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photo courtesy of http://www.weekendnotes.com

There are so many nice restaurants to choose for lunch in Canberra and Tipsy Bull is definitely one of them. It’s located in the city suburb of Braddon which is about an hour’s walk from my home and whilst I have been to this restaurant a few times, it was lovely to revisit as they now have a very good vegan degustation.

The restaurant is actually well known as a gin bar. It has over 100 local and international gins to choose. When you order a gin, it arrives deconstructed on a wooden platter with gin, tonic, ice, gin making tools and garnishes chosen specifically to enhance the flavour of the gin you have selected.

There is a good range of wines to choose from including vegan options. On this occasion I went with four of my friends just to get together and enjoy a chat and a meal. We ordered a bottle of South Australian sauvignon blanc and whilst looking at the drinks menu, I saw a mocktail of pineapple, ginger and mint I really liked the sound of, so ordered one and it was thirst quenching and so delicious!

Everyone started off with crusty bread and cultured butter, mine arrived with olive oil. I always have to limit my bread consumption as I eat way too much and become full even before the first main dish arrives. My first dish to arrive was a very tasty salad of spinach and other leaves, fennel (my favourite), pomegranate, tomato, pepitas (or pumpkin seeds really) and a delicious lemon dressing.

The next two dishes were the cauliflower with garlic puree and olive oil and a dish that wasn’t on the menu but made for me by the chef and consisted of some sort of grain that I can’t recall the name of, a couple of vegetables topped with goji berries and parsley – this was so delicious.

The dishes here are really quite large so I was happy that my friends were willing to taste mine even though they had their own non-vegan dishes. My friend Ray, who is not vegan loves trying my vegan dishes and at this restaurant he particularly loved the grain dish. It’s funny with a degustation, even if the portions are small, I find after about three dishes, I am full. My final dish was dessert and I think I was lucky here as it was sorbet, so nothing too heavy after all the food I had eaten. From memory my friends had heavy dishes but even though they were full, all were finished! Another lovely lunch with great friends.