A Canberra restaurant I love…

I find that no matter how many new restaurants open in Canberra, I always seems to return to the ones I love and one I particularly enjoy is Lazy Su voted the number 1 people’s choice restaurant in Canberra.  The interior is distinctly Asian with a Japanese-Korean pop culture theme…I love it!!On this occasion a few months ago I went with my friend Jon and a young Chinese friend we have become close to over the past year or so and who refers to us as his Aussie mum and dad – very sweet!  The menu is good for meat lovers, vegetarians and vegans and there is a good choice of wines and spirits.We started off with dumplings; vegan kimchi, tofu and shallots (more for me as neither Jon nor Peter ate any),  pork and cabbage Chinese style dumplings and Korean buffalo wings which the boys told me were spicy and delicious.The boys then ordered a soy braised pork dish with Korean pickles and shallots and a dish of jasmine tea smoked duck breast which was pan-seared with carrot and yuzu citrus purée and charred Asian greens.  Then they shared a Korean noodle soup which contained pork belly, egg and crispy noodles.

I ordered a cheezeburger which has vegan mince, black beans, mustard, vegan cheddar, cos lettuce, tomato sauce and charred leaks.  It was ‘really’ good but quite large so I need not have ordered Grandma’s Spicy Tofu (Ma Po Doufu 麻婆豆腐) with pickled mustard, eggplant, garlic, chilli and shallots.

I only like mildly spiced dishes and I forgot to ask the waiter how spicy this dish was…oh my goodness it made my tongue and lips go numb with the first big mouthful.  What a shame as it really was good but I couldn’t eat any more.Peter who was born in Sichuan in China and eats very spicy food regularly told us that to calm the tastebuds and numbness after a spicy dish you should eat sugar; haven’t tried this yet but I do know that milk, water and yoghurt do not work.  We did order some from the waiter but it took a little while to reach us and my mouth had calmed down by that stage.

We did order one more dish which was really tasty; deep friend tofu with an avocado sauce – wow so good.  I think even non-tofu lovers would enjoy this one.We were way too full for dessert so after an evening of good food and wine and lovely company it was time to say ‘goodbye’…until next time.