25 October 2014

Canberra Home Delivery Food?

| braddonmonsta
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I’ve just moved to Canberra and quite like it… except for the take-away and home delivery choices (or at least those I’ve found so far).

Why does Pad Thai cost $16.50 (Lemon Grass)? In Sydney $12 is expensive. Same goes for Indian food… curries at $17-20 is a rip-off for take away. And why no decent kebabs in the city?

Why does everything shut at 8:30 or 9pm? Where can I go at 10 or 11pm to get dinner (please don’t say Maccas)?

Who will deliver for free to the inner city? How do places like Asia Noodle House and Pizza Gusto survive without offering delivery? And does nowhere do online ordering?

I’m hoping my post leads to a lot of undiscovered gems!

But if not I reckon there’s a huge market down here for an enterprising chef to set up a proper home delivery business – online ordering, simple but generous portions, 6pm-1am every night.

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77Eliza try some Singapore noodles from Mee Sing and compare them with Singapore Noodles from China Tea Club. Mee Sing is way better. China Tea Club’s reputation is based on former glories and awards from years ago. Mee Sing and places in Dickson destroy it.

King of curries in Belconnen have added themselves to the home delivery mob. Good curries!

We’re always on the hunt for good home delivery- lots of my favourite places don’t deliver. But a couple we use regulalry are China Tea Club, my friend in Watson and Delhi 6 (I think you can order online with them).

Unfortuntely it’s often better to jump in the car, Dickson dumpling place is good and you can usually get a close park under the Challis apartments. Pizza Gusto is great for pizza – but parking is a bit more of a challenge. You can also get take away from Smoqe in the city which is good for something different.

I think in the city Zen Yai deliver (but aren’t cheap), and when I lived in Turner I’d often get turkish delivered, but I think the one on Moore St has closed.

It’s one thing that Canberra could definitely improve upon. No hidden gems that I’ve come across- sorry!

Just imagine Canberra is a big country town and modify your expectations accordingly!

i have a great idea,make your own food..its cheaper, tastier, and quicker..chop chop.

Check out apps like Delivery Hero or MenuLog for local delivery options. Although it’s true you’re unlikely to find prices as cheap as the ones found in the bigger cities, restaurants that market on these apps often provide specials and discounts, and these should increase as more and more people make use of them.

You’re better off going to Happys in Civic. It’s not a long walk from Braddon. Or Jimmy’s place in Dickson. Have a look on menulog for places that will deliver to you.

Sorry astrojax but China tea club is pretty bad compared with the two I mentioned above.

i think the china tea club in nth lyneham does free delivery of their rather tasty food; you might want to check and i think there is a min $ purchase [$30?]

bronal said :

Many years ago I was transferred to Sydney for a number of months and was astounded to find that sandwiches cost about 2/3 of what I was used to paying in Canberra. They were better as well! Why? There were at least three or four sandwich bars within 200m of each other near my office..

The sandwich market is mystifying, you’d think people round here would lap up inventive sandwiches…Pret a Manger could have been designed for Canberra, although there’s no truth in the rumour that Pret is short for pretentious.
As it is, you have to pay $8 for a clingflim wrapped monstrosity that you’d complain about if it appeared in a school lunchbox.
On the brightside, people here are very disciplined about making their own food and there’s loads of fresh produce to make your own, it’s just getting round to it.

IGA in Ainslie has a great range of ready-to-heat curries, naans, boiled rice etc etc. But you would have to remember that you need to eat, and buy your food ahead of your 10 pm dinner time – assuming that your dwelling has a microwave.

dhigginbottom1:54 pm 25 Oct 14

Unfortunately Canberra is both small and expensive. For delivery options your best bets are third party services like Delivery Hero, EatNow and MrDelivery. The third party delivery market is competitive, so they offer considerable discounts on the menu prices.

You’ve moved from a city of almost 6 million people to one of 350,000 odd and are wondering these things? The market simply doesn’t demand it. Why stay open and pay staff when a lot of the time you would barely cover your costs? As much as I love being able to go out and have dinner at 10pm when I visit mates in Melbourne, in Canberra that just isn’t sustainable, and as such those who live here are trained to eat earlier. You might think there would be a huge market, but this has undoubtedly been tried in the past, and there is a reason very few people do it. Plus there’s always the Mandalay Bus…

Pizza Gusto and the Asian Noodle Houses survive by arguably being the best in their field at what they do. They don’t need delivery to sustain themselves, and one could argue that it would be detrimental for their business if they did.

You are comparing two completely different markets. Canberra has the highest average income level of any capital city (mainly because of the APS and ICT industry), so you can’t really expect people who work in service industries like take-aways and restaurants to work for the same wages as they get in Sydney or Melbourne.

Also, there isn’t the level of competition in Canberra, which always drives up prices.

Many years ago I was transferred to Sydney for a number of months and was astounded to find that sandwiches cost about 2/3 of what I was used to paying in Canberra. They were better as well! Why? There were at least three or four sandwich bars within 200m of each other near my office..

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