Morks

‘Fusion’ cuisine is always a bit of a gamble, one that all too often doesn’t pay off. Think confused (or just plain weird) flavour combinations from over-confident chefs trying to run before they can walk, often matched with exorbitant prices.

So, despite the rave reviews from some very reliable foodie sources, I approached Morks – a “contemporary” Thai restaurant in Florey (near Belconnen) – with some trepidation.

Well, this understated restaurant is really a diamond in the rough and a sterling example of why we shouldn’t give up on fusion cuisine just yet. The functional facade suggests nothing of the thoughtful, finessed dishes that lie in wait. Inside, the wooden tables and chairs are fairly well packed into the small floor space and attractive modern Thai art adorns the wall.

A spectacular dish of sizzling prawns ($22) arrives in what looks to be a purpose-made ceramic dish. Each of the seven prawns are nestled in their own hollow, covered with a thick kaffir lime and coconut milk sauce, and covered with an individual terrine –like lid. The result is stunning - the prawns are juicy and infused with a gentle smokiness, while the sauce, which is well balanced with just enough kick, has formed a light crust on top.

The next dish, matter-of-factly entitled ‘scallop and pig’ ($16), makes the most of a tried and true combination by topping golden pan-fried scallops with paper-thin slices of pork ear terrine. It’s served with a delicate coriander root relish and soft, sweet pieces of spring onion.

Meanwhile, crumbed crab balls ($15) feel almost Japanese – light, flaky and delicately flavoured, and served on a tangle of noodles with mayonnaise and pickled ginger.

The standout dish of the night is the pork belly ($27), which has been braised to its meltingly tender best, and is artfully interlaced with spinach and topped with crisp shards of crackling. It sits in a pool of aromatic five-spice-infused reduction and is accompanied by a hard-boiled duck egg and a mound of basil and chilli fried rice. It’s seductively rich, complex and impossible to resist.

Next comes the duck maryland ($25), which has been slow-cooked, then fried – culminating in the ultimate combination of succulent meat and charred, almost caramelised skin.  It’s served on a crispy rice cake with a delicate tomato and lychee red curry sauce.

The only dish that fails to rock worlds is the tofu ($23), stir-fried with chickpeas, vegetables, basil and chilli. It’s acceptable, but unremarkable – a dish you wouldn’t think to question if it wasn’t for the company it keeps.

Just as I was beginning to despair about Canberra’s Asian culinary offerings, along came Morks, and who would have thought it would be tucked away on a nondescript block in Florey (it shares its digs with Domino's Pizza, among others). Well, I don't blame the Florey locals for keeping it under wraps - it might be a little too pricey to be your weekday Thai, but you get serious bang for your buck, and it's bringing some much needed clout to Canberra's Asian food scene.

Morks

Unit 3, 37 Kesteven Street, Florey, 2615

Ph: (02) 6259 0112

Charlie Black

You just can’t let a claim like that go untested.

And indeed it was because of this bold call that we came to be sitting, beeper in hand, in Charlie Black – a bistro/bar (they’re calling it a brasserie) situated on a corner block of Manuka’s Furneaux Street.

It feels a bit like an upmarket student bar. The split-level inside space is dark and almost moody, save for the huge TV set screening American sitcoms lining one wall, with its red/black colour scheme and a couple of retro lounge chairs thrown into the seating mix. It sprawls out into a street-side courtyard that often plays host to (rather loud) live music.

Aside from the burgers, the menu, which is sprawled on blackboards around the gaudy black-and-white-marble fronted bar, features your typical bistro offering of pizzas, pastas, steak and schnitzel.

The Charlie Black Beef Burger sets expectations soaring, promising “everything but the kitchen sink”. It probably shouldn’t have set the bar quite so high – it’s a fairly standard-size burger containing beef, egg, bacon, salad (including beetroot) and chilli sauce. So there’s certainly a few things missing besides the kitchen sink. That said, it scores big points for the crusty-but-still-squishy bun and fresh, good-quality salad ingredients. They’ve also nailed the all-important bun-patty ratio so it all melds together nicely. My companion’s only complaint (other than the size) is that they’ve been a little heavy-handed with the chilli sauce.

