10 best Braddon restaurants for your next Canberra visit

The best Braddon restaurants sit at the heart of Canberra’s food scene, both literally and figuratively.

Braddon is far removed from its industrial past, but you won’t have to squint to see the distinct edge still wrapping around the inner-city suburb’s best restaurants. It is to Canberra what Fitzroy is to Melbourne or Surry Hills to Sydney, pushed as the capital’s centre of cool with a healthy mix of vintage stores standing next to studious bakeries and agenda-setting restaurants.

If you’ve ever wondered why Canberra’s restaurant scene is constantly praised, just walk down Lonsdale Street and walk into any one of the best Braddon restaurants. You’ll walk out with a sharp understanding of why locals are so fiercely proud of their dining scene, and why visitors can’t seem to get enough.

Below, we’ve listed 10 of the best restaurants in Braddon to help give you a roadmap of Canberra’s culinary pocket.

The Shortlist

Best for Business Lunches: Corrella Restaurant & Bar
Best for Vegan / Vegetarian: EightySix North
Great for Special Occasions: Italian and Sons
Hidden Gem: White Chaco
Best Date Spot: Lazy Su

1. Italian and Sons

Italian and Sons is a fast and fun trattoria leading Canberra’s dynamic food scene since opening in 2010. The simple, unadorned dining room has that arrestingly casual, almost bistro-like familiarity, focusing purely on authentic pasta and proteins on a menu that switches daily and rests on seasonality.

Minimal is always the best way to tackle the Italian and Sons menu. This could mean anything from texturally perfect pappardelle with wagyu short rib ragu or a pumpkin and leek tortelli with ricotta and burnt sage butter, to a lightly spiced 300g wood-fired pork cutlet with prosciutto.

Cuisine: Italian
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Casual, noisy and theatrical with an open kitchen
Location: 7 Lonsdale St

2. Corrella Restaurant & Bar

Corella Restaurant & Bar opened in April 2021, immediately setting a new agenda for Canberra foodies with its effortlessly chic interior and highly snackable share plates. Native flowers frame a Euro-styled space splashed with elegant terrazzo floors while grand arched windows pull in just the right amount of outside.

The kitchen’s deep reverence for native ingredients can be found all over the menu, from simple house focaccia with saltbush and buttermite to a fan-favourite wagyu tartare casualised with salt and vinegar onion rings. There’s an irrepressible sense of creativity strung throughout, keeping Corrella front of mind in any discussion on where to eat in Braddon.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Fun and intimate with a strong sense of community.
Location: 14 Lonsdale St

3. Zaab Street Food

The top Braddon restaurants maintain a grungy backbone while offering something modern and visually impactful. That’s Zaab Street Food in a nutshell, translating moreish Lao and Thai food for Canberrans with stellar cocktails and an approachable, graffiti-laden atmosphere.

Pick anything on the menu and you’re guaranteed a good time. Classics like crispy pork belly and massamun curry are staples, but the share-style menu rewards exploration so venture outside your comfort zone. The flamed cauliflower, beautifully spiced with a mix of paprika, ginger, garlic, pomegranate, and sweet potato curry blend, caramelised corn puree and roast chilli oil, is the subversive showstopper you never knew you needed. Pair it with a snicker’s old fashioned—fortune favours the bold

Cuisine: South-East Asian
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Trendy and upbeat with a loud, clangy kitchen
Location: 2/9 Lonsdale St

4. Rizla

You’ll find Rizla on the corner of Lonsdale and Eloura, billed as Braddon’s best wine bar with a menu that mostly dances around the ACT to keep things intimate to the region and support Canberra’s best wineries.

Riesling is always the answer at Rizla, pulled in many different directions with a diverse selection of bar snacks to pair. Try the biji chicken skewers with banana ketchup or roast pork loin with almond romesco and eggplant caponata or grab a highlight reel with the $80 feed me menu.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Price: $$
Atmosphere: Intimate with a fine-casual ambience.
Location: 24 Lonsdale St

5. Lazy Su

Bright, buzzy and big (notice a theme here?). Lazy Su is another strong reason to eat your way up and down Londsale Street with Mod-Asian picked cobbled from different countries around the continent.

