This may not be any easy one to win. Australians don't always warm to New Zealand brands and Canberra doesn't always embrace chain venues. Botswana Butchery is both. I dined at the Queenstown outpost last year and the food, wine and service was 100 per cent pure.
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Of course, even if you do have the mathematical capability to convert prices on foreign soil into your own currency, dining out while on holiday does present a different value proposition. Prices in this dining room sit at the top end of the food chain, echoed by some who have described it as the NZ version of Rockpool.
Good Group Hospitality have clearly invested without cutting any corners. The windows are floor to ceiling, the colour palate is luscious and warm with turquoise, lime green, burnt orange and domino grey. The seats are velvety and the lighting and music is engineered like a Neil Finn concert.
The maitre'd, who appears to be the head of service for the group, seats us with a big smile, charm and confidence.
I ask him if we need to vacate the table by a particular time and he reassures us "not to be concerned about that sort of thing. Just relax, enjoy your dinner and we will work out the timing".
We order a couple of tuna cones with wasabi, salmon roe, capers and chives ($8) and they arrive sitting up in a little wooden box, cleverly filled with dried lentils. They are gone as quickly as they arrive.
The duck liver pate with sourdough croutons, semolina crackers, house pickles, beer fermented mustard and guindillas ($22) is our charcuterie of choice. The pate is on the firm side, but it is creamy, silky and rich. The house pickles consist of cauliflower, cornichons, onions, capsicum and cucumbers. Each one has its own distinct character.
Entrees are a caramelised pork jowl with grilled squid, spiced pear and black toum ($32), and roasted bone marrow with mushroom duxelles and remoulade ($28).
The word "jowl" may not conjure up feelings of gastronomic salivation, with its connotations of flapping flesh and multiple chins, but this particular jowl is a mighty tasty piece of cheek. Lashings of sliced pear and calamari carve through the fat and the black garlic tinted toum tightens the whole dish.
The bone marrow entree is even richer and we realise that we haven't ordered light and easy. The mushroom duxelles is a minced mushroom paste with a lot of butter, pepper, herbs, and a bit more butter.
It's often used as a stuffing in dishes such as beef Wellington. When combined with the marrow, it's not just delicious, but also a clever dish made with minimal food cost.
There's a reason why these guys have just launched their fifth restaurant.
The wine list is extensive, and although it goes deep, there's not much under $80 a bottle.
There are a dozen steaks on offer and they range from $200kg for the lesser cuts up to $500kg for the top grade wagyu scotch with a 6-7 marbling. These are my conversions, not the actual prices.
My 300g Cape Grim reserve scotch fillet from Northwest Tasmania ($75) comes to $81 once I add the bearnaise sauce, which is just one choice from a selection of 10 great options.
Aylesbury duck with fresh plum, star anise jus and plum ketchup ($57) is cooked pink and comes with a hint of toughness that lets down the intensity of the sauces. The portion is generous and given the log cabin style dining room in the back where we are seated, it tastes as it could easily be the spoils of a hard day's hunting out in the marshes.
Sides of stewed corn, smoked creme fraiche ($14), and dauphinoise potatoes and raclette ($14) bulk up the table. The corn is fresh, crunchy and comforting. The dauphinoise comes out looking like the potato version of a vanilla slice, with a hundred layers of potato. The icing on the cake is a perfectly bronzed coating of raclette, toasted to perfection.
There is an old saying that when going to a restaurant, you should always choose a table near a waiter. This one has plenty of them and they are well informed, confident and sincere. For dessert, we indulge in a pistachio nougatine semi-freddo, with macerated strawberries, leatherwood honey, yoghurt gelato and pistachio tuille ($21). It arrives looking like a Melbourne Cup fascinator and is meticulously assembled, with all components balanced, both architecturally and in terms of flavour. The trouble with eating this food though, is that in three days time, we are likely to be hungry again.
Canberra has been waiting for a top-end steakhouse for many years. Management consulting firms and their clients would have loved this place over the past decade. But rumour has it that their expense accounts are under a bit more scrutiny in 2024. At the moment, it's all hands on deck at Bostwana Butchery, with group executive chef Angel Fernandez flipping the steaks and watching over the caviar. If they can hold their nerve on these prices and pull off this high energy show with a local team over time, Canberra will be the winner.
Botswana Butchery
Address: Shop CG14, Bunda St, City
Phone: 5133 5060
Website: botswanabutchery.com.au
Hours: Seven days, noon til late
Chef: Angel Fernandez
Noise: No problem
Dietary: Plenty of options
