While Good Friday is often considered a day of restriction and restraint, that might all go out the window this year given there's some great Easter inspired deals on offer.
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If you are keen to adhere to the only eat fish ritual, there's plenty to choose from, or maybe you want to lash out with some cocktails or some sweet treats.
The Inn, Ainslie
There's a great seafood menu offering for Good Friday only with an optional wine pairing. Nine plates include oysters with blood orange and finger lime vinaigrette; scallop crudo with Geraldton wax and a tangerine vinegar; some salmon roe tip, or tarama with housemade flatbread; snapper with coconut, lemon grass and pickled radish; curried shellfish; grilled South Coast bonito with sauce vierge; leaf salad with a champagne dressing; crispy potatoes with rosemary and sea salt; and to finish, a pavlova with sunrise lime and davidson plum.
$120pp, $65 optional wine pairing.
- Bookings: edgarsinn.com.au
Terra, City
Top up your seafood set at Terra with some South Coast lobster by pre-order only. It already includes: kingfish ceviche; oysters with tosazu dressing; octopus with aioli potato and corn dust; wood-fired prawns; charred blue-eye cod with cauliflower, bottaga and lime; fig salad with rocket and stracciatella; chat potatoes with miso mayo; and a glorious Basque cheesecake with strawberries and white chocolate for dessert.
$110pp and a la carte still available if the above doesn't take your fancy. But why wouldn't it?
- Bookings: terracanberra.com.au
Monster Kitchen and Bar, New Acton
While Monster Kitchen and Bar has spiced things up by adding hot cross buns to the daily breakfast buffet, we're more excited about the night-time cocktail offerings.
Try a Deaf Bunny - vodka, white chocolate liqueur and Baileys served in a hollow chocolate bunny.
Or an Egg Shot - Baileys and yellow Galliano served in a hollow easter egg.
Or perhaps a little Slippers, with a martini with gin, raspberry and pink chocolate.
The specials are available over the Easter weekend.
Three Mills Bakery
Is this the ultimate Easter weekend bundle? The guys at Three Mills have you covered from breakfast to dessert.
The pack includes six hot cross buns, a batard of your choice, four-pack of bake-at-home croissants, four pack of bake-at-home sausage rolls of your choice, four-pack of chocolate or lemon bake-at-home tarts.
$90 with free delivery. Orders close 8am on Wednesday, March 27. Delivering Thursday, March 28, and Friday, March 29.
Southern Cross Club
At the Jamison venue, executive chef Jojy Vattoly has designed an all-you-can-eat buffet bursting with seafood, from prawns, oysters and salt and pepper squid, to grilled barramundi and creamy garlic prawn mains. A few meat offerings too. And four different desserts. $79pp, kids under 12 $39pp.
At Woden and the Yacht Club, go for a $94 seafood platter.
The family-sized one at Woden feeds two adults and two kids with tiger prawns, Moreton Bay bugs, fresh oysters, smoked salmon, blue swimmer crabs, crumbed prawn, calamari and scallops served with a green salad, shallot dressing, cocktail sauce, mignonette vinegar, lemon and fresh bread rolls.
Make sure you pre-order one at the yacht club. It will offer fresh oysters, Queensland prawns, Moreton Bay bug, Tasmanian smoked salmon, blue swimmer crab served with a green salad, shallot dressing, cocktail sauce and lemon. Add in a half lobster for $35 or lash out with a full lobster for $70.
Hyatt Hotel, Yarralumla
A partnership made in heaven, as the Hyatt joins forces with Haigh's Chocolate to create the ultimate high tea indulgence.
Hotel general manager Adam Myott says the Easter weekend is traditionally one of the most popular times for Canberrans and hotel guests to gather in the Tea Lounge to enjoy a delicious afternoon tea.
"Our Easter High Tea has become somewhat of a tradition amongst generations of Canberrans, and we are looking forward to sharing this occasion with Australia's oldest and finest chocolatier," he says.
The high tea includes a three-tiered stand of sweet and savoury items, including desserts inspired by Haigh's famous recipes such as honeycomb mousse with brandy snaps and shaved chocolate, Haigh's chocolate lamingtons and Haigh's chocolate chip scones with clotted cream and jam.
The high tea runs all Easter weekend, with one sitting on Friday and two sittings on Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 2pm.
There's also a seafood buffet on Good Friday and Easter Saturday from 6pm, as well as a la carte and buffet lunch options.
- Bookings: tablecheck.com
And while you're at it ...
Have your hot cross bun and drink it too. Canberra's own the Antipodes Gin Co has crafted a fun hot cross bun cocktail that captures all the warmth and spice of the classic Easter treat.
Its Chai Gin - Australia's first certified organic and spice trade-inspired gin - is the star of the show. Infused with a symphony of 13 exotic botanicals, including Ceylon tea, sweet cinnamon, chamomile, and a hint of pepperberry, it's a flavour explosion that complements the richness of chocolate and vanilla notes.
"It's like taking a bite of your favourite hot cross bun, but in a delicious and boozy form," co-founder Rory Gration says.
Here's the recipe.
Hot cross bun gin cocktail
Ingredients
45ml Chai Gin
15ml Licor 43 (or spiced Vanilla sugar syrup)
90ml milk (ideally a soy or something nut based)
fresh nutmeg
Method
1. Combine all ingredients except nutmeg in a shaker and combine. Double strain over fresh ice into a highball glass. Grate fresh nutmeg on top.
Makes 1.
Bun in a wine
Brown Brothers, one of Australia's leading wine producers, has partnered with Coles Liquor to launch a delicious limited-edition Cienna Hot Cross Bun wine just in time for Easter.
Inspired by the favourite bun, it's a fruity red wine featuring hints of cinnamon and melted brown sugar; with a refreshing light bubble to the finish, this rich red wine pairs perfectly with a warm, buttery hot cross bun.
For those entertaining this Easter, the Cienna can also be enjoyed with antipasti such as cured meat, pickled vegetables and olives.
Why not spoil yourself?
Don't waste too much money on chocolate for the kids, for them it's more about quantity than quality. But if you're going to buy yourself some indulgent treat, look no further than the latest release from Lindt.
As part of its grand 75th-anniversary celebration, the Swiss chocolatier has released the Lindor Cheesecake Truffle, a must for both chocolate enthusiasts and cheesecake lovers alike.
Lindt's white chocolate balls are my guilty pleasure and these ones take them to the next level with a white chocolate shell embedded with the finest biscuit pieces, enveloping a lusciously smooth cheesecake filling with a hint of refreshing lemon.
This decadent new flavour from is available in a 123g bag in independent retailers now as well as Woolworths and Coles, and Big W from May. $10rrp.