Garden Pavilions, Pialligo Estate

Pialligo is an odd place. Two minutes from Canberra Airport, 10 from Federal Parliament, it is a tiny pocket or rural idyll full of apple orchards and nurseries, and increasingly fine restaurants and eateries.

Pialligo Estate's Farmhouse Restaurant and the more informal Garden Pavilions are the new kids on the block, nestling among the well-known micro-winery right near the end of the little hamlet's single road, but the history of the estate is long and deep, and yes it is the place that makes that award-winning Pialligo smokehouse bacon.

The river flats, settled by Europeans in the 1820s, including the Campbell family, are famously fertile. Running along the Murrumbidgee​ River, the 28-hectare Pialligo Estate is a sensational spot with 360 degree views, and the place makes the most of it. Pavilion tables are divided up into groups of four inside substantial huts on the grounds, vines behind and orchards beyond. As the fire in the sky settles to a muted pink, diners try to focus on the menu, a short selection of plates to share that turn out to be very generous.

We start with thick curls of the smokehouse's salmon gravlax​ with shavings of fennel and wedges of orange ($25). The simple, clean flavours and textures and the great produce make a great start to the meal. A platter of cured and smoked meats and marinated vegetables is really classy, all made on site and full of freshness ($38, $20 for a kid size).

The wine list is compact, focusing on local drops, as you would expect, and we did well with mostly Pialligo Estate offerings, especially the sangiovese​ ($11 a glass).

The service is friendly, but a little vague at times, with menu knowledge not entirely comprehensive, and a little slowness on requests, but these are small things.

The food arrives at a nice pace, and staff move blinds as the sun sinks, buzzing about to ensure guests are happy. A main-sized share plate of lamb shoulder ($28) comes out as a huge fan of thickly cut slices of tender, flavoursome meat. A mound of grainy tomato salad is simple and very good, and a shining pile of skin-on chats looks great, but they are slightly underdone inside.

Big legs of octopus ($23) sit atop a great inky grain concoction, and this is perhaps the dish of the night. The octopus is wonderfully tender and full flavoured, with an outer shell of charry crispness. Saffron risotto ($29) is pleasant and distinguished by four good, large prawns.

For a place the waitress tells us "doesn't really do dessert", a lovely individual lemon meringue and silky chocolate and caramel tart finished us off nicely.

What a pleasure it is to see such an ambitious venture offering our food, grown on our plains, made by our people to such great effect. The Garden Pavilions could well become a Canberra tourist icon, with all the space, beauty, freshness, relaxation and value Australia is known for. Canberrans will need to move quickly to make sure there is plenty of space for us.