Canberra Eats bringing our favourite restaurants home.

Posted on 27 March, 2020

Canberra Eats is a new online delivery system bringing you take-away meals from places you won’t find on any of the usual fast-food delivery services. All you have to do is set the table.

Do you miss going out? Do you miss the places you used to frequent with groups of more than five? Do you miss the restaurant orders you used to make? Yes, us too.

But this news will brighten your day. Canberra Eats is arriving next week.

Veteran Canberra hospitality recruiter Chris Hansen has had to adapt fast to the changing landscape. Just five days ago he decided to throw his energies into trying to bring some normalcy into our lives—whilst helping the desperate staff in the ACT’s hospitality industry.

Canberra Eats is the result of his industry know-how and connections.

It’s a new online delivery system bringing you a huge variety of take-away meals from some of the places you miss most—places you’re unlikely to find on any of the usual fast-food delivery services.

Places such as Assembly in Braddon, Temporada in Civic, Abell’s Kopi Tiam in Manuka, Agostinis in Kingston or even the rustic Albion Café in Braidwood.

Canberra Eats is soft-launching from next week with menus specially designed to give hungry customers what they want at a price that they can afford.

For a $10 delivery fee within a 4-5 suburb radius of the restaurant (slightly higher charges will apply if you live further out) and a minimum order of $55, you put the order in before 5 pm, chose a delivery slot somewhere between 6-9 pm, set the table and wait. The hospitality trained drivers will alert you when the food arrives and execute a contactless delivery!

That’s basically it.

And let’s face it, while we are all stocked up with pasta and rice right now, the thought of Temporada’s roast lamb shoulder with lemon pepper yoghurt, cous cous, and pumpkin, with a side of wood-grilled broccolini with garlic and anchovy sauce and finished off with a dark chocolate and salted caramel tart is going to sound pretty irresistible in a few more days. Or even right now.

Temporada’s Wood Grilled Broccolini, Garlic & Anchovy Sauce.

“I’ve had to get this idea up and running really quickly because we want to keep these restaurants alive, and they all have very loyal customer bases that they want to continue to service.”

“We want to be able to ensure that people who used to head down to Manuka for Abell’s chicken curry with tamarind and coconut can still get it, and that those friends who used to meet at the Old Canberra Inn for buffalo wings and a cheeseburger can still enjoy the food, and even get a six-pack of beer thrown into the order.”

With established brands such as Pialligo Urban, Parlour, and the National Press Club also on board, Chris said Canberra Eats was doing something a bit more high-end than UberEats and Deliveroo.

“For instance, the Press Club is doing a retro dinner menu including duck leg confit with autumn lentils, charred peas and bacon or a braised beef brisket with horseradish mash for $20.” Bargain!

While you are ordering your meal, many venues will also be offering a bespoke wine list, so that you can make a night of it.

Agostinis chefs will be whipping up meals for you to enjoy at home.

“Part of the motivation for doing this is helping Canberra keep its chefs in the game, rather than losing them forever. Also, by hiring hospitality staff as drivers, there is a greater respect for the food transportation process.

“We know that hospitality casuals and most of the full-time staff have lost their jobs, but this is a way to keep the chefs at least in the kitchen, and some staff employed. When the city finally bounces back from this, it would be a tragedy for us to have lost some of our top talent.”

“’Locals supporting their local’ is our tagline. We want people to consider the businesses in their suburb, the places they normally enjoy and to give them a lifeline.”

“Think of it as a way to bring your favourite chef into your house, where you can order your favourite dish and know that you are playing a small role in keeping that restaurant open for the long-term.”

While it’s a soft launch next week, Chris is hoping to broaden the restaurant base in coming weeks.

“This is all happening quickly, but we want to get the service out there, so as we bed it in we can expand our listings.”

Restaurants which will be taking orders through Canberra Eats next week include:

Northside: Parlour, Temporada, Mama Dough, Edgar’s Inn, Old Canberra Inn, Pialligo Urban, Assembly.

Southside: Agostinis, Abell’s Kopi Tiam, National Press Club

Braidwood: Albion Café will be offering a range of classic dishes snap-frozen to heat up at home including eight-hour slow-roasted lemon garlic lamb and Braidwood potatoes.

Want to see these guys in your part of Canberra? Check out the landing page on the site before it goes live and add your suburb to the list.

This is a sponsored post, presented in partnership with Canberra Eats. Feature image of Pialligo Estate by Tim Bean Photography.