Aubergine | Canberra, AUSTRALIA
If we only had the option to go to one fancy restaurant during our recent trip to Canberra, it would’ve been Aubergine.
When our taxi driver drove past the busy streets of Canberra and into a leafy green suburb I hesitated and thought that we might have given him the wrong address. I was equally concerned when he pulled up in a quite suburban shopping complex. Among the stores, there was a butcher, a hairdresser, a grocery store, then there was Aubergine. From the outside, Aubergine looked understated yet tasteful - there was nothing that screamed ‘look at me, I’m the number 1 ranked restaurant in Canberra with 2 Chef Hats’. Rather, it was cream walls with simple black writing - Aubergine.
Greeted with warm smiles, we were lead to a corner table which provided a wonderful perspective of the restaurant. The floor staff were impeccable throughout the night. Before we placed our order, our waitress walked over and made suggestions for Minibun George. She mentioned that the chef has little kids too, so he was more than happy to accommodate George’s appetite. It warms my heart when restaurants take that extra step to make sure that their little clients have been looked after too.
The restaurant offers a 4-course seasonal menu for $90 per person. During the course of our two-hour long meal, we enjoyed everything from raw kingfish to duck breast and then on to the restaurant’s signature brown butter ice cream with almond praline & frozen lemon verbena milk.
Ever since chef-owner Ben Willis took over the restaurant in 2008, Aubergine has thrived year after year, and it has been awarded 2 Chef Hats for the last five consecutive years, so it was inevitable that I had high expectations before I stepped inside the restaurant. We left the restaurant feeling in awe of the entire dining experience, yep, from the start to finish. There was not one single thing that we could even remotely fault. Actually, now come to think of it, there is one little thing...if only Aubergine was located in Brisbane…
Total Bunnie Dollars Spent: $230
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