With low lighting,bistro chairs and the 11e Cave bar downstairs,Onzieme draws from the produce-driven,wine-centric restaurants of Paris’s hip 11th arrondissement.
Owner-chef Louis Couttoupes’s food,however,isn’t afraid to travel elsewhere:see the Korean-inspired fried nori and rice cracker (a riff on gim bugak) topped with whipped tofu,cured egg yolk and pickled red onion.
The approach is decidedly local,with Couttoupes leaning on nearby producers,and the menu moves with the seasons,perhaps featuring a free-range pork cutlet glazed (and garnished) with heirloom apples,or sorrel-freshened smoked duck sharpened with blackberry sauce.
Later,pain perdu-inspired bread-and-butter pudding gives new life to leftover cardamom buns supplied by Mawson bakery Under,rising beneath buttermilk ice-cream and whey caramel. Casually attentive staff are knowledgeable about the wide-ranging cellar,too. Some of Canberra’s best dining without feeling overly mannered.