Walt and Burley, Kingston

Pulled pork, barbecue ribs and heapings of slaw - unheard of a few short years ago in Canberra and now a staple item on menus around the city. And so it is at Walt and Burley on the Kingston foreshore which is one of two pubs on the waterfront serving up barbecue, burgers, and grilled meats. 

There's a good crowd this weeknight, sitting in the sun on the long benches outside. When this place first opened last year, we were told the design was meant to echo a Scandinavian lakehouse, with pale timber and white panelled display cases above the bar. But with the big glass doors thrown open to the summer afternoon sun it's more like an inviting living room that you can have dinner in. Everything's nicely zoned - the couches and chairs for chatting over a glass of wine by the wide modern fireplace; the banquettes and tables on the side next to the kitchen for meals, the outdoor benches for communal post work drinks, the high tables near the bar for smaller gatherings. 

The menu combines standard pub fare such as fish and chips, pasta and steak with southern American style dishes - buttermilk fried chicken, racks of ribs, a Cajun tuna loin. There's a section for burgers and one for nibbles and entrees. And there's a nice range of beers, a separate cocktail list and wines drawn mostly from New Zealand and Australia, with Nick O'Leary and Clonakilla representing the Canberra district. We aim to start with the white corn nachos with beans, salsa and Monterey Jack cheese ($14) before moving on to a couple of mains. But all the food arrives at once so we just pile in. We probably look like two overeaters on a mission.

The nachos are okay - filled with a nice guacamole, richly green and garlicky, but the overly chunky salsa and scattered beans make for a messy experience. The ominously named Beast of Burley plate ($32)  is a generous serve of meats, a mix of pulled pork, ribs and sausage.  The andouille sausage, to me, tastes like chorizo with Cajun spices. But it's got plenty of flavour and is clearly the star of the plate. The barbecued pork ribs are also pretty good. They're beautifully tender and with an excellent texture and covered lightly in tart, tomatoey barbecue sauce. The large pile of pulled pork on the bottom of the plate, however, is a little tough and underdone - it could be more flavourful. 

A platter of southern buttermilk fried chicken ($22) is tender inside with a nicely crisp, thin outer shell. It's dark rather than golden but has that satisfying crunch when you bite into the chicken pieces. It's paired with a heap of anaemic apple and celeriac slaw which doesn't  pack enough zing to really cut through the fried chicken - it's a bit dry. If you're after a good dose of fried chicken, though, this is the dish for you.

That really has been quite a lot of food so we'll only have room for one dessert. On a warm summer's evening, a tropical-themed coconut panna cotta ($12) sounds perfect. A scoop of the panna cotta, which tends toward the firm rather than wobbly side of things, is at first taste too subtle, almost bland. But make sure you get some of the lime sorbet on the other end of the platter and you've got a blast of tropical flavour. "It's like a weaponised Calippo," quips my dining companion. In the middle, a pile of marinaded diced pineapple adds the requisite, sunshiney sweetness and the scattering of shredded coconut provides crunch. This is a dessert that's very compartmentalised - each component separate and distinct from the other - and you really need to make sure you mix everything together on the spoon.

It's been a somewhat inconsistent meal but it's enough to roll out into the now-sinking sun and maybe take a walk around Lake Burley Griffin to work everything off.