A taste of the capital: an inside look at Canberra's vibrant food scene and the local producers shaping it

The Guardian

17-04-2025

'Canberra is one of the only cities in Australia where produce can be picked in the morning, delivered to a restaurant in the afternoon and be on the menu that same night,' says Sam Vincent, the journalist-turned-farmer who chronicled his return to the land in his memoir My Father and Other Animals. Sam invited me to explore the city's food scene as he delivered trays full of his luscious Gollion Farm figs to some of Canberra's finest establishments.
Gollion farm figs, 2025
To say these figs are highly coveted is an understatement. During their famously short season, they're name-checked on social media by chefs lucky enough to get their hands on them (Lucy Holm from the sandwich store Sandoochie calls them 'truly elite').
Sean McConnell, the chef and owner of inner-city hotspot Rebel Rebel, tells me: 'Everyone's on the Sam Vincent fig train. They're just insane. You don't see produce like this from commercial growers.'
There's a camaraderie among Canberra foodies that's apparent at our first stop, the buzzy hole-in-the-wall cafe Barrio Collective Coffee in Braddon, a mainstay of the coffee scene in the city's inner north. Barrio's house-roasted beans make a supreme flat white – smooth, full-bodied, not too bitter – and can be found on menus across Canberra. It's mid-morning, so I pair mine with a plate of avocado toast garnished with togarashi and pickled Japanese vegetables as I chat to Barrio's co-owner Dan Zivkovich.
'As much as possible, we try to showcase produce from around the region,' he says. 'We use local milk and homegrown fruits and vegetables. We'll take large quantities and pickle them; we've been known to have midnight bottling sessions. I drive a lot of miles and have chopped and pickled thousands of vegetables over the past few years.'
Gollion Farm figs have been on Barrio's menu for almost a decade, and Zivkovich says his customers know to look for them every autumn. 'They're only around for a few weeks, which makes them even more special. At the moment, we're doing them on toast, with peanut butter, honey and a little sea salt. As the season progresses, we'll start slow-roasting them and we may also make jam.'
As we drive to our next stop, Sam tells me about the farm he grew up on, in Sutton, just outside Canberra. The original fig tree was planted decades ago and its cuttings have been cultivated to grow an entire orchard of genetically identical trees, each one producing equally lush fruit.
One place that makes the most of Sam's figs while they're in season is Sandoochie, a hip sandwich shop in the middle of the city that's packed with office workers and students from the nearby Australian National University. Between slices of sourdough bread from Under Bakery (another local favourite) toppings range from the sublime to the delicious.
'We've done 300-plus sandwich toppings since we opened a couple of years ago, and we try to keep it seasonal,' says Sandoochie's owner, Lucy Holm, sending me off with a lunch bag packed with what she calls the simplest sandwich on the menu. 'I intentionally keep it basic to highlight the very best of what's in it: the best ham, cheese, figs and butter. Then we add a radicchio and rocket salad dressed in our own balsamic and excellent olive oil.'
On the way to Rebel Rebel in Acton, Sam lets me in on a secret: McConnell was Gollion Farm's first customer, first ordering from Sam's parents about 15 years ago, 'back when we just had the one tree'.
McConnell picks up the story: 'I never like to say, 'hey, I had them first', but I did. Supporting the local community has always been important to me and it's always better quality produce if it hasn't had to travel far to get here.'
McConnell's reputation for giving local produce top billing on a tight but eclectic menu has made Rebel Rebel a favourite with locals (the extensive wine list is also a drawcard). True to form, the figs make multiple appearances here, sitting plump and juicy alongside prosciutto and Italian curd as a starter; added to a walnut halwa and served with fig-leaf ice-cream for dessert; and used as an edible embellishment on a limited-edition, burnt-butter bourbon cocktail with fig syrup.
Boozy fig treats are also on the menu at Onzieme, Louis Couttoupes' fine-dining bistro in Kingston, on the south side of the city, where a fruity house-made vin de figue digestif caps off a menu that's built around the day's deliveries. Couttoupes learnt his trade in Paris's 11th (onzieme) arrondissement, where, he says, 'one of my favorite experiences was getting up stupidly early and meeting one of the chefs outside the markets'. This fresh-as-it-gets ethos followed him home. 'There are times we can only get a product for a week and if we can put that on the menu for a week, we will. Our approach is always: what have we got, what can we use?'
A staple dish is a delicately layered galette. Made with locally grown potatoes and topped with smoked roe and cream cheese, it's already reached legendary status. The duck breast – currently used in a twist on dolmades – is hot on its heels.
Couttoupes' influence on the Canberra dining scene is significant, and almost everyone I speak to, including Sam, mentions Onzieme as a must-visit. It surely doesn't hurt that the bistro has its own cellar-like bar downstairs, 11e Cave, where bartender Brett Nebauer mixes cocktails, and Couttoupes turns local produce into raspberry cider, walnut wine and a tartly moreish blood plum amaretto.
Figs can be a fickle fruit and although Sam picks two crops a day throughout the season, there's not enough today to supply Three Mills, a chain of bakeries with five locations around Canberra. On the phone, Three Mills' head of product development, Bernd Brademann, tells me the bakeries gravitate towards food that's 'comforting and a little bit nostalgic, using the best ingredients we can get'. In autumn, customers queue for a buttery pastry layered in croissant-style lamination and coated with burnt honeycomb cream and fresh figs.
Photograph: Rimz Couture
The capital's close-knit culinary culture keeps Brademann on his toes. 'Every time a new restaurant, bar or cafe opens in Canberra, it lifts the bar higher for all of us,' he says. 'There are tons of cool places here now and more still opening.'
Sam and I visited only a small sample of what the capital has to offer but it's clear that the gastronomic landscape is run by creative, passionate people. They'll take the time to sit and tell you about the farmers who grow their potatoes (Onzieme) or the way they're soaking fig stalks to be turned into a fizzy, fruity soda (Sandoochie). Food is integral to the cultural conversation in Canberra and local produce is front and centre.
Discover more about Canberra's vibrant food scene at visitcanberra.com.au.