Digress Restaurant & Lounge

Location: 11 Akuna Street, Canberra
Phone: (02) 6248 6952
Link: www.digress.com.au
Cuisine: Italian and Indian fusion

Indian and Italian fusion? Sounds kind of weird, and not exactly something one comes across very often. In fact, Digress claims to be the first restaurant to combine both cuisines not only on the same menu, but in the same dish.

Located next to Transit Bar, Digress is both a bar and a restaurant. The stairs from the entrance take you straight into the lounge.

There's a special on most nights, and Friday's happy hour is 5-7pm, with $5 basic spirits, beer and house wine as well as a live band. There is also a swing social on later in the evening that a couple of friends want to attend, so we're there for drinks and dinner.

The restaurant is located on the same floor, separated by a wall and some curtains. Decor is simple and elegant.

We order a naan basket various pizzas and a pasta.

naan basket - sundried tomato, fetta, garlic

The naan basket is a brilliant starter. Soft fluffy naan bread is stuffed with a variety of ingredients. I end up with a slice of fetta and one of garlic. The garlic one is simple and subtle, the fetta much more vibrant and exciting, the saltiness of the fetta contrasts well with the buttery fluffiness of the bread without being too overpowering.

volcano pizza - salami, prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes,
red capsicum & jalapeños seasoned with garlic and oregano

red devil vindaloo pizza - hot salami, red capsicum,
olives & onions garnished with a lemon twist

pizza bolognese - Bolognese sauce with mushrooms, Spanish
onion & capsicum seasoned with Italian herbs and
Indian spices then topped with cheese

The pizza bolognese was the only non-fusion dish of the night, and tasted simply like a spag bol served on pizza (as expected). The slivers of mushroom scattered over the top provided a nice contrast and added flavour.

tandoori chicken penne - charcoaled tandoori chicken stripped and
cooked with red capsicum & shallots finished in a creamy sauce

Unlike the others, I opted for a pasta - I was curious about how the combination of tandoori chicken and Italian penne would taste. Sure enough I was not disappointed. Smoky pieces of tandoori chicken was tossed through penne and a tomato cream sauce. It was almost like a basic Italian tomato cream sauce, but with added smokiness and aromatic Indian spices. 

The service was pleasant, and with an entertainment card, the meal was extremely good value for money.

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Mandala

Location: 133 Commercial Road, South Yarra
Phone: +61 3 98279297
Link: http://www.mandalarestaurant.com.au/
Cuisine: Ethnic Fusion
Overall Impression: 5/10

Decided to have dinner with J at this restaurant. Ambience wise, this is quite a nice restaurant. Cute fittings and fixtures. Its a bit noisy for my liking but overall, it was a good night out.
The menu comprises of a range of Asian food and some western food as well. Don't expect a 'fine dining' experience and you will be ok =)
Entrée:Okra FrittersChicpea batter okra cubes with apple tamarind chutney

This dish was quite bland. Lacked basic seasoning - salt and pepper.

Main: Soft Shell CrabWith pickled plum, toasted peanuts, cherry tomato

This was a highlight for me. The softshell crab was crisp on the outside and deliciously moist on the inside. Yum!

Main: Slow Cooked Lamb ShankWith spiced bokchoy, wombok and market vegetables

This is an example of an attempted fusion dish. It tasted alright but it wasn't anything special.

Dessert: Pistachio Kulfi With wild berries and mango puree

A bit too creamy for my liking. The 'pistachio' bit of the kulfi was overpowered by the large amount of cream in that Kulfi. I guess its a matter of taste since J liked it.

Suzuki Night Market

Location: Queen Victoria Market

Link: www.qvm.com.au/night_market.php
Cuisine: various
Company: everyone!

Apart from the annual Chinese New Year festivals, I've rarely been to any night markets in Melbourne. Melbourne has a fairly disappointing night life compared to most other countries, so when Jenn decided to organise a group outing to the Suzuki Night Market, I jumped at the opportunity.

We got there early in order to get seating, and luckily there were almost 20 of us, as it meant we had enough people for half to guard seating while the other half got food. Mel and I shared a Mauritian dish of 'hot plate bread' with potato curry, a burrito, Spanish seafood rice [thanks Shu for getting it for us!!] and a nutella and ice cream crepe. The Mauritius dish was fantastic, and tasted twice as good as it looked. I'm feeling hungry now thinking about it!! The burrito was somewhat disappointing. The rice was soggy and unflavoured, and the filling not mixed very well. The chicken and the beans weren't too bad, but not enough to entice us for more. The Spanish rice was good, but I was a little disappointed as I had expected it to be fantastic - given the line of some 50 people waiting outside the stall. The crepe at the end...was beautiful!! Loads of nutella, two scoops of ice cream, and soft, light crepe... I also tried the traditional lemonade, which I thought was pretty good, despite Stace preferring her soft-drink version! There was also heaps of other food, including pasta, pizza, corn in a cup, tacos, nachos, noodles, dutch pancakes, curries and the list goes on.

top: hot dog
bottom: hot-plate bread with potato curry

Atmosphere wise, it just couldn't quite compare to the night markets I have been to before. Perhaps because the food was still slightly expensive, and the crowds just weren't quite the same - most were newbies at night markets and didn't understand the concept of navigating through crowds, and found themselves causing roadblocks everywhere! At least the number of friends there made up for the atmosphere, and it was particular fun seeing what food other people came back with.

Pricewise, it was still pretty expensive. Crepes were $5 - $8. The Spanish rice was about $13 and the Mauritian dish and burrito cost almost $20 together.

Will I return? Maybe sometime before the summer ends and the market stops running. But like this time, will have to wait for a bit of a crowd to maximise the experience!