Vegie burgers can be oh so bad, which makes Charlie Black's quite respectable version all the better. I’m always suspicious of ‘vegie patties’, often quite devoid of any flavour except salt. This patty is of the better ones, but it's really the lashings of roasted eggplant, zucchini and capsicum that make it. There’s also some feta lurking in there, though it lacks the creamy bite of a really good one, and the whole thing is topped with a pesto-smeared bun. All burgers are served with some golden, chunky chips.

As for the venue as a whole, it’s hard to know where Charlie Black sits and that’s probably because it feels like it’s trying a little too hard to please everyone. Compared to its showy new rival, Public Bar, just down the road, it’s a little less yuppie, a little more family-friendly, a lot less expensive – but at the same time considerably less crowded – at any given time. 

However, while the sign might stretching it a little (Brodburger's owners shouldn't lose too much sleep), Charlie Black is churning out burgers that aren't too shabby at all.

Charlie Black

Furneaux St, Manuka, ACT 2603

Ph: (02) 6232 6600

Mon-Sun: 11:30am till late

Lemongrass Thai

Contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of things to like about Canberra – unfailing politeness, a usable network of bike lanes, workplaces that are desolate by 5.30pm. A notable omission from that list is good Asian food. Though staunch defenders of Canberra will always point to one of the few-and-far-between exceptions to this general rule, it’s fair to say that for the most part, Asian food in Canberra is an overpriced disappointment.

Leading the charge in the bad-Asian-food stakes is Thai cuisine, and it was after a depressing run of at worst, awful, at best, mediocre Thai food (including a dry, overcooked pad see ew in Kingston and a sensationally expensive and dull seafood stir-fry in Manuka) I turned, defeated, to these staunch Canberra defenders for advice.

The advice pointed unequivocally in the same direction – Lemongrass Thai – a chain of three restaurants located in Civic, Woden and Tuggeranong. The Civic restaurant is a no-frills affair situated on a functional stretch of London Circuit and the Monday night crowd suggests that it’s no secret.

It’s an extensive menu so we put our trust in one of the ‘favourites’, the red duck curry. It pays off, with succulent pieces of duck bobbing in a mild, curry sauce, sweetened with lychees and tomato.

Also a hit is the massaman beef, comprising big chunks of meat slowly cooked to fall-apart perfection in a gloriously thick, rich sauce – the kind that makes you go back for more and more rice to mop it up with long after you’re full.

Less spectacular is a special of lemongrass marinated chicken, which is punchy in flavour but a little dry in texture. It’s layered over lettuce and served with an overly dressed, overly sweet papaya, tomato and green bean salad.

Last to arrive is a ‘popular’ (is that slightly less popular than ‘favourites’?) dish – seafood pad garee – a mix of crab, mussels, prawns, squid and egg in a yellow curry sauce.  The crab is served, impractically, in one piece and still in its shell, and what meat can be retrieved with a fork without losing all dignity in company is overwhelmed by the tide of egg and coconut milk. The mussels fair better but the prawns and squid also fail to stand their ground against the sauce, which isn’t bad in and of itself, but is too rich a force for these delicate seafood flavours.

All up, Lemongrass Thai is a solid player – definitely good enough to satisfy a green curry craving and a significant step up from any other Canberra Thai I’ve tried to date. Though I can’t help feeling grateful that Sydney’s Spice I am and its glorious green papaya salad is just a Murray’s bus trip away.

Lemongrass Thai

Canberra City

Melbourne Building, 65 London Circuit

Ph: (02) 6247 2779

Lunch: Mon­­–Fri,  Dinner: Mon–Sat

Woden

Corner Corinna and Ball Streets

Ph: (02) 6282 1144

Lunch: Mon–Fri,  Dinner: Mon–Sun

Tuggeranong

Shop 9c Hyperdome Shopping Centre, Anketell Street

Ph (02) 629 31455

Lunch: Mon–Sun, Dinner: Mon–Sat