Pulp Kitchen

Posted by: Savoureux | 20 March 2011, 4.29pm

The newspaper reviews rave about Pulp Kitchen but are the accolades deserves?
I've been twice and both times had good but not outstanding food. The atmosphere is ordinary and the service has ranged from rude to acceptable. Maybe if I was a well known reviewer, it may have been different.
For a suburban restaurant it does shine but one of the best in Canberra, hmmm!!
Having said all that, I long to go back in the hope to have an amazing meal as described in the papers.

Food:			Visit: Sun 20 March 2011 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: localeater | 3 March 2011, 8.31pm

Went here for the first time because it had been highly recommended. Service was good, attentive and friendly, but a bit haphazard - we had three different waiters during the evening. Meal was acceptable, but nothing extraordinary. Among the dishes ordered was a special from the blackboard, steak tartare, which was not good: poor presentation (no garnishes other than an egg yolk on top, accompanied with way over-salted matchstick fries and some rye bread that frankly tasted like it had been sitting out on a counter for some hours). The steak tartare on Junior Masterchef looks better. Other dishes were OK; you would think though that a special would be just that, special. Maybe if we had gone with lower expectations it would have been more acceptable; however, prices were high enough that high expectations were warranted.

Food:			Visit: Thu 3 March 2011 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: canberradiner09 | 4 June 2009, 10.41pm

As a long term regular of pulp kitchen I must say I was disappointed with my last experience.

It was a busy night and we arrived to find that our booking had gone missing, the gentlemen dealing with us became easily flustered and when eventually finding us a table left us sitting without menus for about 15 minutes. It was a very busy night however we felt very crammed with chairs touching one another and feeling like we were sitting with the table next to us.

The food we had that evening was great and definitely up to the regular high standard we have come to expect from Christian and the girls in the kitchen.

My partner and I were very disappointed not to see the regular familiar faces of the staff who always welcome us warmly and have provided exceptional service in the past which was unfortunatly not matched this time

Although it wasn't the best night out we have had many great nights at pulp and hope to have many more to come!

Food:			Visit: Thu 4 June 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: SB___ | 27 January 2009, 6.12pm

Pulp Kitchen, its the little place round the corner that Ainslie residents are so privileged to have.
Prices are very reasonable, with the food always over delivering.The duck dishes, slow cooked dishes, and pork belly offerings are always huge crowd pleasers, as is handmade spaghetti.
Staff are accommodating, timely and pleasant to deal with.

I can't recommend Pulp enough, in a town where food seems to be considered not much more than fuel its great to see someone really punching out great fare.

Food:			Visit: Tue 27 January 2009
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Posted by: applebottom | 11 October 2008, 11.46pm

Pulp Kitchen is my favourite restaurant, the food is great, the duck confit is to die for, as are the lamb shanks (that is if you love hearty food to warm your belly). Its fantastic that the specials are always changing and I appreciate that the kitchen is always prepared to accomodate any dietary requirements.

Pulp Kitchen has become one of my fav regular restaraunts to visit, because the staff are attentive and friendly, the wine list matches the food perfectly and $5 corkage is a bargain for the service you are provided with.

Food:			Visit: Sat 11 October 2008 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: ___ | 10 August 2008, 12.19pm

Lovely place tucked away in Ainslie. I wouldn't recommend going with a group, corkage at $4 per person and cakeage at $5 per person makes for a rather inexplicably expensive event. The food was great, the service ok, but nothing to rave about (but turned surly when I complained about the corkage). The $40 corkage bill at the end for a $20 bottle of wine left a bad taste in all our mouths -and I probably won't be back. The result of those extra costs was that the staff didn't recieve a tip, not due to the service but purely that we had already paid $40 for pretty much nothing.

Food:			Visit: Fri 1 August 2008 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: DiscerningDiner | 2 May 2008, 6.42pm

Friendly welcome and service, interesting menu and good beer/wine list. However, when a restaurant is providing fairly small portions at premium prices, the food really needs to be top notch. I couldn't say this about the meals we had whereby the people in our party who had steaks found them tough (a bit rich for a $30 fillet) and even things like the chips were somehow "stale".

The rather uncomfortable wooden chairs aren't an ideal feature either.

Food:			Visit: Thu 1 May 2008 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: fil n fiona | 1 April 2008, 9.43pm

Almost afraid to review it honestly because I'm worried that the more people who know about it the harder it will be for us to get a booking. Without a doubt one of Canberra's best restaurants with a menu that changes regularly but delivers food that combines sometimes unusual but consistently good flavours. Service is efficient, friendly, well timed and, just as important, unobtrusive. Having dined regularly we are yet to have a bad experience and we'll keep going back because seemingly it gets better every visit. The wine list is small but well matched to the food with a selection of dessert wines and single malt whiskies to finish off a perfect evening.

Food:			Visit: Tue 1 April 2008 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: Snottynosedcrit | 14 August 2007, 4.25pm

My favourite restaurant in Canberra - it has not disappointed once in the many visits I've made since it opened. While the food is quite rich I love that most dishes can be served as either an entree or main size allowing to sample a number of different flavours. Regardless of what you order, the ingredients, cooking and presentation are always first class and the staff are fabulous.

PS - If you leave enough room for dessert, the chocolate terrine with pistachio and vodka milkshake is to die for!

Food:			Visit: Tue 14 August 2007
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Posted by: Review Random | 11 August 2007, 12.45am

It is venues like Pulp Kitchen that make the local shops such a delight to go visit. If only there were similar venues in every local shop.
The breakfast menu (that extends through to Sunday lunch) is excellent.
The staff were very accomodating as were the chefs who were happy to serve their renowned lamb shanks (normally served at dinner) for our lunch guest who had travelled from Queensland to try them... supposedly.
Quite simply it was a delight to dine at Pulp Kitchen.
If I did live in Ainslie I don't think I would be eating much at home.

Food:			Visit: Sun 5 August 2007 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: dja | 9 June 2007, 10.22pm

Magnifique!

I'd been distracted, and didn't realise until I'd rung to make a booking that I'd rung right in the middle of a busy lunch-time. He who answered the phone was the chef himself - warm, welcoming, friendly, no panic and willing to explain the facilities.

The night we arrived (just before a mad Friday night rush when everyone arrived at the same time), the welcome was genuine and competent. There were three front-of-house staff, dealing with a crowd that would usually require more, but we were all settled, drinks attended to, we were chatted with, and specials explained. Orders were taken in a reasonable time, and throughout the night all three staff came along at different times to attend to service in an unobtrusive sort of way, but ensuring that everything was going well (without asking the innane questions that are imposed at some places).

The food was great - delivered without inordinate delays, in smallish, but adequate quantities, with amazing flavours (and for the larger tables, all delivered at the same time).

We had a really enjoyable night, and will be back again soon to try some of the other interesting things that appeared on the menus (both la carte and the blackboard were very imaginative, but not over-the-top).


The only contra was the frosty wind that blew through the back door when patrons exited to go to the external loos.

Apart from the great food, the lasting impression was of the competent, friedly staff.

Food:			Visit: Fri 8 June 2007 Mealtime: dinner
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