Most of the restaurants around Cooleman Court (CC) are pretty good (although a friend reacted to the indian place last week?) – Sekeenas at the top entrance to CC (near TAB) is brilliant for brekfast and lunch. For a good cheap chinese meal try the chinese place in the Duffy shops.

don’t bother with the Labour club in Stirling unless you are wanting really basic pub food.

Also you arent far from Woden with the strip of restaurants up the top and Lemongrass near southern cross club

Have fun shifting to the southside from the darkside

Laksa House makes a great….Laksa! (near the Woolies/Caltex Servo)
My Vietnamese is also consistently excellent (near pharmacy at cooleman ct)

Delissio – lovely spot – Theodore St, Curtin.

Breakfast – McDonalds Namatjira Dr north. Dinner – Pizza Hut Brierly St.

The vietnamese at Fisher shops is good. There’s also a decent place at Chifley shops – can’t remember the name of it though – I think they do breakfast.

ljd said :

Laksa House makes a great….Laksa! (near the Woolies/Caltex Servo)
My Vietnamese is also consistently excellent (near pharmacy at cooleman ct)

+1 – an institution.

Also Ramas over in Pearce Shops or A Bite to Eat at Chifley Shops.

Agreed with the above – anything around Cooleman Court is pretty good. Thai House, Masala Hut, all those mentioned earlier…

(the pasta place/pizzeria/fish place on Brierly Street seems to revamp itself every other week. It’s like a bonus random restaurant to add into the equation!)

I’m glad you’re moving to the centre of the universe. It’s a great place to live. Here’s my top four:

Rama’s Fijian/Indian at Pearce Shops. Probably the best Indian food I’ve had anywhere, ever. Fabulous. Not open on Mondays. They deliver to Weston Creek, but better IMHO to book (you’ll likely need to!) and eat in. If you have a big group, do the banquet thing; they’ll really look after you and make sure you get great value.

Thai Spice at Woden, same. I tend to go there at once a fortnight, if not more. Different menu to River Kwai. Excellent jungle curry (my favourite – a thoroughly uncivilised dish!) and green curry.

River Kwai (Thai food) at Weston has been uniformly excellent whenever I’ve been there. Haven’t in quite some time, though, and don’t know if they are still around. I really like their Moo Par (chilli pork) dish.

The takeaway at Fisher Shops does pretty good pizza if you remind Tim to not use so much damned cheese. IMHO it ruins the (otherwise excellent) pizza. I like the Mexicana, but be warned that the chillies they use are fairly potent; certainly not your typical pissant jalapenos.

The Viet at Fisher Shops is vile.

Sakeena’s does a great breakfast and their pies are fantastic. Weston Creek isn’t really a brunchy area so much as the traditional cafe strips around Canberra are. There’s also AD’s takeaway just out of Cooleman Court for a reasonable breakfast. For dinner there are better places than the Duffy shops, sorry. Used to live there and it’s great for a quick cheap meal, but the Chinese and Vietnamese at Cooleman offer better quality across the board. China Town and My’s are great. River Kwai is a bit more upmarket than Thai House and offer a few more interesting dishes. Their duck dishes are outstanding.

The place on Brierly street the re-invents itself every 6 months is currently a seafood restaurant and the food is fantastic. They open erratic hours and not late, but it’s worth it for the quality. The blackboard menu is updated regularly and they have the best potato scallops in Canberra. It’s a big call, but I’ll make it. Second best would be Johnno’s Pizza place in Mawson.

I’ve likewise heard of bad reactions to Masala Hut (if it’s still called that, used to be a Taj Agra I think?). Personally I’ve never had a bad reaction but I don’t eat there that often.

And back to breakfast, there’s a treat at the Chapman shops. It’s not a bakery, it’s a patisserie, and don’t you forget it. Asking pies is met with a sigh of borderline disdain/frustration. There’s even a sign saying “We don’t sell pies”. But the cakes and pastries are sensational. Croissants only on Saturday morning, and get there early. They are worth it. If you’re early enough, the chocolate croissants are great too. There’s always cake and quiches though. Haven’t tried the coffee. I’m afraid it would be too… French…

Though it’s a little out of the creek, I agree A Bite to Eat at Chifley is really, really good for breakfast. Be sure to book though, it fills up most days for brunch.

Thai House at Coolemon Court is the best Thai in Canberra.

Chapman shops have a lovely French patisserie.

Welcome to Weston. Agree with all the posters here, Weston restaurants are pretty good. None are particularly posh, but their food is great. I especially recommend Thai House.

If you are looking for a club, the Weston Club is also good and a little bit of a cut above the standard club food. Weston Club is a nice size and isn’t as depressing as some of the bigger places.

Um, the last time I checked Rama’s at Pearce wasn’t in Weston Creek.

Maestral at Cooleman Court- Strange decor.. Amazing seafood!

+1 for the Weston Club, but on a child-free evening when you have one.

The cafe in Holder shops open as at 10 on the weekends for a great breakfast.

Duffy shops chinese is under new management and both prices and quality are up – still entirely possible to feed two adults and one child for under $20 with enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

Brunch I would go ADs (at the pedestrian crossing) over Sakeenas. Outside dining at Sakeenas is detracted from by the dubious ambience of a carpark outlook (unfortunately WC community centre suffers from the same problem). ADs is better, though both are still under the influence of smokers.

