Five Canberra restaurants designed to impress
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What makes a restaurant great? Is it a distinctive culinary concept, the top-notch food, or the interior design and ambience? These five restaurants in Canberra tick all the boxes.
Serving up inventive menus in beautiful spaces, taste your way through these elevated, eclectic, and elegant dining destinations that are designed to impress.
KOTO (Parkes)
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Dubbed one of the most exciting openings of 2023, KOTO continues to be one of Canberra’s favourite fine dining darlings – and for good reason. Both the menu and moody interior will have jaws dropping, and that’s even before we get to the carefully crafted food from Executive Chef and Sushi Master, Shinya Nakano (who trained in Kyoto with a fifth-generation sushi Master).
Inspired by the Kaiseki philosophy – a set of traditional Japanese guidelines that pay respect to the land and ingredients that surround us – the menu boasts a considered selection of raw and cooked seafood, vegetable dishes, and premium beef, all of which are best enjoyed overlooking the Japanese gardens while sipping on sake.
Located in the elegant standalone pavilion that was once home to iconic Canberra restaurant The Lobby, with a 15-seat sushi bar, luxurious main dining area and two private interlinking dining rooms, it’s one of Canberra’s most striking venues. Equally suited to corporate lunches as to Christmas parties and end-of-year celebrations, KOTO is definitely designed to impress.
1 King George Terrace, Parkes | kotodining.com.au
Rebel Rebel (Acton)
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Named after the David Bowie song, you might think that New Acton’s Rebel Rebel would match the glam rock aesthetic that made Bowie so iconic. Instead, this award-winning restaurant oozes the kind of cool that comes from simple modernity and a complete lack of pretence.
All about serving good food and wine with a Modern Australian touch, you won’t find anything too complex on the menu here, which is light on meat but heavy on vegetables. Think: grilled prawn served with bay leaf butter, slow roasted sugarloaf cabbage with whipped tahini and harissa oil, Jerusalem artichokes with celeriac, walnuts, and Reggiano, and more.
Expect more anti-establishment than establishment.
23 Marcus Clarke Street, Acton | rebelrebeldining.com.au
Lamshed’s (Yarralumla)
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Known as “Canberra’s wine bar for those in the know”, Lamshed’s looks casual, but the food is anything but. With a chic yet clean warehouse aesthetic complete with concrete floors, high ceilings and wooden tables, the menu here straddles the fine line between snacks and more substantial mains, with playful takes on classic dishes.
Keeping their offerings small and simple, share plates are the order of the day here with a Modern Australian flavour inspired by seasonal produce – from Wallis Lake oysters with pinot pickled watermelon to cured ocean trout served with beetroot, eschalot, and sour cream. As for the wine list? With local and lesser-known international labels, you’ll find plenty of interesting by-the-glass options.
Unit 2/27 Bentham Street, Yarralumla | lamsheds.com.au
Lunetta (Red Hill)
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Offering modern dining in a modernist icon, Lunetta was crowned the 2025 ACT Restaurant of the Year by food bible Australian Gourmet Traveller after dazzling foodies of all calibres since its opening in 2024. One of two restaurants located in the mid-century modernist icon 60 Red Hill Drive – the other, Lunetta Trattoria, is a relaxed neighbourhood bar located on the ground floor – Lunetta overlooks Canberra and serves considered Italian-inspired cuisine.
From a drool-worthy ravioli with roasted garlic honey butter, potato, pecorino, and ricotta, to butterflied blue mackerel with broccolini salsa verde, and poblano pepper, you’ll have to try the polished menu by executive chef Tristan Rebbettes (ex Café Paci and Saint Peter) for yourself to see what the hype is about.
60 Red Hill Drive, Red Hill | lunetta.au
Onzieme (Kingston)
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Inspired by Parisian bistronomy, Onzieme is helmed by Chef Louis Couttoupes and earned the title of ‘Restaurant of the Year’ in 2023. Serving inventive small plates alongside a standout natural wine list, this sleek, loosely European wine bar is moody, intimate and perfect for an escape from the CBD.
Regularly changing the menu and taking a nose-to-tail approach, what you see on the online menu might change by the time you get there – but that’s half the magic. Ideal, no matter if you’re seeking a simple snack of a full-on feast, expect the unexpected and make sure to go hungry for something a little bit different.
35 Kennedy Street, Kingston | onzieme.com.au
