University students and public servants, you’d presume, make up the bulk of people who move to Canberra. But chefs? And chefs from Melbourne, no less?
Steve Jacomos acknowledges the move to the nation’s capital is a gear shift. “It’s a lot quieter here [compared to Melbourne]. Things sort of quieten down at nine o’clock at night.”
After stints at the Fitzroy Town Hall Hotel and Scott Pickett’s Saint Crispin, he’s four months into the executive chef gig at Edgar’s in Ainslie, a neighbourhood pub that’s undergone renovations in the past 12 months.
Aside from overseeing the café-pub menu (downstairs), grill restaurant The Inn (upstairs) and pizza place Mama Dough (next door), just two weeks ago he launched Wakefield’s Bar and Wine Room, a wine-and-snacks spot also located upstairs from the pub.
It’s a sleek room by design firm Capezio Copeland, all jade, burgundy and warm wood interiors. Weekend evenings might feature the odd burlesque performance, but for their regular trading hours there’s a remit of Australian wines, cocktails and food that’s best grouped under the loose umbrella that is “things that go with wine”. The butter that comes with the Sonoma bread is made in-house, as are the crumpets served with smoked-trout rillette and bottarga. The toastie, meanwhile, comes stuffed with brie plus mortadella from Sydney’s LP’s Quality Meats, so too the saucisson with celeriac rémoulade.
And if the maccheroni look familiar – currently, they’re served with a winter-friendly pumpkin, burnt butter and sage combo – it’s Jacomos riffing on the slender pasta tubes that are the calling card of Saint Crispin’s menu.
Maccheroni, pumpkin, burnt butter, sage, pinenuts.
(Photo: Megann Evans)Wakefield’s could very well be another feather in Canberra’s toque. In the past few years, a number of restaurants and wine bars of note have opened in the city, including Lamshed’s, Bar Rochford, Rebel Rebel and Pilot, located just around the corner from Wakefield’s.
Only a decade ago, the Ainslie shopping strip housed a pharmacy and a Brumby’s franchise; they’ve since been replaced with an independent bottle shop specialising in wines from the Canberra region, and a sourdough bakery, respectively. Back then, locals then would head to Edgar’s for a pint and, if they were feeling fancy, a pot pie – smoked eel churros with a tarragon emulsion were certainly not on the cards in the mid-2000s.
Executive chef Steve Jacomos.
(Photo: Megann Evans)“The food scene is definitely evolving here. It’s up-and-coming, and there are more opportunities. Especially the way the world is, it’s providing that escape for people to [dine out locally],” says Jacomos, noting that all venues across Edgar’s have been extremely busy in the past few months.
And though the local nightlife doesn’t stay up quite as late as Melbourne’s, he’s not overly fussed. His partner Naomi Xavier (ex-Cumulus Inc) is sous chef at Edgar’s by day; they coordinate their shifts to allow for co-parenting of their two young daughters. It’s an ideal work-life set-up that plays out pleasantly against Canberra’s leafy suburbs. “It’s nice here, and extremely beautiful,” he says. “Even if it is a bit cold.”
Wakefield’s Bar and Wine Room, upstairs at Edgar’s
2 Wakefield Drive, Ainslie ACT
Open Wed–Sat, 5pm–late
