Braddon Merchant — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

*Modern Australian restaurant with focus on local produce. Vibe is calm, casual, elegant. *Located on sunken ground floor of midnight hotel *Scandi / industrial decor: light wood, white tables, minimal plants, concrete pillars. *Includes "grocer" and "deli" selling their own bottled cocktails and stuff, there is also Midnight Bar to the left of the restaurant. Great al fresco area for summer nights.

*Excellent service with good pacing. Lots of water refilling and "how was your food?" 2 courses are $55pp, but a couple could order 1 entree, 2 mains & 1 dessert to share between 2. Excellent value. *Variety of drink options: wine, cocktails, mocktails, juice - it's all there.

Food breakdown: (see pics) House sourdough soft & slightly tangy. Excellent Excellent mocktail as requested. Strachiatella was nuanced and delicate, but didn't wow me.V Good. Duck was juicy and smoked perfectly, fig & radicchio was the perfect accompaniment. Probably the best tasting duck I've had in a while! Excellent! Hanger steak was good. Paris sauce has "25 ingredients but mainly butter, coffee and curry powder". It was neither too buttery nor too thin, went down easily. V.good. Chocolate ganache was really excellent: good quality chocolate, toasted marshmallows, crushed salted hazelnuts, sliced plum, jam ( I think strawberry with hazelnut liquor or essence), mint garnish.

I couldn't fault any of the dishes and I...

Update from 2023: came again for the chefs degustation and I’m blown away again, by the food quality and attentiveness of the service! It’s a place that serves food made with so much care and thought, I love how the servers know so much about the wine and food being served. Don’t be fooled by its location, being in a hotel/apartment restaurant (I know I did, thinking it’ll be a mediocre overpriced place. It’s the opposite!). More importantly, they give you so much beyond what’s being offered on the menu (ie grazing board, chips, salad, bread etc). I always feel like I’m very well looked after when I dine here. It truly deserves all the hype it gets!

Honestly my favourite restaurant in Canberra, keep coming back! We had Arian (?) as our host tonight. He was the absolute best - so so friendly, helpful and sincere and just so happy to do his job well. food is always amazing (affordable fine dining), great value and just really nice ambience. I come here if I want some really good food and feeling lowkey and want a relaxing dinner. I’ll always take or recommend friends to come here. Keep up the good work Braddon...

We had lunch here and it was really lovely.

We had crispy cauliflower with kimchi mayo and heirloom carrots for entree. Both dishes were delicious and cooked perfectly, the cauliflower had a coating that was lightly crunchy and the flavour was superb.

I had roasted celeriac as my main and it was delicious and perfectly cooked, my friend had the Barramundi and she said hers was amazing and perfectly cooked as well.

The atmosphere and surroundings was relaxed, and seating comfortable.

Service was good overall, although a little hit and miss. We didn’t have serving implements for our entrees and the server tried clearing our dishes before we were finished. Service was a bit unsophisticated for the type of restaurant it is, but overall friendly, efficient and accommodating.

If you eat plant based there are some delicious meals to choose from, more creative and unique than many restaurants in Canberra. It was perfect for lunch but wouldn’t be enough food for me as a...