Temporada

The most generous and delicious dinner we have had in a long time. The set menu which equals about 11 dishes was spectacular- the matching wines were all superb and were perfect with our dishes. The service was outstanding- everyone was warm and welcoming and passionate about their restaurant. Well done - great value for money too.

Wonderful from start to finish. All the staff were amazing and instantly we felt like we were with new friends. Great wine list and some of our favourite grapes and drops. Food wise just perfect, a real knowledge here of flavours, balance, textures and simple but beautiful execution. My partner and I had the $70.00 per person set menu and could not fault one dish, all perfect in their own way. From the homemade sourdough bread and cultured butter at the start to the coconut and honey cake with ice cream at the end. Our favourite dish was the prawn, peas, pickled watermelon dish, just divine. Finally even the coffees were some of the best we have ever had, which for a full restaurant and not a cafe says a lot. If only we didn't live over 3 hours away we would be here weekly!. Loved it. A wonderful food experience.

What a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner for two. Every dish on the set menu was excellent and easily comparable to what you would find at the top casual dining restaurants in the larger cities. The chef easily catered to one dairy free and there was no compromise in taste. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable. Great atmosphere... You're here to eat and enjoy.

Service was lovely, appreciate them explaining to us the dishes when it arrived. The flatbread was mind-blowing, paired perfectly with the stracciatella. Veal was cooked to perfection. Squid ink risotto was packed with umami, cos lettuce salad was refreshingly crisp. Dessert (coconut sponge) was average, very small portion considering the price. The complimentary brownie was amazingly decadent and was the perfect ending for the birthday celebration. Would definitely go back again.

Came to try the dishes to share as a group. We had the sourdough bread, scallops, pork, octopus, fish, beef and a chocolate cake for desert. Food was very good and the service friendly. The restaurant was full on a Friday night so there was a bit of waiting for the entree. After another while the main dishes were served together which allowed our group to share. The octopus was tasty. I found the pork a little underwhelming. The beef was cooked nicely and I would have preferred a more concentrated jus or sauce to accompany it. Plan for 90 minutes for a 3-4 course meal. Prices are on the higher end but it’s worth a visit. Parking is always tricky in this area. The best bet is the Exchange car park managed by Wilson on Marcus Clark Street. There were plenty of available spots on a Friday night.

We recently had Temporada provide a chef and cater a dinner party at home for 8 people. The experience of fine dining at home was fantastic!! We had a chef bring a 3 course meal over, which was then cooked at home in our kitchen and served at the table. We also didn’t have to worry about washing up, as the plates and cutlery were all taken care of. Very affordable too. I highly recommend Temporada to anyone looking to host a dinner party in their own home and to not have to worry about the cooking!

I had the scallops, duck liver parfait with extra waffle and the veal chop. It is definitely more than enough for one person. I like the intense sauce on the scallop. The medium rare veal was smoky, juicy and just charred enough. The tempura zucchini was a nice addition. Thanks for dinner team Temporada.

I went here with my boyfriend and we ordered the set menu. Not only was the food absolutely amazing, the servers were friendly and attentive. The food also came very quickly. I think this is my new favourite restaurant in Canberra. All of the food was cooked perfectly. I don't think I could pick a singe favourite dish, since they were all so good, so I will choose several. My favourites were the octopus, tortellini, burrata with peaches, and the panna cotta. Note: I had to move the coconut meringe to take a photo that showed tha actual panna cotta.

This place is great if you're a guy and want to take ladies on a date. Large tasting menu of small and varied dishes that taste good, great selection of drinks, and attentive service. That said, it's not the greatest place if you're a lady and want to take guys on a date. Tasting menu of small dishes isn't a choice, it's their whole business. Unless you're into tasting menus and eat every kind of food out there, it tends to be a miss for some guests. The interior decorating also doesn't stand out compared to other places in Canberra. While they do accomodate allergies and dietary requirements, they could be more accomodating to picky eaters, it's really hard to take groups or non-foodies here without lying about a dietary requirement on top of their real dietary requirement to ensure they don't get a whole tasting menu containing an ingredient they don't like because their dietary requirement changed their whole tasting menu. I.e. when I took someone lactose intolerant here, they accommodated that requirement, but not by removing the lactose off their listed menu, but by replacing their whole tasting menu with only seafood dishes. We didn't report they didn't like seafood because the listed menu didn't have much. They hated seafood. All my reviews are standardised to the following star ratings: 1. Customer service I.e. friendly, easy to book, etc. 2. Accessibility I.e. location, decor and scenery, easily assessable or flexible, etc. 3. Work, health and safety I.e. clean, safe, etc. 4. Quality of goods and/or services I.e. good food, good movers, etc. 5. Comparison to similar for location - I.e. would I recommend this above other places

