Mocan and Green Grout

Canberra Times Top 20 Restaurants for 2013: No.6

Mocan and Green Grout has an enormously grassroots look about it, from the higgledy space and seating arrangements to the planters inside and out that make it screamingly clear their concerns match yours: the environment, the garden and a daily coffee.

It's a tiny eatery and entirely open, so the cooking, coffee making and washing up is all done in front of you, giving the feeling you're in someone's uber-cool kitchen. At the bench, two chefs work an efficient service of small shared plates. You can sit opposie them among the micro herbs and bottles of olive oil or perch at the small jumble of tables.

All this is great, but what makes Mocan an absolute favourite is the food - super-fresh, very simple, with just a few tastes on each plate, and very up-to-date. There are only seven dishes, plus two tasters and two desserts.

Smoked potato, morcilla, Ortiz anchovy gets you off to a fine start, full of intensity with a lovely round of blood sausage and anchovy and brioche crumbs. On the current menu, you'll find a ''baccalau doughnut'' instead.

The Crookwell steak tartare ($21) is a favourite - raw steak, topped with a raw egg, sprinkled liberally with fine onion, radish, horseradish, and parsley, all providing heat, a burst of crunch and flavour. A bowl of brussels sprouts is simply roasted, still crunchy, with the smoky Japanese flavours of bonito flakes and furikake seasoning. Soft-shell crab with Kewpie mayonnaise and sriracha, served on a paper bag on a board, is fresh and chippy.

Just two desserts - at the moment a spiced pear with honeycomb brittle, hazelnut and cocoa crumb; or hot ricotta dumplings with blood orange curd.

The food comes in good order, handed over by the chefs or brought by friendly staff. So far, it's BYO only and there are no bookings, so you have to take your chances at one of the few seats.

This eatery hits that perfect casual-but-sparkling note and is the kind of place you frequent.