“Why does it say “0″ under the temperature gauge?” I ask Mr NQN as we take the drive from Sydney to Canberra one Friday afternoon-the one that happens to see a breakdown and an accident so we’re a tad late.

“That’s because it is zero degrees outside” he says grimly, gritting his teeth. Even though we are in the warmth of the car I pull my scarf tightly around me in anticipation of alighting the vehicle. We arrive in Canberra cold, tired and hungry. Luckily our first destination is Italian and Sons. It’s not often that you can walk into a city restaurant nowadays and get a table at 9:30pm. So when we walk into Italian and Sons in Canberra and get a table and turn around to see another couple doing the same thing we’re pleasantly surprised.

In fact things are downright happening at Italian and Sons. An easel at the front of the restaurant holds people’s coats and we walk past tables and tables of people laughing and eating. We walk past the bar which also serves as a salumeria with several types of cured sausages hanging up and a cured ham leg ready to slice. People are thronging about, sitting at tables-a family of seven sits elbow to elbow picking up pieces of pizza and forkfuls of pasta while tables of two and four lean in and talk animatedly to each other.

Service is warm and old school-they help you on and off with your coat and hang it on the back of your chair for you. The back of the restaurant faces the open kitchen where the large wood fired oven churns out pizzas and dishes that would make your heart melt in this weather. I know what we want-you see I had been scouting out the menu in the car and knew exactly what I wanted. The only change we made was to order the special for the night the beef cheeks in chianti as our waiter told us that that was as close to their signature dish as it gets when it is available.

Complimentary rosemary and garlic bread

We are absolutely starving. I like to eat early at 6pm so eating at 9:45pm was not bodeing well for me yet I refused to stop and eat fast food when I knew that this was waiting for me. So when our waiter presents us with some deliriously good rosemary bread I dive right in. It’s a pillowy soft bread with a light crust to it from the oven and generously seasoned with rosemary and salt (a little too much of the salt on one slice). I save my second slice to have with the rest of the food knowing that Italian food always has such delicious, moppable sauces and I am a sauce fiend.

Carpaccio of wagyu ‘bresaola’, fiore di capra and roasted grapes $15

We’re not kept waiting long as this carpaccio of cured wagyu breseola is lovely, thinly sliced and served with a delicate goat’s cheese from Italy and roasted grapes and rocket. The roasted grapes are halfway between a grape and a sultana still retaining that plump juiciness and it complements the breseola, goats cheese and peppery rocket well as well as giving it moisture.

Chilli and garlic yamba prawns and eggplant caponata $22

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Definition of a Poacher:
–noun
1. a person who trespasses on private property, esp. to catch fish or game illegally.

Today we’re not exactly trespassing but we’re partaking in the Poacher’s Way trail, a collective of 25 artisan food merchants, bakers and artists that have joined together to create the Poacher’s Way trail. Originally started by Susan Bruce who was a former London investment banker cum sailor who started the Poacher’s Pantry in Hall the trail encompasses 25 different hand picked establishments spread out within driving distance all over Canberra. They range from artisan bakeries, historical pubs, unique wood fired ceramics and sustainable spas.

Clonakilla Winery

Wine buffs no doubt are getting rather excited around about now. Clonakilla’s Shiraz Viognier is one of those hotly desired wines. On the 1st of September a line forms outside the cellar door and people buy their precious supply of Shiraz Viognier. Restaurants have strict allocations and it is said to be one of the Top 10 contenders for Australia’s best wine. Today we are lucky enough to get a full tour of he facilities by Clonakilla’s Tim Kirk, the fourth child of the Clonakilla family business. It starts off with an unassuming cellar door. Clonakilla is named after his grandfather’s farm in Ireland. Clon means “field” and killa means “church of”. So for example Kilpatrick means church of Patrick.

Tim Kirk Winemaker

Tim father’s noticed that the temperature and conditions here were similar to that of the Rhone Valley or Bordeaux. In 1976 their first wine was released and after some years Tim the former theology student and school teacher started to work in the wine business. The label image is from a seventh century gospel manuscript and the script is a traditional Celtic font. Tim believes in “Liquid Geography” and this means capturing the landscape or geography (or terroir) in a liquid form so that people can identify the wine as coming from that unique region. It should be reproducible and recognisable.

French Oak barrels

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Our last meal in Canberra was set to be a great one. If only I hadn’t made a pig of myself and succumbed to the vanilla slice winking at me from the marble table in our hotel room. Allow me to rewind a few hours if you will. Earlier that day we’d visited the Braidwood Bakery and then gone to the Old Bus Depot Markets and then settled our weary selves into Hotel Realm. Booked thanks to the lovely people at Toyota it was a toss up between the Hyatt and The Realm and they had chosen The Realm because of its modernity.

It’s modern indeed with nice touches and I take off my heels and sink my feet into some comfortable padded slippers. In the room there’s no bath, the view is of a construction site, there’s no porter to speak of and the gym and sauna is privately owned so when Mr NQN wants to use the sauna at 4pm on a Sunday like a good Finn he is told that it is shut. The positives is that the room is very nice and modern, they happen to stock Pickwick’s Earl Grey tea which I happen to love, there are complimentary Byron Bay cookie company biscuits and cable stations are great. And for dinner we don’t have to go far except for downstairs which is a winner given how exhausted we are.

So fast forward and one vanilla slice down the hatch we make our way down to the restaurant to meet with Todd from Toyota and his wife Melissa. There’s one other table dining tonight and so we have a booth to ourselves. This is their first time dining with a Foodus Bloggerus and I accepted Todd’s invitation for dinner  after asking if they would mind the whole photo taking experience.

Rigatoni with pork sausage, ham hock, tomato, garlic and chili $20.50

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