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Morsels: Good Food Month in Canberra, Highgate Lane cafe, Stand By Me, Autolyse expands

Natasha Rudra

Autolyse bakery is opening a new branch in Sydney.
Autolyse bakery is opening a new branch in Sydney.Jay Cronan

While the political and economic climate still have some restaurateurs a little nervous, there's no denying Canberra's food scene is burgeoning and the city has been getting quite a bit of attention of late. It's about time we celebrated our foodies, our restaurants, and our passionate growers and producers - and that time is Fairfax Good Food Month, which is coming to Canberra in October. The city's restaurateurs are making plans for Good Food Month and are thinking up themed dinners, meet-the-chef talks and other events. Just announced is the big news that Frank Camorra of MoVida will make an appearance at Parlour for a very special one night event. More details to come.

There are also pasta classes for kids at Jamie's Italian, which will teach eight to 10-year-olds how to make fresh pasta and focaccia, and then follow up with a pasta cooking demonstration and a sit-down feed. And the foodies at NewActon, led by Sean McConnell of Monster, are working on a very interesting sounding event involving quite a few restaurants - we can't say too much at the moment but stay tuned.

Thomasina Miers' <i>Chilli Notes</i> is worth a look.
Thomasina Miers' Chilli Notes is worth a look.Supplied
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Good Food Month has been an institution in Sydney, particularly the popular night noodle markets at Hyde Park and has expanded to Melbourne and Brisbane as well. Last year Canberra had a taste of the event with special dinners and an appearance from San Francisco celebrity chef Daniel Patterson of Coi. This year promises to be bigger. The full program will come out in August inFood & Wine. There's still time for restaurants to register an event with Good Food Month - go to canberra.goodfoodmonth.com for more.

New cafes
A new coffee shop is opening up in Kingston – not in itself unusual news. But might be a little different is the location – inside the Cusack Centre on Eyre Street, which used to house a furniture store but is now home to a yoga studio, CrossFit training and pole dancing. The cafe is called Highgate Lane. And a little further south in Lyons is another new cafe, Stand By Me, which has been open for a week or two and will be a welcome addition for suburbanites who want a coffee fix but don't want to traipse to Braddon and Kingston for a bit of breakfast.

Food market
The Hustle & Scout fashion and craft markets are on in NewActon on Saturday and so is The Forage, a foodie version of the market featuring street stalls. It'll be in the Nishi Gallery off Kendall Lane next to Parlour, from 3pm on Saturday July 5. See theforage.com.au.

Autolyse expansion
Autolyse has been quite a success in Canberra and is now following up with a new branch in the big smoke – Sydney. The new bakery is on the Broadway shopping strip at Chippendale and opened Tuesday, July 1.

Fiver4food campaign
You might have seen last week's story about the YWCA of Canberra's winter campaign for its food bank, The Food Hub, which supplies groceries, fresh fruit and vegetables and health products to families in the Tuggeranong area. The fiver4food campaign asks people to make a meal on just $5 and then donate $5 or some groceries to the Food Hub. If you're on social media, you could host a fiver4food dinner with friends, snap a photo of the event and tag it #fiver4food and @ywcacanberra and @canberratimes. You could go in the running to win a foodie gift pack from Food & Wine – a selection of cookbooks and other goodies. See more at ywcacanberra.org.au.

Book of the week
Check out Thomasina Miers' Chilli Notes which is all about "recipes to warm the heart and not burn the tongue". Which doesn't sound like fun to a diehard chilli addict but Miers' point is that it's all about spice and flavour, not setting your entire head on fire via the palate. The recipes range from roast rabbit to spicy cauliflower soup to a molten chilli, chocolate, almond and espresso cake. Published by Hachette, $49.99.

Default avatarNatasha Rudra is an online editor at The Australian Financial Review based in London. She was the life and entertainment editor at The Canberra Times.

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