked in the wood-fired oven by the pizzaioli. The porcini mushroom arancini balls come in a serve of 3 but these are gigantic! Lots of flavour with taleggio cheese and truffle oil. I could just eat there all day.
9. Anything from Mr Scroll at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston. My picks – the mocha, cookies and cream, Turkish cherry, and original cinnamon scrolls.
10. The twice cooked pork belly from Parlour – one of the best pork belly dishes in Canberra that isn’t too fatty and wonderfully balanced with a sticky molasses-like PX glaze. A lovely combination of savoury, sweet and slightly sour.
11. The pumpkin and cheese arancini balls from the George Harcourt Inn are a recent discovery. I was there for a friend’s baby shower where various platters were ordered. The arancini balls are SO GOOD! Yummy crispy coating, flavoursome rice stuffed with pumpkin and cheese. I must admit that I ate about 10 of these.
12. Fried seafood plate from Maestral – lobster, king prawns, bay bugs, scampi, fish and squid all deep fried and tasty while keeping the natural seafood flavour intact.
13. Chilli beef and honey fried eggplant at Cinnabar – covered in a mild sticky sweet sauce Cinnabar’s deep fried chilli beef is very moreish and a huge hit with my friends. The honey fried eggplant is my favourite. A vegetarian spin to honey chicken, the eggplant is cooked perfectly – melt in your mouth soft but has a very subtle eggplant taste. My friends that don’t like eggplant like this dish!
14. The $65 Wagyu at Chifley’s – a silky smooth and juicy 600g steak cooked the way you like it. Just don’t order a cheaper steak with it as it just won’t compare.
15. The Fish Can baos – both the savoury and sweet baos are presented beautifully and you can see the fresh baos steaming away. Can’t decide which one you want? You can choose the mixed bao pack options such as the surf and turf which includes the Porkster, crumbed fish, tiger prawn, and soft shell crab bao. The dessert baos are also worth trying.
16. All you can eat dinner at Punjabi Hut in Wanniassa – unlimited quantities of the restaurant’s choice of 3 curries (2 meat, 1 veg), naan bread and rice for $20. Bargain! Available Monday to Wednesday night only and the curries are changed daily.
17. Patissez freakshakes, freakburger, hotcakes and cakes – the majority of the menu really.
18. Brodburger – I love the Brodchicken here, the best in town! The portions are gigantic and I’m glad there are now baby versions of each Brodburger. Vegetarians aren’t excluded and can indulge in the Brodveg. The newest member of the Brodburger family introduced earlier this year, the Frango, has Japanese crumbed chicken breast with bacon. A side of chips is only an extra $2.50. Beat the queue and ring up to pre-order your burger.
19. The Spit Shack’s roast lamb and roast pork rolls – there is so much meat stuffed into these rolls, it will not disappoint. The roast pork roll comes with crackling (you might need to ask for it), as does the lamb roll. Succulent large chunks of meat, gravy, apple sauce with the pork and mint sauce with the lamb. Mouthwatering! These two are my favourites but there are other rolls such as the cevapcici roll (gourmet skinless sausages) and egg and bacon rolls.
20. The nutella profiterole from Dobinsons – at only $4.50 this GIANT profiterole is bigger than the size of my hand. Filled with mocha creme pat and topped with a dollop of pure Nutella.
21. Crepes at Breizh Cafe – bringing a bit of Brittany and France to Canberra, these freshly made crepes come in savoury and sweet options. Buckwheat flour is also used at Breizh which is a good option for those with gluten allergies. You can watch and smell the crepes being made from scratch.
22. The curries from the Burmese Curry Place at the Civic bus interchange. It’s hard to beat $6.99 take away or $7.99 dine in. You can pick any two of the 9 curries on offer – chicken and potato, egg curry, sweet pork, fish cake, fish curry (my favourite), beef and potato, chicken and prawn, chicken and beans, and vegetarian. Great value and absolutely delicious! Cash only.
23. The One’s beef short rib pressed bun at Westside Acton Park – 12 hour sous vide short rib, caramelised onion, slaw, cheese mix and BBQ emulsion in a bun. This blew me away with its tenderness. A must try!
24. The BBQ meats from Orient Kitchen in Weston Creek – you can get a mixed BBQ platter for $19.20. I’ve had the roast pork, BBQ pork and roast duck. So succulent. I’ve ordered a half serve of BBQ meats ($14.80 for BBQ pork) to take away on several occasions too.
25. The soft shell crab burger from Double Shot in Deakin. It comes with a decent amount of crab meat, crunchy slaw and a side of crunchy chips.
Hope you enjoyed the post. I also have my Top 10 Dessert Destinations in Canberra for more dessert focused fat feeds!
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