Airy and light-filled, this family pub feels homey. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
Where can you get the deepest, richest Ona coffee while simultaneously slaking your thirst with a chilled local beer or superb cocktail?
At Home Brew in Wright, that’s where! Airy and light-filled, this family pub feels homey, with its timber furniture, low-light fixtures and baskets of greenery hanging from the high ceiling. A glass cabinet stocked with cakes and other sweet treats separates the timber and brick bar, and the marble slab that holds the coffee machine.
“It is called Home Brew because this is a home away from home, where locals can relax and grab a drink and something to eat,” manager Parash Gotansays explains.
“We have lots of residents from the surrounding homes, apartments and businesses in the Koko building, and they have become our regulars.”
We have come here to enjoy some dinner, but there are still patrons finishing off their afternoon tea, so I kick things off with a flat white. Its layered depths, all spiced and mapley, are so good that I don’t add sugar (and that is saying something for me).
My friend’s lemon cheesecake cocktail is my favourite. Photo: Kazuri Photography
My friend’s lemon cheesecake cocktail tastes tart at the outset, but then there’s a lemon cheesecake sweetness that follows. It is the kind of cocktail that doesn’t taste alcoholic, the kind that goes down way too easily.
I am in conniptions of delight over my cocktail choice: the glamour gin. I nearly went down the smokey maple whiskey route, but this one has so many layers to it. Rich and velvety, it doesn’t taste like any cocktail I have ever tried, and its caramelised pineapple transports me to someplace tropical. It is my favourite cocktail so far this year.
Bartender Rajan Pandey and Parash love crafting new cocktails and exploring new flavour pairings; I am already keen to return and wrap my tatesbuds around their smokey maple whiskey.
We order the vegan-friendly magic mushroom, the warm Barata cheese and the Fly Me To Japan dish with soft shell crab.
The luxurious magic mushroom dish. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
The roasted mushroom dish, topped with grilled hummus and vegan cheese, is decadent. The accompanying tomato and basil arancini balls (also vegan) are crisp and golden; their centres ooze tender rice with buttery vegan cheese.
Generous slices of toasted Turkish bread loom K-2-like over silken, salty swathes of burrata, paired with balsamic-dressed slices of heirloom tomatoes and stone fruit. Such a pretty plate! The fresh basil leaves bring everything together into a classic Italian taste sensation that is just so moreish.
The Fly Me to Japan is Japanese croquettes alongside poached eggs dusted with miso chilli butter and caviar over blanched baby spinach and a sprinkling of edamame. We have chosen battered soft-shell crab as our protein – crispy mouthfuls giving way to the tender crab within. The addition of wakame kelp and caviar adds delightfully salty pops. Every bite is delicious.
Every bite of Fly Me To Japan is delicious. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
We have relished how inventive and playful the menu at Homebrew is. Parash says that there are plenty of specials on during the week.
“Monday is the $20 burger night from 5 pm or $22 for soft shell crab. Quiz night is on Tuesday. Wednesday is schnitty night. Thursday is pizza night, and on Sunday, we have a $13 cocktail,” he says.
“We do a full breakfast from 7 to 11:30. Our lunch menu goes from 11:30, and then the dinner service starts at 5. We craft our cocktails, and if you are a whiskey lover, a beer lover, or if you don’t drink alcohol at all, we have something for you. We have a loyalty program with our coffees, too.”
Wright is now another Canberra hub with a fantastic pub!
Home Brew is located at 76 Steve Irwin Ave in Wright. It is open from 7 am to 9 pm on weekdays and until 10 pm on weekends. Follow Home Brew on Facebook and Instagram.
Original Article published by Michelle Taylor on Region Canberra.
