no rice

Today, Malc & I made a special trip to Canberra to say au revoir to our good friend Dr Miwa, who is off to take up a post at Nottingham University. It was good timing too, as the Floriade flower show was on in the nation's capital, so we joined Miwa's friends for a picnic at the Floriade grounds.

We were supposed to drive up and drive down, but a few days ago, Malc told me that I need to pack some clothes . . . he had a surprise up his sleeve. The first one was a reservation at Crowne Hotel Canberra, how he managed to get a room during Floriade is indeed incredible. Then, for dinner, we headed off to another surprise location . . . Lanterne Rooms (3 Blamey Place Campbell ACT 2612 ph 61 2 6249 6889).

The restaurant had a nice ambiance, with high ceilings and toned down Asian-inspired decor. The waitstaff were also friendly and attentive. After admiring the surrounds, Malc & I checked up the menu and here were our choices:

I had grilled chicken marinated in galangal and lemongrass with okra. The chicken was nice an moist and the skin nicely grilled. I would have enjoyed this dish even more if there was rice! I was a bit surprised when my order arrived and it was just the chicken and vegetables . . . no rice. So Malc asked the waiter for some rice and he said "we don't have rice in this restaurant." My heart sank, but credit to the waiter, he did check the kitchen to see if they had prepared rice for the banquet menu . . . they did not.

Malc, for his part, thoroughly enjoyed his order of rice noodles in dark soya and ginger sauce with seafood (scallops, octopus, prawns and ikan bilis). The noodles were circular and as the waiter said, they were a bit chewy like gnocchi. The amount of seafood was quite generous and Malc reckoned it was top-notch hawker food and the dried fish was the ingredient that made the dish.

We hurriedly ate our dessert, I had strawberry shortcake and Malc had kulfi ice cream with peppered pineapple then headed back to the hotel in time for Iron Chef.