There are much better local brunch options the other side of the parkway – Delissio at Curtin or A Bite To Eat at Chifley being my favourites.

Evening dining I would say River Kwai or Thai House, Laksa House (cheaper), Fisher shops pizza (the local Dominos produces what could best be described as a sea of melted cheese with occasional bits of topping), and the Turkish place near Video Ezy.

Btw congrats on the move to God’s country

Been here about 9 months now so can comment. Bit of a culinary wasteland really. Thai House and Masala Hut are pretty OK, but know a few people who have struggled after enjoying Masala Hut. The fish cafe is expensive for the small morsels. River Kwai is also a bit stingy though food is good. Like Maestral too, but can easily get costly and is hard to get a table at short notice. None too keen on Sakeenas though it has a loyaly following – find it drafty, ordinary service, patchy quality and makes me feel like I am dining in a nursing home cafeteria with the age of the clientele. Nearby one has the Yarralumla thai which is good a friendly as well as Lemongrass at Woden.

McDonalds do a great hamburger and chips. They also do a childs meal that comes with a toy.
There’s always parking nearby, and there’s a playground too.

Congratulations – you made an inspired choice! Weston has some remarkably good restaurants.

Some of the ones around Cooleman Court:

* My’s Vietnamese – REALLY good Vietnamese food. Try dishes like the Prawns with onions and chilli (Shells on!) – messy, but great. Hotpots, campfire beef – all satisfying!
* Fish Tales on Brierly – Run by the Chattos formerly of Chats and Chatfish. The best fish + chips I’ve had – Try the barramundi spring rolls, potato cakes, Japanese prawn cutlets. Very casual dine-in and take-away – can be irregular opening hours though. They have a menu of pizza and pasta dishes for those who don’t want fish and these are safe for people with seafood allergies (They have first-hand experience).
* River Quai – Above-average Thai restaurant. I can recommend the standard Thai staples of Money Bags, Pad Thai and Green Chicken curry.
* Turkish takeaway (Used to be Turkish + Thai) – Good kebabs w/ house-made bread. The Zucchini balls are fantastic. The Spinach + Fetta or Lamb, tomato and capsicum pides are also great.
* Masala hut – Good Southern-Indian style food. Try the Sheekh Kebab or Masala Dosa.
* Sakeenas – A good home-made Greek-style cafe. Great for late breakfasts on the weekends or getting a discount take-away near their closing time.
* Laksa Hut – Solid Laksa joint (Try the Laksa!
* AD’s cafe – Interesting menu combination: asian noodle dishes and pub counter meals. The best steak sandwich in Weston.
* The Weston club’s a pretty comfortable place for a pub meal and a beer too – menu and preparation are a little average though (Perhaps try the Calamari or Weston Burger).

I also “hear” that Maestral is good – but I’ve never actually eaten there yet.

My sister’s place is good if you like to eat out….

How about ‘Bite to Eat’ at Chifley Shops? It’s pretty popular on the weekends thses days, so you generally have to wait for a seat. It has great food, especially breakfasts and a good atmophere, it also has an outdoor area. It’s about the only place with some character in the whole of Weston Creek. There is also a new play ground on the oval for the kids to burn off some energy while you’re there.

Maestral has great food, pricey but worth it.

Sakeenas is ok, fine for a quick bite.

River Quai is tasty and has good service.

It’s about the only place with some character in the whole of Weston Creek

Except Chifley is not actually IN Weston Creek…

The other place that used to be great for weekend brunch (and weekday lunches, arvo teas etc) was the cafe at Mt Stromlo (except its first iteration post-bushfires which was awful). The beautiful outlook westwards was such a change from the carpark ambience of cafes at Coolo, Woden and even most of the smaller local centres.

Unfortunately it’s currently closed with no plans to reopen.

Welcome to Chapman, neighbour! Chapman shops also has Sin Yau Garden Chinese (good prices and great quality) and a takeaway, which changes owner every few years, but does quite well. It’s a nice walk there and back.

My other favourites are:
Weston Club, has stone grill
Irish Club, kids area outside, plus next to the child care centre, handy after picking the kids up
River Kwai, good quality but smaller serves
Thai House

Laksa House is ok, but nothing on the Dickson Asian Noodle House in Woolley street.

Buy some generic brand stuff from Aldi, and eat it in the carpark.

Homelesss shelters are good too – they don’t get too cranky when you welsh on the bill.

Welcome to “the Creek”! You’ll start by laughing at the underpass graffiti that says “2611 for life” but give it 12 months and you’ll be believing it!

Having sampled most of the local eateries I can concur with most of the other posters above, though just about everywhere has their absolutely fabulous dishes and some so-so ones too.

Another one to try is the Little Noodle Bar – amazing pork balls, great Satay and Sweet and Sour noodles.

ljd said :

Laksa House makes a great….Laksa!

I had one of their laksas once, never again.

The Chapman French patisserie has recently changed hands … quality is a bit down I think..

Thanks very much, everyone! We’re absolutely pumped about moving from our little 2 bedroom into a proper 4 bedroom with an actual backyard! We’ll take everyone’s advice on board as to the culinary offerings of the area.

Cheers! wedge, Mrs. wedge + wee wedge.

@Booyah

Stone Grill???? Why would I want to pay a “restaurant” to allow me to cook my own meal? (except maybe a club where rare/medium rare/well done are all the same).