Dining Out: 86, Braddon, Canberra

As you've no doubt gauged from my Rubenesque figure; I freaking love food.

A key passion of mine is fine dining, not just having dinner at a restaurant, but the whole palaver of silver service, crisply presented wait-staff, and food that could easily be mistaken for some sort of post-modern floral arrangement.
I love it all. I have eaten at most (if not all) of the long-standing Canberran fine dining establishments, and so it is with great pleasure that I noticed that my fair city seems to be in the midst of a boom in new restaurants, and chief amongst these in my humble opinion is Braddon's 86.

The dishes that we selected on last Thursday evening were (in order of consumption):

Carpaccio of salmon – Seville orange segments, chives, pickled ginger, radish
Bream Ceviche – sweet potato crisps, caraway biscuit
Figs and Jamon - nectarine, goats curd, super-fancy balsamic whose name I forgot...
Steak Tartare – wasabi, horseradish, egg yolk, prawn crackers
Black chicken – buttermilk slaw, two full legs and thighs
Popcorn Sundae – salted caramel, peanut brittle, popcorn, waffle cone

I've actually eaten at 86 in Braddon before, and in all honesty I fell in love straight away. From the fit-out to the fancy bathrooms, from the service to the featuring of my favourite Canberran street artist in the space: 86 is absolutely my new favourite place to eat in Canberra. Others have discussed the different style of dining (here and here), so all I'll say is that after my first meal at 86, I was so smitten I wrote the owner an email gushing about how much I loved it!

I went into the meal thinking that the Popcorn Sundae was a thing of the past, so you can imagine my excitement when I noticed it sitting up on the board. I went so far as to inquire if I would need to reserve one to ensure I wouldn't miss out. The stand out dish for me, however, was the Steak Tartare; it was magical. The flavours were perfectly blended, the steak prepared perfectly, and the prawn crackers a novel way to serve the dish. We discovered, however, that the dish tasted incredibly different without the cracker! Both delicious, but two entirely different mouth-experiences. 

I could wank on about each dish individually, but really I just think you should drop what you're doing and get yourself to 86 ASAP. And maybe you'll catch me there, trying to snap picture of the Luke Chiswell Stickers, or asking the waiter to reserve a sundae for me?