From a coffee at the crack of dawn to a Indonesian feast at 3am, Canberra is the city that never sleeps when it comes to dining options.
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5am Coffee before dawn
Lucky Shot Espresso, Holt
Open 5am weekdays, Lucky Shot was highly recommended by a couple of northside friends. Who is up this early? Lucky Shot baristas and chefs who are serving up Pablo and Rusty coffee and all-day breakfasts. Start the day with a Pialligo ham bagel or a decadent pastry made daily.
If you're on an early flight, in or out, there's a couple of options at the airport too, Limestone Bar and Cafe and Hudson's Coffee both serve coffee from 5am.
Open 5am weekdays, 6am Saturday, 7am Sunday.
7am Breakfast on the run
Morning Glory, New Acton
You'll be tempted to sit down but the takeaway counter at Morning Glory does a roaring trade. You can't go past the bacon and egg roll, with the char sui glazed bacon, egg, kewpie mayo and fried eschalot. It's the perfect size for one hand and deliciously decadent.
Grab a coffee or get a serve of the house juice to go, try mandarin with apple, pineapple, passionfruit, lemon and lime. You probably shouldn't but there's a morning cocktail menu too. Kick start a busy day with a morning-groni, rondo, gin, hazelnut and ruby red grapefruit. Now get to work.
Open 7am, seven days.
9am Business breakfast
Muse, Kingston
Muse won best venue for a breakfast business meeting in Qantas' 2018 business awards. It's a gentle start to the day, the space is always light and open, the service never intrusive. Little or big breakfasts are available.
Think house-baked granola with coconut yogurt and milk or rolled oat porridge with spiced stewed apples, currants and prunes. Ramp it up with sriracha eggs benedict with pulled ham hock, smoked ocean trout kedgeree with basmati rice and garden peas. Red Brick espresso coffee or a Grounded Pleasures chai latte to wash it down.
Open 6.30am weekdays, 7am weekends.
11am Brunch
The Knox, Watson
Head to the suburbs for a surprise, The Knox is quickly gathering a solid following with their generous meals and friendly service. There's a bakery on site too so the smell is enough to draw you in.
There are some good vegetarian options, the veg brekky is two eggs, sauteed spinach, roast tomato, mushroom, housemade vegetable rosti and sourdough. Or go the brunch banger, Bratwurst sausage, smashed chats, cheesy grilled baked beans, onion jam, sauteed spinach and fried egg.
Open 7am Monday to Friday, 7.30am weekends
1pm Work lunch
Two Hands, Fyshwick
Ok, this is where most of us go, a highlight in the increasingly good choice of lunches in Fyshwick. There's a relaxed vibe, a good amount of seating inside and out, and friendly staff.
They take their coffee seriously and food is substance over style, with burgers, wraps, salads. The crispy chicken wrap, with coleslaw, homemade pickles and a spicy sauce is to die for. It's hard to go past the all-day breakfast too. Always time for bacon.
Open Monday to Friday, 7am-3pm.
3pm Afternoon tea
Burbury Hotel, Barton
There are plenty of high tea options in Canberra, from Molto, to the Hyatt, to First Edition. But at the Burbury Hotel they take high tea to the next level - level 7 that is. Lap up the sweeping views across leafy Barton towards Lake Burley Griffin while dining on a tiered plate of delicate savouries, French cakes and tarts, and scones. Sip on tea and coffee, add a glass of champagne, or lash out with the free-flowing champagne option. Available Saturdays and Sundays from noon.
Open weekends from noon.
5pm After work drinks
Speaker's Corner Bar, Hyatt Hotel
Finish the work day in style, and soak in the history, with a glass or two at the Hyatt Hotel. With cosy corners and an open fire in winter, or sun-filled verandahs and open courtyards in summer, Speaker's Corner Bar is perfect for a catch-up or quiet get-together with friends.
Choose from a large selection of ales, wines, spirits or your favourite cocktail and enjoy the tapas menu. Spiced lamb meatballs with macadamia tabbouleh and hummus or an anti-pasto platter with serrano ham, wagyu bresaola and smoked salmon.
If you're working in the city, get to Bar Rochford. This was a close call.
Open from 5pm Monday to Thursday, 3pm Friday to Saturday, 5pm Sunday.
7pm Dinner
Bacaro, Braddon
Tucked away behind Italian and Sons, this sleek little place is a firm favourite of the Good Food team. Is it a wine bar, is it a restaurant, we don't really care. The food is superb and the wine list impressive.
Enjoy a quick dinner, honest, authentic Italian fare blends beautifully with Canberra's regional produce. Feast on house-made pasta, wood-fired pizza, imported Italian formaggi and house-made cured meats.
The impressive Italian marble bar is the centrepiece, and the reason for the place as such. The Trimboli brothers wanted somewhere to put the overflow from Italian and Sons.
But Bacaro has made a name for itself and we like it.
Open 5pm til late, Thursday to Saturday.
9pm Late dinner and drinks
Lola's Bar, Civic
The kitchen here stays open well into the night. If you're looking for something at the end of a long night, a pizza might fit the bill or if there's still conversation to be had, order a selection of small plates to share.
Order fat meatballs in a tomato sugo , salt cod croquettes and sardines on grilled bread and some calamari and you'll forget the time. There's a sense of generosity about the whole place and no one is looking to kick you out.
Open 4pm to late, Tuesday to Saturday, open 11.30am to late Fridays
11pm After dinner drinks
Molly, Civic
Molly's settled into her new home in the Melbourne Building, an indiscriminate door in a back alley. Up the stairs, this time, into a large space, allowing for more people, live music, a bit of dancing if the mood strikes, the charcuterie section's expanded too.
The back bar is impressive, glimmering with bottles of all shapes and colours, You'll forget how late it is as you settle in as well.
Open Monday to Wednesday, 4pm-midnight, Thursday to Saturday 4pm-2am.
1am Munchies
The G Spot, Gungahlin
Those of us who are old enough to remember Dolly's food van, which was parked in a now non existent car park between the city and ANU, will have flashbacks at The G Spot. The iconic van, located in the Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club car park, has been drawing huge crowds from near and far since its beginnings in 2001.
They've just launched the Hawkey in memory of the late Bob, double beef patties, double bacon, double cheese, double egg, double beetroot, double pineapple, onion, pickles and their own smashing burger sauce and mayo. Hawkey did nothing by halves and neither does The G Spot.
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm, til 2am weekends.
3am Night owls
Kita, Narrabundah
Kita turned late nights into great nights, opening early in the year with hours that catered for those awake well in the wee hours. Shift workers, students, and people on the way home have found a welcoming pit stop. Try the Indonesian house specialities, think gado gado and nasi goreng, or something different like the perkedel, little fried patties of corn and potato. If you fancy something sweet, and let's face it who doesn't at this time of night, the martabek manis is an Indonesian pancake filled with nutella, crushed nuts and condensed milk.
Open 9pm til 7am, Wednesday to Friday, 9pm til noon on weekends