6 minute read
Dining
from CityNews 200723
DINING / Ottoman Cuisine, Barton Turkish that always delights
OTTOMAN restaurant is a Canberra culinary institution. There’s no doubt about that.
Owner Şerif Kaya has been preparing gourmet Turkish cuisine for 28 years and I’ll never forget my first visit when the restaurant was in Manuka.
Ottoman is now housed in a gorgeous, glass, art-deco pavilion in Barton, surrounded by water features and gardens. It’s worth visiting for the surroundings alone.
Ottoman’s menu is a mix of classic Turkish dishes and ones inspired by modern-day cooking with specials celebrating seasonal produce.
On the specials were lamb’s brains, which Ottoman has always mastered. The brains were lightly fried but creamy on the inside and accompanied by a bright salad with an intriguing dressing. I never hesitate to order them when they are on the menu at Ottoman.
Another winning special was the kingfish and yellowfin tuna carpaccio, elegantly presented on the plate, with the flavours delicately balanced.
The zucchini flowers are another expertly created dish. Three crispy flowers filled with goat’s feta and haloumi cheese ($21) with a perky side salad.
Another of our party ordered the pan-fried haloumi salad as a starter. The haloumi was salty and squeaked on the teeth when chewed, although some pieces were a tad overdone ($19). The salad of green beans, rocket and walnuts was tossed in a pomegranate dressing.
Ottoman has always created delicious spatchcock and duck dishes. The deboned spatchcock was marinated with fresh thyme and lemon zest and chargrilled which adds to the Kingfish and yellowfin tuna carpaccio... elegantly presented.
Photo: Wendy Johnson
flavour and appearance of the dish. The meat was super tender and served with cracked wheat pilaf and wilted baby spinach ($36).
The deboned duck was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside and once again pomegranate featured in the packed-full-of-flavour sauce ($36).
The final main celebrated Queensland king prawns, which were sautéed and cooked to perfection ($36). We found the saffron and pomegranate sauce overpowering for our liking, especially on the saffron side.
We topped off the evening sharing a gorgeous plate of baklava.
If you’re not in the mood to select individual dishes, Ottoman offers a degustation menu ($85 per person or $125 with matching wines) and a banquet menu (minimum of four people at $70 per person).
Ottoman is known for its extensive wine list. It’s always been a masterpiece.
There was a mix up with our booking and confusion at the start, but we settled in fairly quickly and applauded the professional and knowledgeable service after that.
Ottoman was packed (with social distancing rules in place, of course, starting with signing in on entry and using hand sanitiser) and it was lovely to see Şerif wander through the restaurant connecting with guests towards the end of the evening.
THEATRE / ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ Feel-good and ‘right for times’
ARTS IN THE CITY Dylan’s play wins the Griffin prize
By Helen Musa
CANBERRA playwright and actor, Dylan Van Den Berg has won the $10,000 Griffin Award for his play “Way Back When”. The work, chosen out of 130 entries, revolves around four Aboriginal women across the generations and, like his play “Milk”, to be shown as a work-in-progress online by The Street Theatre on August 7, refers back to Van Den Berg’s ancestors in post-colonial Tasmania. Former Canberran David Finnigan was also on the short list for his play, “44 Sex Acts in One Week.”
AARWUN Gallery is holding a party for its 20-year history and the 40th practising year of landscape artist Ken Knight, whose paintings (including works from his recent trip to Antarctica) will be on show in a huge solo exhibition running at Shop 11, Federation Square, O’Hanlon Place, Nicholls, from August 1-23. The black-tie celebratory dinner will be at the Abbey, Gold Greek, July 31. Book at aarwuncanberra@bigpond.com or 6230 2055.
THOMAS Rann, founding cellist of the Australian Piano Quartet, joins Canberra pianist Edward “Teddy” Neeman in a program celebrating the life of 19th-century cello virtuoso Count Matvei Wielhorski through works by Mendelssohn, Rubenstein, Davydov and Borodin. At Wesley Music Centre, 2pm and 3.30pm, August 2. Book at trybooking.com JACQUI Malins’ Mother Tongue Poetry has French singer Julia Baldy and Serbian-Australian poet Vesna Cvjeticanin as featured performers in next week’s Zoom session, 7pm, Monday, July 27. At 6pm on the day, Malins will post the Zoom link on the Mother Tongue Facebook page. To share a short poem in a language other than English, email mothertonguemic@gmail.com THE Royal Military College Band woodwinds will perform works by Piazzolla, Simaku and Uruguayan composer Beatriz Lockhart in a lunchtime concert at Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, 12.40pm-1.20pm, July 29. Book at trybooking.com or 6232 7248.
THE National Film and Sound Archive will re-open on August 1 with a new public space called “Hive” centred on a new interactive display called “Storywall” featuring a life-size projection of six NFSA experts “waiting” for visitors to interact with them using their mobile devices.
By Helen Musa “A WHOLE lot of people crammed into the one house – it couldn’t be more relevant,” director Karen Vickery says of “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, the feel-good play she is about to stage.
Neil Simon’s family comedy, originally scheduled for performance in April and May, fell victim to the coronavirus, forcing the Canberra Rep to rejig dates and drop at least one play, so July 31 for its first live opening isn’t too bad.
“The decision to present the play as part of Canberra Rep’s subscription season was made long before COVID-19 was identified,” Vickery says. “And it’s perfect for Rep, where you really need good, strong writing, something to develop.”
Set in 1937 in the Depression-era leading up to World War II, the semi-autobiographical play is part of a trilogy of works by Simon, who died in late 2018, centred on 13-year-old Eugene Jerome. The other plays are “Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound”.
In Vickery’s view, “Brighton Beach Memoirs” could be regarded as “historical” if it weren’t so timeless and relevant.
The action is narrated directly Director Karen Vickery… making her Rep debut as a director.
to the audience by Eugene, who dreams of baseball and girls while coping with the humdrum existence of Jewish-American family life in Brighton Beach, a suburb of Brooklyn that was to become famous through this play.
They’re all there – the intimidating mother, the downtrodden and overworked father, his uncle Stanley, widowed Aunt Blanche and her two young rapidly maturing daughters, his cousins.
With historical attention to detail in mind, she secured Academy Award nominee and AFI winner Anna Senior to design the costumes, and says: “Anna can make nothing look like something fantastic.”
Veteran director and designer Chris Baldock has come on board to design the set and they’ve been talking about Vickery’s idea to make it seem only partially realistic or half-finished, as if it were a memory.
Casting young people never seems to be a problem for Rep. Year 12 chemistry whizkid Jamie Boyd, who played alongside Vickery in Baldock’s production of “The Grapes of Wrath” in February, plays Eugene and Ella Buckley plays Eugene’s teen cousin, Laurie.
Vickery has directed prizewinning productions with Everyman and Pigeonhole theatres and performed five acting roles with Canberra Rep, but this is her Rep debut as a director.
“This is the perfect play for the moment,” she says. “It’s warm and loving and heartfelt, but at the same time a powerful family drama, a coming-of-age play where the younger generation is finding its way against more traditional views of parents needing to come to terms with children about to fly the coop.”
AN ECLECTIC VIEW... AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ART
EXPLORING 50 YEARS OF MODERN INDIGENOUS ART FROM PAPUNYA TO NOW
@capitalwines
@CapitalWines
Kyeema Gallery and Capital Wines Cellar Door
EXHIBITION RUNS 23 JULY TO 30 AUGUST 2020
OFFICIAL OPENING:
5.30 pm Saturday, 25 July 2020 Bookings Essential
