Canberrans love their food and wine and, fortunately, we are spoilt for choice. From delicious icecream to slow-cooked meat, our reviewers have gnawed their way through mountains of food just to give you the inside scoop on what’s hot and what’s not. Here, we’ve pulled together 15 of your favourites from 2025. (We found it too hard to stop at a baker’s dozen!)
15. Canberra icon the Mandalay Bus returns!
by Lucy Ridge
The menu at the Mandalay has all the classics people will remember. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
For too many years, there’s been a sad absence in Braddon’s nightlife. The Mandalay Bus – a Canberra icon – has been sitting idle since the pandemic closed the doors. But now, it’s back with the same Asian-Australian fusion menu, street food classics and late night eats.
Stewart George Kyaw Thaung is the son of the Mandalay’s original owner, Kyaw ‘George’ Thaung, whose long life was richly storied. He came to Canberra after the Second World War to work at the Burmese Embassy and spent many years as the shearer’s cook for the Yarralumla Woolshed.
He started a food trailer in 1969, and the rest, as they say, is history.
14. Vietnam comes alive in Curtin’s bustling cafe where hard to find dishes are the norm
by Tenele Conway
Bún bò Huế is a rich and hearty alternative to pho. Photo: Tenele Conway.
The Woden Valley suburb of Curtin is the perfect case study for Canberra’s urban revival.
Locally owned businesses, such as Evoke Bakery, Curtin Pure Produce, and the popular resto-bar Two Blind Mice, sit side by side with larger practicalities, including Coles, Club Lime, and Bendigo Bank.
The convenience is undeniable, but a suburb can’t be truly self-sustaining for the local population without a solid Asian eatery, so when a Curtin resident told me that there was tremendous community support for a local Vietnamese cafe, 29 Cafe and Eatery, I wasted no time in checking it out.
13. Andre’s Osteria joins Canberra’s Mediterranean boom in Weston
by Tenele Conway
Andres Wilks is excited to be opening the doors to his first restaurant. Photo: Ashley St George, Pew Pew Studio.
Canberra is becoming the battleground of Mediterranean restaurants, and the latest addition to the scene is Andre’s Osteria.
Opening its doors in Weston, where My’s Vietnamese operated for 19 years until it closed in May 2024, owner Andre Wilks and his father, Bruce, are touting the new restaurant as a small but mighty eatery and they have their sights set on it becoming a neighbourhood gem.
Mediterranean cuisine, primarily Italian and Greek food, has always had perennial appeal in Canberra, but a recent resurgence of restaurants in this genre might suggest a swing in tastes: are we favouring the hearty dishes of the Med over the fresh and spicy cuisines of Southeast Asia?
12. Local legends bring Little Sutton’s cafe dreams to life
by Hayley Nicholls
Fresh new flavours and country air – a quick trip across the border never looked so nourishing. Photo: Supplied.
Something special is brewing at Little Sutton Bakehouse – smoother than their signature coffee and sweeter than their finest artisanal treats.
A slice of cafe culture has moved into the humble hamlet of Sutton, bringing an all-new menu of wholesome hot meals and superfood indulgences.
This isn’t your local bakery putting on a few hot options – tucked away in a quiet rural setting, this café is run by Canberra hospitality royalty.
11. Canberra’s tiny grocer fights for fairer prices and better produce direct from the farm
by Tenele Conway
Michael Dawson uses his relationships with farmers to source direct from the farm. Photo: Tenele Conway.
“I had no idea that you were here” is something Michael Dawson hears a little too frequently in his produce store, Curtin Pure Produce.
It’s the downside of being tucked away, off the main thoroughfare of the Curtin shops. The plus side is that Michael is one of the very few shops in Canberra offering produce direct from the farm in the era of ‘big supermarket’.
Compelled to take a shot at self-employment after a period of paternity leave, Michael opened his produce store in August 2024.
10. The Wanniassa Korean restaurant worth the drive (and the queue!)
by Lucy Ridge
This spicy dak-galbi was absolutely delicious, and absolutely too big for us to finish!
Wanniassa has a new foodie sensation on its hands, and it’s enough to make this Northsider want to brave the trip.
I hadn’t thought to book ahead for a casual dinner at a local restaurant, but arriving at Hancook Korean on a Friday evening, I was confronted with a queue! Fortunately, a few tables were finishing up their meals, and we were seated quickly as the staff bustled to turn tables.
With our first hurdle cleared, the next biggest challenge was what to select from the impressive menu.
9. Zinger meets Saigon: I tried KFC’s Zinger Banh Mi and here’s the verdict
by Briony Winchester
Look, I’m sure it won’t look quite that good. But who knows? Photo: KFC/Briony Winchester.
Sometimes, when you randomly spot a Vietnamese delicacy on the menu of a fast food restaurant born in America’s deep south, you gotta take one for the team.
