Hello Canberra,
📆 Today: A new steak restaurant + designer precinct opens today.
☀️ Weather: 18° and sunny.
Coming Up: 🌸 Spring Family Day at the Portrait Gallery
Next weekend, the National Portrait Gallery will celebrate the unveiling of a new portrait of landscape architect, environmental educator and TV host Costa Georgiadis with a Spring Family Day. Activities include a plant swap, story time and talks with Costa, badge-making, gallery tours and more, along with live music and food stalls. Details here.
🌮 Canberra Eats
A large helping of foodie news this week:
Vice: Lala Hospitality—the group behind Amici, Molly and Highball—has opened a new steak restaurant. Vice serves just one cut—rib-eye on the bone—but if you're not feeling like steak, there's also an indulgent cheeseburger on the menu. Details here.
Cooking with Callum Hann: Fresh from his success as runner-up on MasterChef: Back to Win, Callum Hann is coming to Pialligo Estate to present a weekend of indulgent meals and cooking demonstrations. Details here.
Free Grease Monkey: Favourite local burger chain Grease Monkey is opening in Belconnen this Friday, 19 September. To celebrate, they're giving away 500 free Greasy Burgers!
Kathmandu Mo:Mo House: Serving up Nepalese cuisine, Kathmandu Mo:Mo House is now open next to the chemist on Northbourne near the City Interchange.
Ondam Table: Korean restaurant Ondam Table has opened in Dickson, where My Mom's Yangpyeong Haejanggook used to be, and is already getting rave reviews.
Birria Ramen Night: Birria Ramen fuses Japanese ramen with Mexican birria stew. Taco Boi in Braddon is hosting a Birria Ramen night featuring an 18-hour birria beef broth and smoked beef brisket. Details here.
El Pan Tokyo: Dickson's El Pan is now El Pan Tokyo with a complete menu makeover. The Japanese-inspired menu features oden, bento boxes, chicken katsu, pork katsu sandos and even an unagi croissant. Details here.
Highroad's Spring Drinks: Highroad in Dickson has rolled out a colourful new special drinks menu for spring, with highlights including a banana pancake iced latte, spring floral soda, tres leches shake and a pistachio pretzel iced latte. Details here.
Tamil Buffet: This Sunday, Dosa Hut (City Walk) is running a Tamil Buffet. For $35, enjoy unlimited Tamil dishes—think crispy Onion Bonda, spicy Chicken Chukka, rich Thalappakatti Chicken Biryani and indulgent Gulab Jamun. Details here.
Frenzy: Frenzy, Canberra's micro wine festival, hits The Vault at Dairy Road on 19 October. Details here.
✂️ Something to do:
Crepe Paper Native Flower Making Workshop: Create native flowers from crepe paper at this CMAG workshop. Using specialty and everyday crepe papers, you'll learn a basic construction method to develop your own detailed, bespoke native flowers. Details here.
Crafteoke: Crafteoke runs fortnightly on Friday evenings at Qure Bar & Grill: a mashup of crafting and karaoke. DIY craft kits will be available on the night, plus a full karaoke setup. Details here.
Learn to Sail: Canberra Yacht Club runs adult sailing classes on Lake Burley Griffin. No experience required and all equipment provided. Details here.
Around Canberra: 🛍️ Australian Designer Precinct
The Australian Designer Precinct at Canberra Centre opens today. New stores include MECCA, July Luggage, Rebecca Vallance, Scanlan Theodore and Viktoria & Woods. Shopaholics may want to call in sick to work—there are freebies: MECCA is giving a Beauty Loop gift to the first 4,000 customers; the first 30 at Viktoria & Woods will receive a bouquet of white tulips and light refreshments; and July Luggage is gifting the first 100 customers. Details here.
Exhibition: DNA Laundry
I missed including this in Tuesday's arts section. The Vault in Dairy Road is hosting an art installation by Canberra artist flutterbry (Bryan Fitzpatrick). It features more than 100 sculptures made entirely from discarded plastic laundry hamper lids and cable ties, transforming everyday waste into a vibrant world of creatures, flowers and geometric forms. Details here.
Exhibition: 🐨 50 Years of Constable Kenny
To mark the 50th anniversary of Constable Kenny Koala, the AFP Museum is presenting an exhibition at the National Capital Exhibition to celebrate the iconic community policing mascot. Explore five decades of memorabilia, puppets, costumes, media and interactive learning tools. Details here.
📰 Tidbits:
Hotel to be Replaced: The Premier Hotel Belconnen, now operating as Ramada Encore, is closing and will be redeveloped as apartments by developer Bloc. It will close its doors for good on 30 September.
Housing as a Human Right: The ACT has passed nation-leading legislation to make access to adequate housing a recognised human right—the first in Australia. The change, starting in 2027, won't mean housing is immediately provided to everyone, but it does give more legal weight to protections against things like arbitrary evictions and service cutoffs, and it will require fair provision of homes. The bill received strong support from the ACT Human Rights Commission and community groups.
Classifieds
✨Stress Reset - Half-Day Meditation Retreats: Kingston & Hawker. Take a morning just for you. Step away from the noise and discover (or refresh) simple yet very effective, science-backed meditation practices that calm your nervous system, ease stress, and restore clarity. Led by an experienced local facilitator. Ready to reset? Just $69. Get info & tickets now.
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Classifieds support Canberra Digest
Cause: 🐶 RSPCA ACT Drag Variety Night
Hold onto your wigs—the most fabulous fundraising event of the year is back and bigger than ever! The RSPCA ACT Drag Variety Night is serving up sass, sparkle and fun—all for a paws-itively good cause. Hosted by outrageously talented queens—Floozy, Fieldsy and Myth Meltdown. Expect an unforgettable night of laughter, games, and surprises. It's all to raise funds for animals in need right here in the ACT. Details here.
