Mínima — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

It’s great to see the team from Morks back in action. The space is cosy and inviting, though quite small, accommodating only 20 people, with 4 seats at the bar.

The menu is more varied than at Morks, featuring dishes spanning across a broader Asian cuisine. We opted for the tasting menu, which was excellent value at $85 per person.

My favourite dishes were the Salmon Sashimi (with Sichuan citrus and mandarin powder), the Fried Pork Neck (with coffee honey sauce and pico de gallo), and the Black Pepper Garlic Beef with broccolini. All offered delightful flavour combinations and are highly recommended from the à la carte menu.

However, my least favourite dish was the Squid (with turmeric, galangal, and pickled mustard leaf). The sauce was overpowering and slightly grainy, detracting from the dish, and I didn’t finish it.

Unfortunately, we didn’t receive the advertised dessert, a five-spice apple crumble, and were instead served a Portuguese tart. While it was tasty, it wasn’t what we expected.

The staff were amazing—joyful, polite, and genuinely invested in making our experience enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the service times were off, likely due to it being only their second week. We were seated at 6 pm and ordered by 6:10 pm, but our first dish didn’t arrive until 6:45 pm. This delay resulted in a rushed end to our two-hour booking, with several dishes, including the beef, pork, and dessert, served at 7:40 pm. We were asked to hurry up as the next booking was at 8 pm. We opted to take away the dishes we couldn’t finish, but they came wrapped in foil as there were no takeaway containers available.

Minina shows great potential, and I believe that once they overcome these early teething problems, they’ll become a significant player in Canberra’s...

Last week we finally made it to the tiny little restaurant in Yarralumla called Minima, where we sat at the counter and tried to avoid distracting the chefs as they got on with it. I suppose being a chef is like being a nurse – long and unusual hours, lots of stress and tight deadlines, difficult customers and high expectations.

Morks was a legendary Thai restaurant at the Kingston Foreshores in Canberra. We went several times and enjoyed it – others went much more often. Then it closed. When restaurants close they often disappear – to much disappointment amongst their clientele. The good news was that Morks was miraculously reborn as Mirima – and it is fantastic.

Even better, we were amazed to see that the very knowledgeable wine expert, who used to give us advice at Edgars in Ainslie, had finally made a move and transferred to Minima. That means you can pick both good food and good wine.

As I sat down the waiter explained that Mirima was a restaurant that leaned towards China, Vietnam and Asia generally. I thought that as we neared the end of an election which would help set Australia’s direction for the future through the massive global tectonic shifts underway, increasingly we would all be leaning that way.

We had the tasting menu and wended our way through a blend of punchy compact dishes, ending up with a restrained laksa full of flavour – the first time I ever had a laksa, at the Central Markets in Adelaide an aeon ago, I thought the world had suddenly burst into colour.

After an evening full of surprises, we finished with what might be the best sticky date pudding I’ve had, because it was so simple and understated and hence packed a punch – and in a restaurant inspired by Asia – that’s the exciting world we...

We went to Minima for the first time as a family for a special occasion. We were delighted but not surprised by the professional knowledgeable people and excellent service.

Mork and Benn are continuing where they left off when Morks closed but with a more intimate setting.

Benn’s excellent front of house skills and knowledge about their wines was excellent.

The degustation enabled them to showcase their new menu which was delicious. Their recommended choice of Tasmanian Pinot Gris complemented the food beautifully.

I would thoroughly recommend Minima. I will be back again but suspect it will become harder to get into very quickly because they have a great concept with everything just right. Thank you for a...