With a cold and wet Canberra winter well and truly underway, sometimes you need a little somethin’ somethin’ just to reward you for making it through the day. Luckily, Canberra has some fantastic restaurants, with menus as wild as the weather. Here are our picks for the best and quirkiest after-dinner treats, whether it’s for an occasion or just to celebrate the fact that you successfully adult-ed today.
Spiced Pumpkin Ice-cream with Ricotta Doughnuts, Pod Food
Ice-cream is one of those things – you can’t really get it wrong because everyone loves it so much. So you know that a spiced pumpkin ice-cream, particularly when served with ricotta doughnuts and lemon meringues, is worth a try!
Deep Fried Golden Gaytime, Shorty’s
Closely associated with Asian cuisine, fried ice-cream is traditionally served coated in a tempura batter. Shorty’s Deep Fried Golden Gaytime is a modern, Australian take on the dessert. Deliciously sweet, it’s served with honeycomb and caramel sauce, and the ice-cream is still frozen! Not sure how ice-cream can stay frozen like that? Neither am I, but trust me it tastes as magical as it sounds.
Apple Tarte Tatin, Black Sesame Ice Cream, Pulp Kitchen
Cooked upside down, Tarte Tatin caramelises fruit in sugar and butter at the start of the cooking process to really bring out the flavour. Although it’s a bit of a staple in the dessert world, Pulp Kitchen puts its own spin on things by serving it with a sesame ice-cream. The black of the ice-cream, and the beautifully cooked tarte will have you racking up the likes on Instagram.
Melting Chocolate Bomba, San Churro
Imagine a world completely encased by chocolate. That is exactly how San Churro’s raspberry semi freddo lives its life. Hidden inside the chocolate bubble, you can only free this semi frozen dessert buy pouring the warm berry coulis over the bomba. If there was ever a dessert that described your dream life, this is it.
Pauly’s Hot Apple Pudding, Neighbourhood Food
Hidden in Gungahlin, this stop is perfect for when you don’t want to brave the elements for too long. Pauly’s Hot Apple Pudding is made from seasoned stewed apples, oven baked into a pudding and served hot with house-made butterscotch sauce and ice-cream. All topped with candied apple skins. Unfortunately this winter warmer is only a blackboard special, so get in quickly!
Peanut Butter Hottie, Pattisez
From the creators of the FreakShake, comes something you can enjoy during the colder months. Whilst not technically a proper dessert, the Peanut Butter Hottie comes with a house-made toasty marshie and will keep your sweet tooth satiated if you just can’t wait until after work (or dinner for that matter!). Sneak away to Pattisez on your lunch break, before work or just whenever you need a pick me up.
If all of these goodies are too much to choose from, The Green Shed is giving away free gelato in their city cafe this Friday 24 June, because it’s never too cold for ice-cream. So get your tastebuds in an orderly fashion and distract yourself from the miserable Canberra weather.
