A first glimpse of Midnight—Braddon’s newest bar and eatery

Posted on 24 September, 2019

Canberra’s new Midnight Hotel has two high-end food and wine venues which promise to be as different as—well, night and day.

Midnight Bar and Braddon Merchant reside side-by-side on the ground floor of the new $200 million Geocon project which includes the Midnight Hotel and a mixed-use residential development on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and Elouera Street.

The new bar and eatery are both slightly sunken below street level into luxe industrial fitouts with expansive outdoor seating areas, and while they share a location, they have distinctly different looks, feels and modus operandi.

Midnight Bar is all dark panelling, mood lighting and granite accents. Image: Ryan Linnegar

Midnight Bar is all dark panelling, mood lighting and granite accents, offering a sophisticated bar with a view out onto Northbourne Avenue and all its passersby. Braddon Merchant is blonde-wood filled European-style deli and eatery facing north onto Mort Street, capturing the morning sun and a more neighbourly focus. Both establishments offer a carefully-curated taste of Canberra and the region to be enjoyed at different times of the day by guests at the hotel and by discerning Canberra foodies alike.

Braddon Merchant is blonde-wood filled European-style deli and eatery. Image: Ryan Linnegar

The hotel is operated by Iconic Hotels, the hotels division of Geocon, and part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection. It offers 199 premium rooms situated around a vast jungle-like internal atrium, indoor pool and wellness centre.

And the man in charge of creating the hotel’s gastronomic experiences is Andrew Morrow.

The former Bathers’ Pavilion and Hayman Island chef, who enjoyed tenure at Emirates Palace in the United Arab Emirates and has worked across America and Europe, has honed his focus on all good things coming out of Canberra and the surrounding countryside.

Andrew has left no stone unturned in his quest to serve fresh and inventive fare which keeps pace with the 160-label wine list featuring a vast selection of local and international drops.

In fact, some may suggest his approach to sourcing ingredients is verging towards the obsessive.

The 160-label wine list features a vast selection of local and international drops. Image: Ryan Linnegar.

After many a south-coast sortie, he finally settled on seafood sourced from not one, but three local boats. There is the Innes family’s Bateman’s Bay Boatshed where he will receive his octopus, flathead and bottom-feeding fish; Narooma Seafood Direct which will provide his long-line swordfish, kingfish and mahi-mahi; and his selected line fisherman out of Merimbula who will be supplying blackfish and seasonal delicacies such as strawberry clams.

Li Sun Exotic Mushrooms from Mittagong’s disused railway tunnels will be served alongside Bumnut eggs from Gunning and Nelligrow herbs from Nelligen.

These local products intersperse a Braddon Merchant menu which caters for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days.

Braddon Merchant. Image: Ryan Linnegar.

Always seasonally-focused, the menu includes interesting breakfast fare including steamed millet porridge, tamarillo jam, muscovado sugar and fried thyme, or perhaps hot smoked Murray cod, parsley and young potatoes.

For lunch, try a selection from the deli counter, which includes everything from 16-month aged Italian prosciutto de Parma, to the locally-produced truffle Veneto salami from Balzanelli or the house-cured swordfish belly bacon.

For Canberra’s resident pescetarians and vegetarians, there is an intriguing array of seafood and vegetable-based main meals. These include the Merimbula line-caught blackfish, with sautéed Nelligrow sunflower shoots, a Casarecce pasta ‘risotto’ with South Coast clams, preserved lemon and parsley, or the roasted Li Sun king mushroom with millet, pickled garlic and charred spring onion.

In coming weeks the continental deli counter will also house a range of grab-and-go baguettes and sweet treats for those on the run.

Carefully crafted cocktails at Midnight Bar. Image: Ryan Linnegar.

For those in search of liquid excitement, the adjacent Midnight Bar has a vast array on offer.

Keeping things very local (as in, on the same street!) a BentSpoke Brewing Co. beer collaboration (keenly overseen by Iconic Hotels Director of Food and Beverage Joseph Wagland) has resulted in two special brews—the Braddon Ale and the Midnight Lager, both on tap.

These might be best served alongside some crispy pigs ears with mead, malt, espelettes and chives. Or maybe chicken wings with smoked salt and chilli for the less adventurous.

The bar also offers a delightfully curated cocktail list which matches carefully-chosen share plates.

These include the Midnight Bellini made with black raspberry, charcoal, and bubbles which is recommended to accompany the house-made chicken liver parfait with 60-second buckwheat brioche and rhubarb. Suggested drinking time? Midnight.

But if you’re in earlier in the day, the Notting Hill Spritz with pink gin, grapefruit, and tonic can always wash down some Moonlight Flat Clair de Lune oysters with bonito gel and finger lime.

Indeed, between the dark moodiness of Midnight Bar and the lightness of Braddon Merchant, this glamorous corner of Braddon is likely to keep you coming back at all hours of the day.

the essentials

What: Midnight Bar and Braddon Merchant are now open
Where: Midnight Hotel, 1 Elouera Street Braddon (off Northbourne Avenue, opposite the Elouera St tram station)
Hours: Braddon Merchant: 6.30 am till late Mon-Fri, 7 am till late weekends, Midnight Bar: 11 am till late seven days
Contact: midnightbar.com.au and braddonmerchant.com.au

Photography: Ryan Linnegar