Restaurant review: Temporada's new Express set menu is available from 5pm

Think about it. An Uber at peak time costs more. You might get discount movie tickets if you go in the morning? Happy to attend the gym between 10am and 3pm? If the answer is yes, the cheaper rate is yours.

Chang's point was that most diners like to eat at certain times, usually about 7pm, so why shouldn't restaurants think about charging off-peak times if you're happy enough to eat dinner at 5pm, even 9pm.

Young was happy to admit he wasn't sure if the world was quite ready for the concept but thought he might try something out there and offer a little off-peak experience.

And the Express set menu was born. It's only available from 5pm until six, $75pp for five courses effectively: bread, three starters, a main and salad, and dessert. For $65pp you can add in matching wines.

The regular dinner set menu is $98, for comparison. There's a couple more offerings, sure, but the Express menu offers pretty good value for money.

But it's not about the dollar saving for this ageing reviewer. I love the idea of "nursery tea", the idea of eating at a time when you might feed very young children, for so many reasons.

For a start, once I'm home from work and have slipped into something more comfortable, I'm much less likely to slip out of it to go back out again.

And there's the idea that eating your meal earlier in the evening is better for your health, so your stomach's not full when you're heading to bed, and your overnight fast is just a little longer.

But look, when it comes down to it, my night owl feathers have wilted a little as the years have passed. It was great to sneak out of work at 5pm, eat a fabulous meal, have a couple of glasses of wine, and be home by 7.30pm, just in time for Married at First Sight.

When I followed something up with Young later in the week, even he admitted he was too old to eat at 8pm. So you know he's passionate about the concept, even if he is actually a sprightly young thing.

We start with a slice of the housemade sourdough. It's great, earthy and soft. There are loaves for sale too, so grab one on your way out.

Our appetites are whet with a single oyster via Pambula. It's served with a sharp little mignonette, the oysters meaty and full of flavour.

Two entrees next, one light, one a little heavier and I wonder how they might sit beside each other.

There's a zucchini dish, with stracciatella, salsa verde, fried zucchini flower, and sauteed rounds of zucchini. It's a beautiful dish, light, crunchy, salty, zucchinis are so underrated. We feel no shame scooping up the creamy stracciatella with the crispy flowers (and the last of the bread).

The other was a duck liver parfait with spiced plum jam. The whole liver thing might throw you off but don't let it here. This is a great plate, with crispy bits of toast to swipe it all up. The parfait is light in texture and perfectly seasoned. The spiced plum jam is a revelation. It's tart but with a real depth of flavour. I'm wondering how it might go smeared over that loaf of sourdough for breakfast tomorrow.

Main course is a serve of charcoal-grilled wagyu flank marinated in a little kimchi for flavour. It's tender and caramelly crisp on edges, a great cut of meat treated with simplicity. It's served with mushrooms via the Southern Highlands, delicate enoki and shiitake which soak up some of the flavour.

The accompanying side is one of those things where you read the menu and might wonder how it all works. A thick slice of oxheart tomato, a thin slice of plum, with ginger and dill. But lord, it works. How simple and clever and tasty. The perfect end of a summer dish where tomatoes and stone fruit are in season. The ginger just lifts it all and it's really a dish on its own.

Jack's Mistake is the dessert. There's the best story behind this dish. Jack was a young apprentice back in 2020, before everything went to hell, thanks Covid. Young says he was one of the best kids to come through the kitchen but this night he made two mistakes. There were two desserts on the menu at the time, one a chocolate sponge, the other a vanilla panna cotta. Jack got them both wrong. He undercooked the sponge and he underset the panna cotta, and they couldn't use either. At the end of the shift the staff just mixed it all in a bowl and grabbed some spoons. And it was delicious.

Remember when you were a kid and you might mix your ice cream in a bowl until it was almost liquid? This dish is a little like that. But hidden away, there's cake and crunch from some hazelnut, a little surprise from some fermented plum. It's gooey and one of the best mistakes ever made in a kitchen I might suggest.

I like it at Temporada. I always have. I like it even more now I can eat there and be home by 7.30.

Address: 15 Moore Street, Canberra

Phone: 6249 6683

Website: temporada.com.au

Hours: Monday to Saturday, from 5pm

Chef: Dave Young

Noise: Not an issue

Outdoor seating: A couple of tables, request when booking

Dietary: Mention when booking, you might be able to mix up the set menu