We’re busy, and cooking every day can be tiresome, so sometimes it’s nice not to have to think about it. There are so many reasons why Canberrans love their convenience food and in 2015 there’s even more popping up around town!
For decades, people have been moving away from the dinner table, towards easier eating options, to today’s tiny hole-in-the-wall kiosks serving sandwiches and other convenient meals. Non-descript roller doors open revealing barely enough room for one person to stand… coffee and essentials unpack, mirage-like from the side of Civic’s buildings, providing afternoon snacks to fight 3.30-itis.
In this vein, a rash of street-food-inspired Vietnamese vendors and kiosks has spread through the capital. Over the past year outlets such as Roll’d in the Civic Centre and Woden have served Canberrans convenience food Saigon-style, enhancing our ideas of noodle soup and adding to the concept of sandwich fillings. Further afield, delicious bowls of Pho can be found as far as Dickson and Belconnen.
For some variety that’s just as quick, The Hamlet in Braddon is a permanent home for the food vans of Canberra. BrodDogs and Mr. Papa push food through the windows almost as fast as it is ordered – hot dogs with anything you want on them, and Peruvian food brings a sense of the exotic to the open courtyard with its picnic style tables and chairs.
Canberra is filling up with exciting food that we can eat on the go and it will always have its place in The Hamlet. However, we also have opportunity to sit and enjoy dinner in the capital, taking our time over meals. Down by the Kingston Foreshore, the focus is on sit down meals and more than one course followed (inevitably!) by dessert.
The Merchant is a recent addition to the waterside, serving gourmet food, breakfast, lunch and dinner; concocting a plethora of extravagant foods and daily specials with the added influence of Jazz on Wednesday nights. The meal is an event to be enjoyed by the water, with a bottle of something nice from the nearby bottle shop, Prohibition. Once settled in you won’t want to move for hours.
We are going in two different directions when it comes to dining and, as long as Canberra has busy hungry people who sometimes like to rest awhile, there will be food for both turns of mood.
