Terra Canberra — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

(Edit) After a second visit, on Valentine's Day, my company and I had such a lovely and delicious dinner. I simply had to bump my original review from 3 to 4 ⭐.

The curated menu for Valentine's Day which was served was delicious in all its entirety. We found the brisket absolutely mouth watering, and really loved the potato side dish. Among it all however, we found the chicken to be the least memorable.

The biggest let down which I experienced, not for me at least, was for the couple adjacent to us. They ordered a few additional drinks, but the servers mistakenly kept on bringing it to my company and I's table.

--- First Review --- A nice atmosphere to eat but steak lacking in juiciness and flavour, and other dishes with no wow factor.

Our service was very minimal, but friendly. I think it would have made our experience better had the person serving my company and I mentioned it would be a wait for the food (even getting starters took a while. We assumed the tomahawk would take some time but we were never clarified on this).

Regarding food, my company and I ordered...

Woodfired Kind of Flatbread (truffle butter) - it was okay. The truffle butter complimented the bread really well.

Tomahawk (Chargrill) - the jus was probably the highlight of the tomahawk. Unfortunately, my company and I didn't find it as juicy nor had the charred'ness we were hoping. It was okay to eat, but for my experience, it was not mouth watering nor memorable from eating it.

Brisket Fat Chips - a let down, could barely find/differentiate the brisket fat from the potatoes.

Cucumber Salad; delicious, refreshing.

Overall, it's a nice place for some food if you're looking for a place with hearty protein...

(4.5 stars) When brisket calls to you in Canberra, get thee straight to Terra Bird’n’BBQ. While the menu reads like a hipster barbecue joint, the CBD digs are very upmarket, in a power suits and upmarket red wine kind of way. Sitting at the base of a tower block, Terra has that heavy concrete feel that Canberra is famous for, with cracked aggregate floors, subdued lighting and wall lights mounted on industrial steel girders.

Pulling up on padded little stools, we place our order at the counter and get stuck into some slightly pricy Garage Project beers. White Mischief ($12.50) is an easy-to-like sour beer made on lightly salted soured wheat and white peaches. I like it so much I bought a six pack at Blackhearts & Sparrows later in the day.

The Big Boy Box ($55) is the perfect way to sample across the compact menu, centred upon meats cooked over charcoal on the rotisserie. It presents sliced smoked Angus brisket, a moist quarter of bird, and a mound of fruity-sweet pulled pork shoulder on a tray with four different sauces. While the Terra hot sauce balances the slightly too sweet pork, I’m most enamoured with the miso gravy on the accompanying chips. Super fruity BBQ and garlic sauce rounded out our included saucing selections.

In terms of vegetables, you get to select two from the list of four sides. Fried cauliflower is delicious, with the bite of harissa moderated by sweet vincotto, pepitas and flash-fried leaves. Iceberg lettuce is jazzed up with sesame praline, preserved lemon and dill, with a bowl of tangy house-made pickles rounding out a bargain lunch in a...

Upon entering the venue, the smokey meat aroma enters your lungs. We were then met by a friendly energetic gentleman who succinctly explained how the ordering of "protein & sides" worked. The aesthetic is almost that of a homecooked meal at Easter or Christmas, picking what you can eat at a whim, except that it's on offer everyday to the public. Service was quick, we were famished and the protein dishes we chose came almost straight away off the bone; the chicken burger shortly after. The quality of the meat was exquisite. Succulent, juicy, decent serving & well valued. About the only qualm in our otherwise 10/10 experience was that there was no salt by the table which was resolved by giving us beautiful artisanal salt. As mentioned, most of our service was provided by the gentleman who we believe is named Anish. An opportunity arose to pass a positive comment their way, to which I noticed the other staff listening-in, intently agree and nod. It seems Anish in leadership is quite an asset to this business, proved that today with our first experience at Terra and has the respect of the team around them. During the time we enjoyed our meal all the staff diligently cleaned and took utmost care in the venue upkeep. We are most definitely coming next time to try a dinner service. P.S. we thought the pinot noir would just be a house recommendation but was a possibly Japanese, very high quality plum tasting drink. One of the best...