Chef O-san is constantly tinkering with his recipes to suit the Australian palate - and his collagen-rich ramen is one of the delicious products of his experimentation.

Sushi train... sushi-go-round... kaiten-zushi... whatever you like to call it, we're all familiar with the wonderful concept of sitting in front of a conveyer belt, watching plates of sushi pass before our hungry eyes, and picking off the ones that look the best before someone else down the line gets a chance.

"It's amazing what you can do with tofu!", says Emily from Sweet Bones, as we shovel another bite of her vegan chocolate and peanut butter cupcake into our mouths.

A mundane discussion about Zomato’s scoring system, followed by badly-worded descriptions of delicious Malaysian food. You’re welcome.

At school, I always wondered what it was like to be one of those kids that moved around with their families every few years (or less). Having grown up in little ol’ Canberra, I wondered how much more of the world they’d seen; how much collateral knowledge they’d picked up on the way.

As a kid, I never had much of a sweet tooth – I hardly ever ordered dessert when we went out for dinner, and mum even says she used to find Easter eggs from two years ago when she cleaned my room! I’d have happily traded away a chocolate bar for a packet of chips any day of the week.

The words ‘Grease Monkey’ are on everyone’s lips at the moment – and judging by the number of Instagram posts about them, so is the taste of their delicious burgers. If you haven’t heard, Grease Monkey is the newest Braddon hotspot (at least until something new comes along), located on the corner of Lonsdale and Elouera Street.

The Chairman Group has been one of Canberra’s hospitality mainstays over the last two decades. Since opening in 1992, the iconic Chairman & Yip restaurant in Civic has been serving up refined yet honest Cantonese food, attracting a loyal following of politicians and suits along the way. In 2008, the group (headed by Josiah Li) added the Lanterne Rooms to their stable, followed by Malamay in 2012; and both restaurants have been great successes.

Every year, sometime during May, Canberrans suddenly find that they're no longer able to engage in small talk without mentioning the impending doom that is winter. Conversations with co-workers, baristas and gym receptionists, once littered with witty anecdotes about the past weekend's activities, merely become less formal versions of the weather forecast. 

For the last eight years, Tokyo has been the culinary capital of the world, boasting the most number of Michelin-starred restaurants of any city worldwide. Tokyo is currently home to 160 one-star restaurants, 52 two-star restaurants, and 12 three-star restaurants - not to mention the 324 restaurants with Michelin's Bib Gourmand tag, offering "exceptional food at moderate prices".

Fresh off the back of their My Kitchen Rules experience, Canberra girls Gina and Anna Petridis opened up Pâtissez in Manuka just a few short weeks ago. Normally I wouldn't be too excited by ex-reality show contestants opening up their own place, but I couldn’t pass up the chance for a one of those damn Freakshakes.

While I was clicking around the TAFE NSW website looking for a Commercial Cookery course to enrol in (oh yeah, I'm going through a quarter life crisis and having my first big career change right now...), I came across a few words that had me do a double take... 'WIN Dinner for two at award winning chef and TAFE NSW Ambassador Matt Moran's ARIA Restaurant!

While visiting Sydney last weekend, Miss T and I found ourselves on the western side of the CBD around lunchtime (or rather, late lunchtime as it was already 2pm). We knew that there was nothing that would satisfy our near-‘hangriness’ better than a big, juicy, burger. However, that’s where we were faced with a difficult decision – Mary’s CBD or Burger Project?

Akiba’s opening in December 2014 was greeted with much anticipation from Canberrans. The concept, the location and the marketing (who didn’t walk past the 2m high decals spanning the whole width of its windows at some point or other?!) was a breath of fresh air and reminded us that it was worth detouring from Lonsdale Street or the Kingston Foreshore to dine in Civic once in a while.

Occupying the space that Dieci e Mezzo previously held, Akiba is neither strictly a bar nor a restaurant – more a space to hang out and have a good time (albeit where you also pay money in return for food and drinks). Its name represents the Akihabara ‘electric town’ district in Tokyo, and the fitout and atmosphere of Akiba reflects this with its neon light features and vibrant colours.

Being disappointed at missing out on riding with Pedal Power's Sunday Wanderers due to the storm overnight/this morning, what better way to cheer M and I up than with some indulgent pancakes!

Like much of the food world, we're obsessed with peanut butter at the moment (and separately working our way through some peanut butter M&Ms from the US of A!) so this was an easy flavour choice.

Growing up in a Chinese household, you tend you get fed some weird and wonderful things - cubed pig's blood, pig ears and sea cucumber to name a few. Thankfully for me, hot pot (while not being that weird) was also one of those things. 

We were lucky enough to have a electric hot pot at home (which isn't unlike an electric frypan really) - it was a garish green colour on the outside and would be placed in the middle of the dinner table, with an assortment of meat, seafood, vegetables and noodles sitting around it just waiting to be cooked. I remember the worst thing being how long it took for the broth to heat back up after you'd dropped some pork or seafood in (mum and dad said the water had to boil again before it was good to eat), but it was always worth the wait!

It's not often I get a chance to wander around Sydney's CBD with no time constraints and no plans other than to keep my eyes peeled for interesting photo ops. But when my fiance organised half a day's worth of bridal-related activities, it presented the perfect opportunity to take my Fuji X100S out for a spin!

the Ampersand Cafe sits along a busy stretch of Oxford Street in Paddington, opposite the Victoria Barracks. it's a 'cafe bookstore' - which means a multi-story library towards the back of the cafe boasting 30,000 second-hand books, an invitation to lounge around or chat at the communal tables while you sip on a coffee, and a range of $1 books for sale (which one young passerby astutely noticed and managed to convince his mum to buy him four books about dragons). 

it's a popular venue among the locals, without any sign of being pretentious. the decor has retained much of its vintage charm, the menu is full of old favourites, and the staff are warm and inviting. perfect for a rainy day!

26 years living in Canberra and i'm ashamed to say that i've only been out to Tidbinbilla once (well - now, twice!). as Canberrans, we're lucky to have so much wildlife and bushland surrounding the city, and for me it's definitely been the case of somewhere like Tidbinbilla being so close and accessible that means you never quite get around to getting out there.

and so with a couple of long weekends upon us, what better time to go for a bit of a bushwalk and get away from racing around town. it was a crisp ANZAC day that we started our walk from Dalsetta, through the Eliza Saddle and finally up to Gibraltar Peak for a couple of pastrami sandwiches. according to wikipedia, Gibraltar Peak is the 45th highest 'mountain' in the ACT with its lofty elevation of 1,038m, so not really worthy of peak bagging (which is something else i just discovered on wikipedia, although it sounds like it belongs more on urban dictionary...).