Good Food Month comes to Canberra

It’s Good Food Month in Canberra, the first time the Fairfax-run festival has come here, with more than a dozen of the top local restaurants offering special events. For the full program, see goodfoodmonth.com.

At Aubergine, chef Ben Willis has asked our restaurant reviewer and columnist Bryan Martin to cook a shared lunch, which he has agreed (wisely or not) to do. Martin plans a bunch of starters, including his chicken liver pate (it’s really good, and is helped by a quartet of vermouth, madeira, muscat and gin) and cured salmon. For the main course, he’s doing slow-roasted pork shoulder with the Korean-style accompaniments, pickles, chive pancakes or steamed buns and the like. Then a cheese course and dessert. Sunday, October 13, book a table between noon and 2pm, and feel at liberty to write your review, $80, 6260 8666.

Another cool option: each Tuesday this month, Pulp Kitchen at the Ainslie shops offers a French degustation, with food from five regions of France matched with the relevant wine, and musicians to add to the theme. Snails in puff pastry to start. Then, from Gascony, duck-liver mousse with walnut cream and a Floc de Gascogne aperitif, a blend of fortified white and Armagnac. From Provence, salt-cod brandade with 2011 Rimauresq rosé. From Alsace, braised pork belly, with pork sausage and sauerkraut with 2007 Louis Sipp Pinot Blanc Ribeauville. From Burgundy, boeuf bourguignon, of course, with 2007 Albert Bichot Chateau de Dracy Bourgogne Rouge. And from Normandy, Brillat-Savarin cheesecake with Comte de Lauriston Pommeau. $90 or $120 with wine, phone 6257 4334.