Weekend Getaway - Canberra

Our mission to Canberra this month is to see the flower festival (Floriade) which is a big thing during this season in Australia. Where all of the flower blooms to its maximum beauty :)
So I planned a weekend in Canberra, to experience their food and also their historical monuments.

We left Sydney early in the morning and it was lunch time when we arrived. We checked in at the hotel and straight away went to Dickson Asian Noodle house. Both me and bf are starvinggg... I've come to know this restaurant from the review I've read about the cheap eat and really tasty foods. They offer not only Chinese Malay food but also Thai food too.

So for starter, we ordered the Spring Roll. Its a good value considering how big it is. It is not as oily as you get from a regular spring roll. A variety of vegetables inside and mince meat too :) Quite tasty..

Spring roll (4 for $6)

 My bf ordered Chicken Padthai, he suddenly crave the padthai. When we looked at the menu at first, we were quite surprised to see a padthai for $12.50, as usually in Sydney during lunch hour, you could get a decent one for $8.50 or $10 max. But when the dish came out, it was double the portion that we usually get in Sydney.. No wonder the price ;P - So, no complain..

Taste wise, it was pretty good, the sweet and tangy padthai sauce is very balance, the chicken is well marinated and cooked too ^^

Chicken PadThai ($12.50)

 Me on the other hand, was craving the combination laksa. As i read from a couple of review to try it out. I must say, it was a greattt dish. The coconut soup is not as thick and coconuty as other laksa. It is very light and also the amount of meats (pork, chicken, duck) in there is more than the vermicilli itself. From the bowl, my favourite bit is the tofu!! The tofu absorbed some of the soup and when u bite into them, the soup just flow to your mouth.. *droolingggg*

Combination Laksa ($12)

We came out a happy people as our stomach is now full and we are ready to start the journey...

Our First visit is to the New Parliament House :)

Our plan was to have dinner in El Toro Steakhouse but when we were walking through Canberra Chinatown and found a place called " Family Food Court" on the second floor of a building, we were curious as to what is inside. When we came in, it was a buffet for $22 per adults. Looking at the food offered, we were drooling and the idea of a steakhouse where u could spend double the amount just vanished from our mind. We paid, sat and eat :P We were too hungry that I forgot to take pics :P

The next day we went yumcha in Chinatown called "The Scholar", from the review that I read, one person mentioned that once he brought his sister from Sydney to have yumcha here and the sister said it was the best yumcha she's ever tasted, so I was curious and came here on the Sunday. It was not busy when we came. Here's a bit of snapshot of what we got.. 

It was disappointing I should say... and pretty expensive too! Apparently the sister's reviewer above hasn't explore Sydney much ;P The BBQ pork bun is not as soft, the bean curd roll is quite dry on the outside and the pork ribs is just an acummulation of fats T.T


Next destination is Cockington Green Garden ^^ - Its a garden full of miniatures houses and other sculptures :) Entrance fee is $18.50 for an Adult.

In that area also, we found out this small homemade ice cream place called Stripey Sunday. The decoration is very homey and it looked like baby's room with soft blue colour :) We got the Sundae there :)

From my well-planned trip, we had this humongous kebab in Yarralumla called 'Halal Pide House', we got the kebab and also their famous zucchini balls. When we got there, there were a lot of students eating and lot of people queuing for takeaways. Apparently they also have like a set menu for dining so the table they provide in there is for dine-in set menu customer. So both of us bought the kebab and went back to the hotel to eat

The kebab was so big that both of us were so tired from chewing. The meat is so flvoursome and A LOT.. That I literally leave out the bread and just picking out the meats ;P

$9.50 for mix kebab and $1.50 each for the zucchini balls

We also went to Old Bus Depot Market in Kingston. They offered everything from fresh produce, hot foods, artisan bread, Snacks, Sweets,  Homewares, Fashion, EVERYTHING!
It was very crowded when we came and I bought this yummy turkish herbs bread for $4 :)

Here are some pics of other places that we visited - Floriade and Australian War Memorial Museum :)

That concludes our trip to Canberra :) Looking forward to come here again ^^