Trendy place in Canberra CBD that serves good food and drinks. The round bar is a good place to sit, drink and try a few of the dishes. They have some small batch beers on tap. Food is modern and nicely presented. The grilled Jumbo prawns, rib eye with fried gnocchi and spatchcock were the food highlights. Service was exceptional and friendly without being overbearing.

In Canberra recently for a short stay and in between work I managed to re-acquaint myself with snappy little bar, Temporada which I last visited over a year ago. On that occasion I was excited and impressed by the standard of food and drink, and this latest stopover reinforced my earlier view. This really is one of Canberra's best - and there are a lot of very good spots springing up around the City so competition is strong. As before the wine list was a standout - compact, but so well curated - with an excellent collection of by the glass offerings. I began with 2016 Ochota Barrels "Surfer Rose", made from Grenache in McLaren Vale. Lifted bouquet of raspberries, a touch of mid palate sweetness, strawberry and raspberry flavours, and a savoury finish. And the food which I remembered fondly from before also lived up to reminiscence. There were so many tempting dishes and my two choices each hit all the markers. Firstly a plate of barbequed octopus - absolutely superb, cut thick and fat, the octopus was juicy and tender, with blackened edges, a wonderful smoky flavour and aroma while the rouille served with it was creamy and garlicky with just a touch of pepper to add another flavour dimension. As my second dish was served I moved on to another wine, this time a red from Alpine Victoria, Billy Button 2015 "The Beloved Shiraz". I could not resist trying this as I have been following the adventures of the winery dog and pig (Cannubi and Thelma) on Instagram and a chance to try their wine doesn't arise in WA. Dark red with aromas of plums and cherries, a touch of smokiness with a peppery spice adding to its complexity. The palate is rich and full of plums, cherries, chocolate and toasty oak - and more of the spice. Loved it. Fried green garlic shoots was next cab off the rank - spears of young garlic, cooked quickly in light, crisp tempura batter, fresh and chewy inside and sitting on a bed of spicy romesco sauce - light, full of sparklingly fresh flavours and pimped up with the zing of the sauce. Excellent. A final glass of red, and yet another Shiraz took my fancy, 2016 Syrah Nouveau from local producer Mada Wines of Murrumbateman. Lovely lifted bouquet, mulberries, plums, herbal notes with a zip of pepper. Tight tannins, dark plum flavours, long, peppery finish. Very good drinking. I was going to head off at this stage but recalled the magnificent mango tarte tatin I had on my previous visit so thought I really should give dessert a go - and glad I did. Grilled pineapple pastries- samosa style triangles dusted with sugar and spice and all things nice, plump and full of sweet warm pineapple, a few more segments of marinated pineapple, creamy and aromatic rum and raisin icecream and a dollop of cream alongside - another splendid dessert. And with dessert what could be better than a glass of Old Redemption Exceptionally Old Tawny from David Franz? A stunner - burnt golden hue, thickly clinging to the glass, with rancio notes, toffee and honeyed apricots on an inspired bouquet, and then the rush of the palate - rich, smooth, raisiny sweetness, layers of toffee, caramel and dark chocolate, a sudden mid palate peppery note, and then a long, brandy spirited finish. Gee, it was good. As I said in my previous review Temporada is a quietly stylish and casual place, with innovative and interesting food, centred round a wood fired oven, and quite brilliantly cooked. The service is excellent, both friendly and knowledgeable, the short wine list exceptional and in general it is a great little bar. Temporada deserves all accolades it receives, and is absolutely recommended for food, drink and ambience.

