Wood & Coal

Wood & Coal looks good. The restaurant on Bunda Street opposite Jamie's Italian is attractive, with a series of Mediterranean-style arches along the windows. There's now a big bar at the front, booths on one wall behind the entry, and tables all down the length of the dining room, some leading onto a small faux courtyard if you'd like to simulate the outdoor dining area without the bother of wind and sun and the threat of rain. The spit and kitchen dominates the other side of the dining room. 

It's pumping late in the week, filled with people at the tables lining the windows. We're quickly shown to a table looking out into the Canberra Centre, good for watching a parade of Canberrans out for a bite to eat and some Christmas shopping. There's plenty of friendly, attentive service and a fair bit of pop music in the air - it's not a place to go if you're hard of hearing.

There is plenty on offer on the menu and much of it looks inviting, the kind of big meaty dishes that you might like to share on a table, and lots of sides, entrees and other mains. The wine list has ambitions, with wines grouped according to flavour profiles - aromatic whites, refined reds, spicy and full reds, for instance. And there are a couple of natural and orange wines.

We start with milk bun banh mi with roast chicken ($14) - which is really a pair of vaguely Asian sliders with the requisite mayo, pickled veg, coriander and cucumbers. It's a suitably on trend starter and quite good, the roast chicken tender and well balanced against the sweetness of the mayo and vegetables.

The kingfish sashimi with chicharron ($20) turns out to be a big slab of puffy chicharron, draped in slices of pickled cucumber and covered in a layer of dill and fennel. The sashimi lies underneath but the slices of fish don't appear to have the arresting juiciness that you really need in fresh sashimi. There is a grainy, smoky fish pate beneath the pork fat which is good and savoury but doesn't seem to meld well with the crisp, airy chicharron. This dish, to me, doesn't really work.

But things take a quick turn for the better as the next dish is set down on the table. This is the ricotta gnudi with baby beets and honeyed walnuts ($28) and it's much more successful.  It's an excellent mixture of sharp, cloudy goat's cheese, sticky candied nuts and wedges of soft, earthy beetroot. Frilly deep fried kale sits on top of everything, at once airy and crumbly and dark. This is a dish that's not afraid to match savoury and sweet and tart all at once. The ricotta gnudi are tender pillows of pasta, perfect for absorbing the flavours on the plate. There's even a tantalising undercurrent of heat running through the dish, perhaps from a hot mustard or touch of chilli (the waitress goes to ask the chef and never comes back).

If you like desserts, then Wood & Coal is going to be your favourite eatery.

There are plenty of options from the spit - Cajun pork ribs, charcoal chicken and spit roasted pork with creamed honey and maple. We pick the lamb with oregano, garlic and rosemary ($42). It comes in a bowl, carved slices of roast meat with plenty of golden skin on top. It's simple and well flavoured, if a trifle plain - a hearty enough dish.

If you like desserts, then Wood & Coal is going to be your favourite eatery for a little while. You need to make plenty of room for them - they are heapingly generous serves, as big as your mains if not bigger. "Big John's" loukoumades (all desserts are $15) are puffy sweet Greek doughnut balls, with banana slices and clusters of popcorn and honeycomb. A couple of quennelles of hazelnut ice cream tie it all together.

A chocolate olive oil sponge cake is beautifully fluffy and scattered all across the plate with scoops of red velvet cheesecake ice cream. The ice cream is rich, bright pink in colour and is anchored in place with dollops of orange custard.

A brandy snap cannoli with smoked ice cream is huge - a log filled with gingery mascarpone and accompanied by crumbly chocolate soil. The smoked ice cream is spot on, two scoops of cold smoke infused freshness. I'm not sure that it goes perfectly with the rather thick, sweet brandy snap. But it's an intriguing dish.

Wood & Coal is a smart addition to the Canberra Centre - a restaurant that looks good, keeps things interesting on the menu and serves up some pretty generous desserts.