The ultimate Canberra Food Bible, Chefs Eat Canberra, about to hit our bookshelves
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There are few people who know Canberra’s restaurant scene, its history, people and machinations, as well as Chris Hansen.
In fact, he is one of a kind. From growing up in the 70’s and eating at family favourites The Village Chef in Manuka and Santa Lucia in Kingston, to working front of house at Vivaldi, Café Antigo, The Republic and Chairman and Yip while studying at the ANU, to running his own restaurant Cape Cod in Deakin and opening Ox at East Hotel, to operating a hospitality recruitment company, to setting up online delivery service Canberra Eats to save local restaurants from going under during the pandemic, and now writing about food for our local newspaper, Chris has seen Canberra eating from every single angle.
And next month, a labour of love and an ambitious attempt to capture Canberra and everything edible in it in written form will be launched for public consumption.
Chefs Eat Canberra is a 310-page foodie bible, chronicling the nation’s gastronomic scene from its infancy, starting with the Blue Moon Café which opened in the Sydney Building in 1926, and concluding with the opening, just this month, of Mínima and a profile of the talented brothers, Mork and Benn Ratanakosol, behind it.
The book provides something for everyone, from 30 profiles of our band of celebrated chefs, the hatted ones, the viral ones, the mould-breaking ones as well as a beautifully crafted history of who came before – the pioneers, rule-breakers, and families who helped feed our fledgling capital and provided the inspiration for it to grow.
As Chris says in his opening line “Canberra wasn’t always this good.”
“I conceived the book as a great way to support and promote the local restaurants and tell the wonderful stories which exist… We have had an influx of interstate operators here over the past few years, who have benefitted greatly from subsidised fit-outs by large shopping centres. They come here and say how much they love Canberra, but then they rarely visit again and just use their name to make money. I think that it’s crucial that we support the locally-based people who are at the coalface and putting their heart and soul into it.”
Chris acknowledges it had been an ”extremely tough few years for the industry and its people and I wanted to showcase their brilliance. In some ways, the book has written itself as I found that when I started asking chefs what their favourite dishes and restaurants were in Canberra, it took me in all sorts of different directions. Although there are 30 restaurants featured in the book, the stories take you all around Canberra and mention hundreds of places. It really is an industry-endorsed perspective on what we have right now.”
With the glorious photography of Ashley St George (also an expert on the local food scene) and a stack of interesting views and perspectives of our most talented chefs and hospo people (Nick Smith from Bar Rochford’s top ten most played albums, Dash Rumble from Such and Such’s top five dishes for under $20, Andrew Duong from Miss Van’s top four ramens, Raku’s Hao Chen’s itinerary for 12-hours in Tokyo, and Sean McConnell from Rebel rebel’s four favourite chilled red wines just for beginners), the book is a cracking good read.
And for the first time, Chris has been able to prise some of the city’s most notable recipes out of the cookbooks of their creators, allowing budding Canberra cooks to have a go at classics such as eightysix’s Blackened Chicken, Onzieme’s Potato Galette, Canteen’s Tokyo Bird, Mezzalira’s Tortellini with Ricotta, Pumpkin and Leek, and Grazing’s Smoked Pork Jowl Terrine with Pedro Ximénez, to name but a few. And just for you we have a sneak peek at three top recipes which we will publish on Monday.
Chris still runs his recruitment while also pursuing his reviewing. So it comes as no surprise to learn that he has had to spend the past few months waking at 4 am to work on writing the book uninterrupted until it’s time to help get his kids ready for school.
While he is undoubtedly plugged in to the current scene, his experience stretches back 35 years, when things were just heating up in the city.
“In the mid 90’s, the major players were Chairman, Ottoman, Mezzalira, The Republic and Juniperberry. The first Chefs Hats in Canberra weren’t awarded until 1996, when they were achieved by Ottoman and The Republic. We got ours at Chairman the following year. Atlantic took things to the next level in 2003 when they achieved 2 Hats and Aubergine, under Ben Willis, achieved 2 Hats the following decade.
But Chris pinpoints things really kicking off for Canberra with the opening of eightysix.
“Gus Armstrong blew everything out of the water in 2013 when he launched eightysix. This new wave of non-pretentious, stereo-infused, tastebud and hip-hop-driven dining turbo-charged several careers in today’s high end restaurant scene. Current key players such as Dash Rumble, Malcolm Hanslow, Ross McQuinn and Caitlin Baker from the Pilot/Such and Such crew, as well as Josh Lundy from Bar Rochford and Louis Couttoupes from Onzieme, Peter Kang from Dada and Fergus Lynch from Heywood, all of whom cut their teeth at eightysix.”
Chris notes that Canberra has learned to go its own way.
“In the 80’s, restaurants would wait for the latest edition of Gourmet Traveller and reproduce whatever the good chefs were doing in Sydney or Melbourne. But the 90s bought a new period of creativity and different cultural influences. Chairman’s Duck Pancakes, Shantung Lamb and Beef and Scallop Hotpot, as well as Serif Kaya’s Zucchini Puffs and incredible King Prawns with Lemon Yoghurt introduced the city to new flavours. In the early 2000s, James Mussillon was pumping out plates of Basil-infused Tuna at Atlantic. Although I must have dined at Aubergine twenty times, it’s hard to single out those dishes as pretty much anything Ben Willis cooked at Aubergine held its own on the national stage. XO brought the Asian Bolognese a few years ago and of course, eightysix took Canberra to the big time with their Caramel Popcorn Sundae which made the cover of Gourmet Traveller. But I’m more of a banoffee pie guy. Can we publish the recipe for that here?”
(Yes Chris, we can.)
Now, for readers keen to get a copy, Chefs Eat Canberra will be an independently published book sold through restaurants and selected venues.
It is also available now for pre-order at chefseatcanberra.com and will be delivered by post in September.
HerCanberra readers can have a chance over on our Instagram, to have their very own copy of Chefs Eat Canberra signed by the chef of their choice and delivered to their door. Chefs Eat Canberra is also holding a food photography competition where you can win $1000 worth of vouchers across five restaurants. There is $6000 worth of gourmet dining to be devoured so get snapping!
Photography by Ashley St George (archival photos aside).