The Best Pub Food in Canberra

Canberra’s best crafted pub food, from pasture-fed Scotch fillet to smoky bourbon-glazed chicken wings. Diana Streak.

Marble & Grain

From the $15 lunch specials to the $85 butcher’s board, there’s something for every pocket and palate at this modern take on a classic pub dining room with its russet pressed ceilings, restrained lighting and floor-to-ceiling windows. Centrestage is the meat fridge, with aged-on-the-premises produce from the owner’s farm (the pasture-fed Scotch fillet is 300 grams of beefy bliss). Sweet-and-sour confit duck leg is given a spark with astringent rhubarb sauce, plus a crisp shallot pancake for mopping. Or share the love with a dish for two – slow-cooked local lamb shoulder or 21-day dry-aged T-bone steak – and throw in a batch of duck-fat roast potatoes. For a final flourish, how about a symphony in yellow? Baked lemon cheesecake with citrus salad and mandarin sorbet topped with orange zest hits the sweet spot.

25 Mort Street, Braddon; (02) 6246 9555

The Duxton

Fondly known as “The Dux”, this revamped upstairs-downstairs pub in Canberra’s trendy inner north buzzes day and night as patrons take their place at the bar or in the bistro or outdoor area. Later in the week, book a table for the gang upstairs in The Loft (open Wednesday to Saturday), sink into a Chesterfield sofa with a Black Pearls cocktail (a rousing mix of Captain Morgan spiced rum dosed with lime, mint, ginger beer, chilli syrup and fresh ginger) before tackling smoky bourbon-glazed chicken wings with paprika mayo. If the idea of sticky fingers doesn’t appeal, check out the charcoal-roasted pork loin with morcilla and apple slaw or seared tuna with baby cos, raisins, hazelnuts, herbs and pecorino.

Corner of Sargood and Macpherson streets, O’Connor; (02) 6162 0799  

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