Australia, Canberra, FOOD, Food reviews, Food reviews - Australia, HOLIDAYS, LOVE, Romantic dates A DATE AT WATERS EDGE RESTAURANT IN CANBERRA 16 January 2013

With the kids snugly tucked into bed and babysat by Chris’ parents, Chris took me out on a wonderful dinner date at the Waters Edge Restaurant. I was excited – it was our first (and last) proper date during our Canberra trip.. and the thought of us being alone sans kids was just so deliciously enticing 😛

It started off pretty badly because actually, Chris had made the booking for their sister restaurant, Courgette. Unbeknownst to him, Courgette was closed over the Christmas/New Year season. So he dialed Courgette’s number, and it was auto-redirected to Waters Edge WITHOUT informing him. The waiter at Waters Edge restaurant took his reservation without warning him that this was an entirely different restaurant.

So of course, we turned out at Courgette. We were really weirded out to find it closed, since we had made the reservation. But because I vaguely remembered that they had a sister restaurant, I deduced that maybe our reservation was there instead.

We called Waters Edge to check, and YES, the reservation was there! No apology from the staff, however.

So we jumped back into the car and drove to Waters Edge. The service staff were friendly and polite, but very obviously understaffed. We waited half an hour for our order to be taken. When we mentioned we wanted to order wines, the waiter said he’ll put our food order through first and would “be right back”. A very long 15 minutes later, he came to take our drinks order.

I should also mention that they didn’t proactively refill our water glasses – something I consider a sign of attentive service in a nice restaurant. I asked them 3 times to refill.

We had to wait 20-30 mins for the waitress to come round with the bread rolls. I was bloody STARVING because it was 9PM by now and we had only just ordered our food, so Chris almost had to physically restrain me from tackling her to the ground as she strolled around the room slooowwwly.

They also completely forgot about our truffle mash, which we ordered as a side dish. When we pointed this out, he said “I’ll take it off your bill.” Damn straight you will, buster!! I actually expected, with the delayed ordering and forgotten side, they would offer a complimentary coffee or something – but nada.

Anyway, those were the bad points. It was annoying, but not really a deal breaker.. just that it made the evening a little less than perfect. We still thoroughly enjoyed our food and our time together just chatting and laughing. Our lives are so consumed with kids these days that it’s nice to have a little breather sometimes 🙂

 

My wonderful man outside Waters Edge restaurant

 

That whipped butter had the best texture, but tasted like smoked bacon butter. When we asked, he said it was “smoked apple butter”. OK whatever, it seriously tasted like smoked bacon!!

 

Spanner crab roulade, chilled tomato consomme, seeded mustard ice cream – the consomme was a bit of a weird combination, but loved the crab!

 

Quail and foie gras terrine, picked rhubarb, barberry and vanilla – eeeeek fantastic. Then again, I can never fault foie gras

 

Warm prawn cocktail with blood orange and spicy avocado cream – this looked pretty anemic on the plate, but the mix of flavours and textures (especially that gorgeous cream sauce) was excellent

 

Caramelised pork belly, boudin noir, crisp apple and radish – HOLY SMOKES this was perfection. Lusciously soft and tender, I wanted 6 more pieces of this.

 

Pan seared john dory, balmain bug ravioli, fresh peas, eucalyptus – so pretty a dish. beautifully cooked fish, what more can I say?

 

White pyrenees lamb rump, smoked eggplant, capsicum terrine, quinoa – this not only look good, it tasted freakin’ good!!!!!

 

Strawberry and elderflower shortcake, meringue, sweet cucumber, wild berry sorbet – this sounded so interesting on the menu! Beautifully executed and not too sweet, but that “sweet cucumber” was completely odd..

 

Cheeses with walnut bread, fruit and crackers – ahhhh a cheese platter at the end of a meal. How can you go wrong?

 

Lovely ambience and food, all washed down with a sparkling pinot noir. A much-needed date night out.. and we felt so reinvigorated afterwards 🙂 Totally recommend this place for a date in Canberra, but just confirm you’re going to the right restaurant and go EARLY, or your meal will end up finishing past 11PM like ours did!

 

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Looks amazing! I went to Waters Edge years ago when it was under different management, and it was just divine. Then when they sold to the new owners, I heard bad things about the food so never went back for fear of ruining my lovely memories. But this looks wonderful! And I can always trust your glowing food reviews 🙂 Pity about the service…

I found the food nothing blow-my-mind, but it was good 🙂 Very small portions though, I wasn’t that full! But, it was one of the few nice restaurants that was open over the Christmas/NY break and it was worth it 🙂