On paper, the menu is overwhelmingly diverse, but what you actually get are big, focused flavours fused by a constant need to experiment. Speedy service means you’ll get those wagyu cheesesteak spring rolls piping hot, but your feast should also include the fun jalapeno noodle poppers, maybe some Japanese roast chicken, and definitely the spicy prawn and bacon wontons.

Cuisine: Modern Asian
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: A lively atmosphere perfect for date night or an after-work meal with friends
Location: 1/9 Lonsdale St

6. EightySix North

Crowd as close to the furiously busy open kitchen as possible and enjoy the drama at EightySix. The raw industrial interior might seem rather blunt and impersonal on first impression, but the simplicity mirrors the produce-forward dishes like a lovely prawn and saffron risotto flecked with tomatoes and drizzled with light crispy chilli oil, or the fragrant crispy eggplant with Sichuan chilli caramel.

Playful desserts like a banoffee pie with pretzels and strawberry cheesecake are also included in the $100pp vegetarian tasting menu that’s always in such high demand at this fun and approachable fine-casual diner. There’s no obvious style or technique, just great food and good times.

Cuisine: Modern Australia
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Low-key and approachable with a beautiful sense of theatre
Location: Corner of Eloura & Mode3, Lonsdale St

7. WineRoom

As per the name, WineRoom slots in as Braddon’s favourite neighbourhood vino-slinger and pitch-perfect snacks, wrapped with a transportive atmosphere that’ll place you anywhere from the tight laneways of Spain to the cobblestone street of Florence.

Seasonality is key, so work through the enthusiastic list of worldly snacks like charred king prawn with roasted tomato puree and broccolini with an onsen egg and soy mirin. That or you can grab four courses for $109, giving you plenty of ways to bring the most out of the lovingly curated wine list that’s always pushing you to try something new and exciting.

Cuisine: European
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: A neighbourhood wine bar imported bar channelling your favourite European summer holiday
Location: 24 Mort St

8. White Chaco

Taking up just a tiny part of the Nibu Building on Lonsdale Street, White Chaco gives off that if-you-know-you-know vibe, billing itself as a hidden gem. Most visitors brush over this Asian fusion restaurant, but the quality is unquestionable.

There are only two sittings per night for the space, which sits around 20 people and presents delicate, beautifully executed dishes typically marrying Japanese and Taiwanese flavours.

Take whatever plum wine the highly knowledgeable staff suggest (trust us) and then see what’s new and interesting on the menu, with previous dishes like warm scallop sashimi with butter soy, smoked nuts and pecorino cheese showing the kitchen’s creativity.

Cuisine: Japanese (predominantly)
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Secretive, intimate space with a smart use of light and shadow
Location: g10/27 Lonsdale St

9. Braddon Merchant

Braddon Merchant is that tireless Lonsdale Street favourite that has consistency down to fine art. Head along for breakfast, dinner or weekend brunch and you’ll find Canberra’s most discerning foodies fooling around with fresh, light and simple Mediterranean dishes done well and kept affordable.

The award-winning drinks menu of over 150 local and international wines is most valuable, paired with simple fare like meatballs with smoked mozzarella, cod with coconut and chilli, and a fan-favourite steak ciabatta with caramelised onion and sundried tomato. Yes, it’s really that simple. And the results are effortlessly excellent.

Cuisine: European
Price: $$
Atmosphere: Simple and bright with all attention given to top-shelf produce
Location: 1 Elouera St

10. Grease Monkey

Each city’s hip and happening foodie strip needs at least one reliable burger joint. For Lonsdale Street, that prerequisite is filled by the bare-bones Grease Monkey. American-style burgers with an Australian twist is the pitch, dialled in with a hard-won consistency that regularly places these as some of the best burgers in Canberra. Maybe even Australia.

You’ll always find a queue pouring out of this former mechanic’s garage, which has kept the industrial vibe and even brings on DJs on weekends. Forget the coke; wash that burger down with a shake or local craft beer.

Cuisine: American
Price: $
Atmosphere: Grungy and industrial with DJs on weekends
Location: 19 Lonsdale St

Discover the best cafes in Canberra.

The post 10 best Braddon restaurants for your next Canberra visit appeared first on Australian Traveller.