Our August Flavours Of The Month

By Ben Stephens.

With the start of a new month, comes a fresh batch of flavours and ingredients hitting the menu at Capitol Bar & Grill. The hard working QT Forager has had a busy month scouring family-run farms, artisanal delicatessens and the like in search of undiscovered produce and as a result we have some authentic NSW pancetta stesa, the crispiest horseradish from SA, Tasmanian grown lemon myrtle and to sweeten it all, Northern NSW sugar bananas. Our hands are full and we’re sitting pretty… like scoring a royal flush from the flop.

A photo posted by De Palma Salumi (@depalmasalumi) on Jun 20, 2016 at 5:46pm PDT

When it comes to pancetta, tradition goes a long way in the quality of the product. Tony and Robbie De Palma, a father and son collaboration are driven by passion, deep dedication and a family tradition that has been handed down through seven generations. Today the duo create some of the best slow fermented and aged salumi on the market, all of which are gluten and phosphate free and focus on using Australian ingredients.

This month you can find their pancetta stesa making your mouth water in our Rigatoni Carbonara (Smoked Pancetta, Garlic Infused Pasture Fed Cream, Loads of Parsley, 62 Degree Free Range Duck Egg, Pecorino).

Since the mid 1940’s the Meakin Family have been growing horseradish in South Australia. The family are now based in Langhorne Creek, south east of Adelaide, right near Lake Alexandrina. The 25 acres of the Meakin family soil is a prime place for the aromatic root vegetable to grow, along side a couple of rows of grapes of course – it is South Australia after all.

You can taste these little beauties in the Beer Steamed Prawn Cocktail (Shredded Iceberg, Cucumber, Tiny Shrimp, Tiger Prawns, Cognac Horseradish & Capitol’s Fermented Tomato Hot Sauce) and along side the “I only have a Minute Steak” Rib Eye (Grain Fed, 180g, 100% Black Angus, NSW, Anchovy Butter, Watercress, Shallots, Horseradish Salad, Shoestring Fries).

Tucked away in the depths of the Tasmanian rainforests you’ll find Chris Read of Diemen Pepper, a harvester of the native pepper berry. With a shifting focus onto a range of native foods, Chris has been producing a unique lemon myrtle that we have fallen for. With a mellow lemongrass tang, the native myrtle works well in a sweet or savoury setting.

Through August you can taste the zing in the That Fish Dish (Whiting Brushed in Lemon Myrtle & Nigella, Barely Seared, Chinese Chives & Frenched Beans, Garlic Confit, Tarragon Hollandaise), adding a little something extra for the palette to comprehend.

To round out this month’s fresh additions, the miniature sugar bananas from the QLD/NSW border are throwing their sweetness into ‘The Bali’ Pavlova (Coconut Flesh, Sugar Banana, Lemon Curd, Vanilla Chantilly, Sour Raspberry Juice, Marshmallow) – it’s all about that freshness and these little beauties compliment exactly that. Michael Curtis is the man behind the golden fruit, producing a range of bananas, avocados and paw paws that he personally sells at Capital Region Farmers Markets twice a month.

A photo posted by @qtcanberra on Jul 21, 2016 at 12:19am PDT