Summary: Small plates, pricey, good for groups, excellent service, tasty tasty! FOOD & DRINKS The dinners and appetizers are almost the same size, so be careful there. In our group of 12, half ordered a number of appetizers to share, and half ordered their own plates. I think the appetizer group made the better choice! Some favorites: the beef tongue, the mussels, the camembert with truffle honey. Just ok: the ahi, the artichokes (mushy!!! how???), the snapper. I would come again just for a glass of wine with that camembert! The drinks were normal Canberra prices, and they had an impressive selection of local beers. SERVICE & SPACE Service is just lovely- the staff all acted like they were actually happy to be there and enjoyed their jobs. Our server was patient with our large (silly) group, and recommended winning wines to our wine-picky friend. I can be a bit of a beer snob, and this lovely man kept bringing me specialty beers (one that had only been released that week! Sailor's Grave- yummm) that I really enjoyed. Definitely one of the best staffed places I've been in Canberra, possibly ever. If you're coming with a large group, definitely reserve a table. Couples seemed to get seated fairly easily even during peak hours. PRICE The only reason this isn't a 5 star review is that I felt like some of the dishes were priced higher than their quality deserved (my partner and I spent the equivalent of our weekly food budget in ONE MEAL - eeek!). If we come back, it will be for a drink and a snack- not a big meal.

Fusion food. Mushrooms with pickled white horse radish. Wham kepow tastes...Then sardines with Chinese vegetables. Then rump of lamb with wakame. Lamb kepow. Dessert of chocolate & oranges. Great fusion fission effect. Come again....... for seconds......

Maybe I caught Temporada on an off night - it was a Monday, never the best day to be out for dinner but it was my birthday and I thought I would try somewhere with a good reputation. Sadly on this occasion, the experience was not great. The staff were ok overall, it was fairly quiet so I didn't have to wait long for anything. The biggest let down was the food. It just missed the mark - I felt like things were being re-heated, not freshly cooked. For example, I was told the duck would take 25-30 mins. It came out in under 20 minutes and was luke warm, the fat not rendered enough and the skin off-crispy. I tried a few wines by the glass and they were uninspiring. A disappointment, and one of the lowlights of my trip to Canberra.

Temporada is like Aubergine's "casual Friday". When first walking in, although initially meeting a sea of suits sitting around the bar at the centre of the restaurant, the barman noticed us at the door and eagerly jumped out and took us to a seat nice and far away from the door (and cold outside) despite no reservations. We ordered a glass of sparkling and half a dozen oysters to start. They have a variety of different oysters (literally a variety! Not just various ways of presenting them). We went for the plain old Tuross rock ($3.5 each). Our waiter asked if that was all we were ordering or whether he should leave the menus on the table. This very much feels like a place where you could just have a drink, a bite to eat, or a full multi-course meal. No pressure either way! We both moved on to a pork roll each as a starter, which were literally melt in your mouth! At $10 each they were half way between a slider and a burger, and a good starter for a casual but still interesting meal. On the menu there aren't any mains, instead there are "plates". Now, this isn't tapas, and they may not necessarily be designed to be shared, but our lamb with pearl barley and broad beans was pretty easy to divvy up. I get the impression that you could cobble together your own selection of what a meal is and it would be acceptable. The lamb ($32) was lovely by the way. Not the most tender I've ever had, but still flavoursome, medium, and the perfect size. Despite the collection of suits, and the Aubergine ties, our waiter was incredibly friendly (without actually trying to be our friend), and above all genuine! Although not providing tasting notes on the wines (not that it would be expected) he offered his opinions and background on the wine (including telling us that the relatively cheap Pinot noir we chose was just one of his favourites, even compared to the pricier one, and made other recommendations too). When we couldn't eat any more, and asked for the bill, he came back and poured us the end of a bottle of dry Riesling they were discontinuing, just because he loved it and wanted to share the experience. When we were about to leave, my girlfriend remarked on how even though we had a three course meal here, she would be just as comfortable coming here for a drink, a cocktail, or some oysters or starters. When I asked her what her favourite part of the night was, she said "the oysters. And the service". As we left I noticed that despite the collared shirt and crisp black apron on our waiter, hidden behind the bar he was wearing black skinnies and some sneakers. Which, to be honest, perfectly sums up the place. Will definitely return.

I'm going to base this review simply on the breakfast. Basically I just ate the best and most cheese intense sandwich of my life. Washed down with a great coffee, and immediately had a second which was equally enjoyed. The staff were sprightly and charming on an absolutely sub zero Monday morning. Very impressed.

What great fun we had with the wine guy (Clancy) - all the information without the usual 'snoot' a refreshing and really enjoyable change