Valentine's Day dinner dates for romantic Canberrans

Take a picnic

Romantic dinners and lunches are much easier to achieve on your own - spread out a blanket under the trees on the lake front. At Regatta Point cafe you can order a picnic lunch complete with cutlery and a blanket (there's a $50 deposit). On the southside, pick up a tarte or baguette from Silo or a couple of banh mi from Saigon Foodies and head to a picnic on the Carillon island or book a couple of tickets to the Open Air Cinema at the National Library. On the northside, pick up a takeaway dinner from Chez Frederic or during the day get a collection of cakes from Ricardo's or Sweet Bones.

Cheap, cheerful and casual

Take it down a notch with something easygoing and unfussy. The usual suspects on Lonsdale Street will do - have your pick of the food vans at The Hamlet, or grab a bottle of wine and head across the road to Lonsdale Street Roasters for a bit of barbecue. If you really want to keep it cheap and cheerful, pull up a milk crate and get a box of noodles at the Mandalay bus or head over to Childers St for a late night snack from the ANU food van. On the southside, Local Press and Penny University are both cool and casual while Griffith Vietnamese is an old-school, no-fuss, choice for the political nerd you love.

Splash out

As this week's restaurant review shows, Courgette is still one of the capital's flagship fine dining spots, with silver service and beautifully presented food. The $80 set menu is good value too. Ottoman with its rose gardens and high end Turkish food is also romantic. The Capitol Bar & Grill is a ritzy hotel lobby affair, Parlour Wine Room is always a romantic spot and the new salon at Monster is a pretty and eclectic mix of styles. Or head to Onred for the sweeping view of Canberra, spread out in twinkling lights below Red Hill, or the Boathouse by the Lake or Waters Edge for water views on Lake Burley Griffin.

Outdoor dates

Mint Bar is casual and set in a lovely, leafy courtyard. Podfood in Pialligo is set amongst some pretty gardens (for a more unusual date, do the brunch degustation on a Sunday morning). The Sculpture Garden cafe at the National Gallery of Australia is a pretty lunch spot and also a rich vegetable garden. Pulp Kitchen's wooden benches on the patio at the Ainslie shops are good for a relaxed dinner. In Belconnen the deck at HaHa Bar is great for an overwater lunch or try to snag a table on the balcony at Ellacure.

Something different

Book yourselves in for a cooking class. At 3 Seeds in Fyshwick, the class schedule includes a Valentine's Day dinner class and lessons in choosing and barbecuing fish. Or drive out to the country to learn French cooking at Le Tres Bon - upcoming classes include a Parisian lunch with steak and cafe de Paris butter followed by creme caramel, or a summery French Caledonian class with coconut fish salad and papaya tatin. Get together for a food swap run by 100kilos.org and the Urban Homesteading Club on Saturday - bring along any surplus harvest from your garden or forage for berries and fruit to swap with other growers. 10am-12.30pm at Belconnen markets, Murrumbateman farmers' market and the Thyme and Taste cafe in Yass.