Editor's morsels, July 22

New Italian restaurant Provini to open in Civic
It's a cheeky throw back to Nonna's house, where lace curtains cover the windows, the carpet is pure 1950s florals and the table is always filled with hearty, generous serves of traditional Italian fare.

This is a glimpse at Provini, the new Italian restaurant set to open soon in Garema Place. (It's next door to Shorty's on the site of the old La Scala.)

The restaurant is the latest venture from the CoCu Group, which runs a number of Canberra's hospitality venues and eateries.

There's a little terrace with wrought-iron railings for summer dining, and a private dining room filled with knick- knacks just like your Italian grandmother would collect.

In the kitchen is co-owner and chef Wayne Alger and Neapolitan pizzaiolo Giovanni Auzino will man the wood-fired pizza oven.

CoCu Group's Sean Royle says the restaurant is designed around really traditional Italian food with a family feel.

"We want it to be like going to Nonna's house, as you can probably tell by the kitschiness of it," he says. "We've spent a bit of time doing a bit of shopping to grab those one-off pieces, the individual pieces you can't mass buy. A lot of thought has gone into that."

Royle says the menu will be seasonal with more of an emphasis on comforting northern Italian dishes in the winter months.

"Then we'll move into a brighter, cleaner southern Italian style for summer," he says.

Provini will be unveiled very soon in Civic.

Celebrate Eid
Lanterne Rooms in Campbell is celebrating the end of Ramadan with a series of Malaysian "Hari Raya" feasts. The seven courses include crispy prawns, hawker style satay skewers, lamb shanks with netted crepes and traditional cakes. $78.50 a person. The dinners run until August 1. Booking 6249 6889.

Think Eat Save
Michelin-starred chefs are working to turn wasted food into nourishing meals for the homeless in Europe. It's a movement that has echoes here in OzHarvest's Think.Eat.Save campaign, which asks consumers to pledge to reduce food waste in their personal lives. OzHarvest Canberra will host a Think.Eat.Save event in Garema Place on Monday, July 27, from 11.30am to 2.30pm. They'll be handing out free hot lunches made from produce that would otherwise have gone to landfill. See thinkeatsave.ozharvest.org.

Farewell Diana Lampe
Cooking writer Diana Lampe has been contributing recipe columns to The Canberra Times for nine years – starting with vegetarian dishes and then moving to recipes that spanned the world, from Japanese curries to this week's Polish winter soup and cake. She's decided to retire from the column and concentrate on blogging. We wish her all the best and thank her for her recipes, which you can still find on goodfood.com.au.

New Nepali restaurant in Civic
Khukuri Cross is a new Nepali and Indian restaurant that's opened in the Sydney building on Northbourne Avenue. There's a 10 per cent opening-day discount for the next four weeks. Canberrans must have a taste for Himalayan cuisine – this is the third or fourth Nepali restaurant to open in the capital. Khukuri Cross is at 34 Northbourne Avenue. Bookings 6257 9364.