Surprise and delight

On a balmy autumn Saturday in Canberra, Ravi and I went for a Doris before checking out the Jeffery Smart exhibition at the National Gallery.

We went to the Canberra Centre in Civic. Yeah, it really doesn’t make sense that the town centre is called something different. There actually isn’t a suburb called Canberra, it like, just the whole area, that also happens to be called the Australian Capital Territory.

I suppose if you had to separate the two, Canberra would represent the parts where people live and also as an adjective for the FIFO workers that make decisions for the whole country.

Anyway; I digress. We did some window shopping and actual shopping, then had some lunch.

On the upper floor of the Canberra Center at the end where all the designer labels and Zara reside is a garden themed cafe. It offers a fairly basic first impression where you just join the queue to order. The menus are right next to the counter so those that have no idea what they want have to stand at the cashier perusing the choices in the clamour.

All the glass, silk creepers and white wood make for a perfect echo chamber. Luckily there’s a outside area that’s much quieter and overlooks Civic Square. We sat there after ordering. The tables are all tall, shiny white marble atop steel legs. The stools also mental. Not designed for wider bottoms and certainly not for arse and thigh with healing wound long enough to accommodate 36 staples. Luckily I found a cushion that took care of the spillage.

Coffee arrived. A large latte in a mug and steaming indication it was chillier outside than it felt. The beauty of Autumn sunshine. As I took the first long draft, the distinctive Ona logo was revealed on the inside lip. Smooth, not over cooked or potent.

I heart you too coffee

I asked the waiter, in anticipation of my food, ‘Do you know if the hollandaise sauce is made in house?’

“Sorry I don’t.”

‘I wonder if you’d be able to find out please and let me know when you bring out the food?’

He smiled but didn’t reply and rushed away.

Ravi and I sat a chatted, drinking coffee and enjoying the heat and gentle bustle in the outer space.

A different server brought out the food and I asked my question again. This time I was rewarded with an answer. “Yes, it’s made fresh daily in our kitchen.”

The meal looked simple, colourful and appetising. The sauce had a slight pink fleck that indicated it may have paprika. It did, but not so much as to disguise the fresh lemon and butter flavours. Yummy!

Also, plate. A nice, traditional plate.

There was one slice of sourdough toast that wasn’t so hard you had to worry about taking your neighbours eye out, wilted spinach, bacon with crunch and an saltiness that would challenge AOC on Twitter, and two runny, compact, rich golden yolked eggs. Simply. It was not over-engineered. It was really quite the 3rd definition of an epiphany.

Would I go back?

I’ll answer after I tell you about the lovely time we had at Jeffery Smart.

Just kidding. Yes, yes I would.

Ohh and here are a couple of amazing pictures from the exhibition.

“The Directors” 1977 oil on plyboard by Jeffery Smart

“Jacob Descending” 1978 Synthetic polymer paint on canvas Jeffery Smart

Location: Green House Address: Level one. Canberra Center, Bunda Street, Civic ACT 2600 Website: Facebook page only

EB Price: $23