You have to investigate to get to the bottom of what this strange treat is doing sitting on a menu among 178 versions of fried chicken. And then you have to report back to the public servants sitting in their cubicles, looking for an excuse (any excuse) to tip out last night’s tuna pasta bake that’s waiting in the fridge, and head to KFC instead.
So, I offer to you, dear Canberra, my review of the limited edition Zinger Banh Mi, currently available at KFC stores across the capital – not everywhere and not all the time, according to the KFC app. (Yes, KFC has an app. Yikes.)
8. A Bite to Eat has a new lease on life
by Lucy Ridge
Brett Waslin, the new owner of A Bite to Eat with PM Chifley looking on from behind the bar. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Brett Waslin is no stranger to A Bite to Eat in Chifley. He was working as the head chef when the previous owner decided to sell. He was interested, but ultimately didn’t have the money to buy it at the time.
Fast forward a few years and Brett now runs the thriving North Lyneham cafe Hide and Seek and has now realised that dream – he’s the new owner of A Bite to Eat.
7. We love their bread, we love their bullar, but most of all, we love that Under Bakery is opening a second location
by Lucy Ridge
Lachlan Cutting has spent months setting up the new bakery, even tiling the walls with his brother. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Fans of the iconic cardamom buller rejoice: cult-favourite Under Bakery is opening a second location.
The small-batch, hand-made bakery focuses on single-origin ingredients – Woodstock Farm flour, Big Little Dairy Milk, etc – and is widely regarded as one of the best bakeries in town (despite their tiny footprint). And Mawson residents can breathe a sigh of relief because the original shopfront will remain; in fact, as owner Lachlan Cutting told Region, it might even get better.
“It’s never been my ideal to have people queuing, so hopefully this will make things a little less hectic and chaotic on weekends out at Mawson,” he said.
6. Canberra takes out top gong at the national Restaurant and Catering Association Awards for Excellence
by Lucy Ridge
Les Bistronomes Manager Talia Cullis, owner Clement Chauvin and Head Chef Josh McDonald at the awards. Photo: Supplied.
The Restaurant and Catering Association National Awards for Excellence once again demonstrated the strength of Canberra’s hospitality scene.
Local chef and restaurateur Clement Chauvin – aka Chef Clem – from Les Bistronomes scored a hat-trick of gold in the European Restaurant category three years running. He also took out gold for Premium Dining, but his biggest win of the night was for Restaurant of the Year.
5. Cartel Taqueria has arrived in Canberra and everything is muy bueno!
by Michelle Taylor
The incredible tiled feature wall. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
Cartel Taqueria was making waves the second it opened in Queanbeyan – and now it’s spread its wings and opened in Belconnen. Michelle Taylor couldn’t resist.
4. Amy’s Street Food leads the way in Canberra’s front yard food truck scene
by Tenele Conway
Amy and Anthony run Amy’s Street Food from a food truck based at their house in Amaroo. Photo: Tenele Conway.
There are many rules, regulations and costs to setting up a food truck. But there is a workaround. Do it in your front yard! Amy and Anthony from Amy’s Street Food did – and their venture’s a hit, as Tenele Conway discovered.
3. Smoke Masters BBQ takes a gold in the Great Aussie Pie Competition
by Tenele Conway
Scotty Masters of Smoke Masters BBQ thought he made a good pie, and now he has the proof. Photo: Smoke Masters BBQ.
Scotty Masters had an inkling that he had made a pretty decent pie.
His smoked brisket, cheddar and pickled jalapeno pie and its non-jalapeno counterpart both sell out from his Fyshwick BBQ joint Smoke Masters BBQ every day and have done so since he opened the doors.
As an experienced pitmaster but novice piemaker, what he didn’t know was how it would stack up against the best pies from the best bakers in Australia, and there was only one way to find out: he entered the Great Aussie Pie Competition.
2. Fyshwick cafe takes a gamble on after hours ice cream
by Tenele Conway
Wildflour’s new soft serve is certainly Insta-worthy. Photo: Supplied.
When you think of long summer nights with an ice cream in hand and a stunning Canberra sunset in the background, the industrial suburb of Fyshwick doesn’t come to mind.
But Fyshwick’s Wildflour Cafe is setting out to change that, and they have a new range of soft serve ice creams to help twist your arm.
1. Meet the Meat Wizard, who certainly lives up to his name
by Tenele Conway
Rob Leake is the Meat Wizard. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Mobile purveyor of low and slow American BBQ, The Meat Wizard, has set up a permanent base in Karabar, and he’s taking all the time he needs to slow-smoke the highest-grade cuts of meat to absolute perfection.
Having established his business at events around the region for more than eight years, the Karabar base is the first time that owner Robert Leake has put down roots for his mobile food business, and he’s inviting the public to join him around the campfire every weekend to enjoy the spoils of his obsession with smoked meats.
