Canberra's best restaurants: Pomegranate

Top 20 restaurants, Food and Wine Annual 2014: number 19.

The trend these days is for chefs to eschew formality and do something relaxed and modern. Pomegranate might qualify as one of those restaurants a relaxed, casual atmosphere with well-executed, high quality food in the neighbourly surrounds of Kingston. Chef Erkin Esen cooked for 10 years with Serif Kaya at fine dining Ottoman and has now struck out on his own with wife Ziba.

A plate of char grilled chicken breast turns out to be thinly sliced chicken striped with charry flavour – so thin you wonder that it's still tender and tasty – and spiced with simple lemon and pepper. A Mediterranean classic of stuffed zucchini flowers is crispy and delicate but filled to bursting with creamy goat's cheese and bocconcini. Moussaka is deconstructed into a stack of haloumi and eggplant slices – a much lighter, modern take on the traditional Turkish dish. And desserts are satisfying as well, particularly a "mixed nut ice cream" that's more than meets the eye, filled with nutty crunch, spicy crumble and rich vanilla.

The wine list has a number of options by the glass and ranges from Australia to New Zealand and into Europe. Service is friendly, led by Ziba Esen who keeps the floor running with quiet confidence.

There's nothing flash about the fit-out, which retains the dark wood of The European and the room divider filled with plants and cookbooks, but that's a good thing. It makes Pomegranate equally suitable for a post-work dinner on a weeknight and for a casual brunch on the weekend. The latter includes dukkah-crusted poached eggs, creamy on the inside and delicately spiced and a little crisp on the outside, served with a meaty kofte and sourdough bread. There are also more-standard offerings such as muesli and French toast but it's the Turkish twist on classic breakfast dishes that attracts the attention.

Pomegranate is what we'd hope for in all our local restaurants, not fancy or pretentious, but serving up some very high-quality dishes with delightful modern twists on Turkish cuisine.

Pomegranate
31 Giles St, Kingston. 6295 1515. pomegranatekingston.com.au
Owners Ziba and Erkin Esen; chef Erkin Esen.
Lunch noon-2.30pm Tuesday to Sunday. Dinner 6pm-9.30pm Tuesday to Saturday. Brunch 8.30am-11.45am Sunday.