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Rubicon

6a Barker St
GRIFFITH ACT 2603

http://www.rubiconrestaurant.com.au/

The Good

A very nice, quiet venue in Griffith featuring perfectly cooked meats. The barramundi, gnocchi and pork assiette were divine. The offer to replace our BYO slightly-warm bottle of Moet with a chilled bottle from their cellar was a very nice touch from our server.

The Bad

Some of the dishes lacked creativity or genuine flavour – I am fairly confident the sauces with the barramundi and the steak were substantially identical or deceptively similar, to borrow from trade mark parlance. The confit duck was not very exciting.

Service-wise, there were some very, very long waits between courses. While it may be the case that this was due to the difficulty of a custom degustation for a group of six people, it is also the case that a restaurant should not encourage said custom degustation menus if it will result in serving difficulties. The delays also resulted in the wine pairings appearing stingy. Last, but not least, by the time the meal ended I had to walk up to the front of the restaurant and ask for the bill as everyone was packing up and there was no one in the back area to serve us.

The Meal

Amuse Bouche

WA red claw yabbies with leek and gorgonzola gratin, flying fish roe

Crisp skin Barramundi with crab, chive and potato dumplings, roasted tomato and fennel sauce

Roasted chive and potato gnocchi (flourless), confit tomato, basil, tallegio cheese

Intermezzo

Berkshire pork assiette – belly with chilli lime caramel; rolled shin and boudin noir with a crispy ear and herb salad

Confit duck, spiced plum salsa, pickled carrot, St Maure d’Poitiu goats cheese

Roasted lamb shoulder and grilled lamb loin, speck lardons, peas and mint

Chargrilled beef fillet in bacon, beef jus, sauce béarnaise, confit tomato, thyme roasted kipflers

Sorbet

Ginger and lime crème brûlée, crème fraîche sorbet, roasted passionfruit

Benchmark Wine bar

65 Northbourne Avenue
CANBERRA ACT 2600

http://www.benchmarkwinebar.com.au

The Good

An excellent meal from start to finish shared with two friends. Bookended by complimentary appertizers and pre-dessert courses, we shared six tapas-style dishes all prepared with good technique and ingredients. The anchovy crostini, cuttlefish and foie gras were particular standouts.

Service was helpful, friendly and attentive throughout the meal.

The wine list is fantastic, unsurprisingly for a wine bar, with some marvellous Chianti Classico wines available.

While the restaurant furnishings are basic, as befitting a wine bar, the space and tables are very comfortable. Most importantly, there is excellent spacing between tables so you are not forced to intrude on other tables’ private conversations.

The Bad

The prices are consistent with the most expensive restaurants in Canberra ($45 for duck liver pate? Ouch!) so the restaurant is definately not priced for casual visits unless one is there only for a glass of wine and perhaps one or two tapas dishes. However, the prices are not unreasonable when the quality of the overall meal is taken into consideration.

The Meal