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Canberra Today 27°/29° | Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Dining: Little sister’s big coffee

IT’S a challenge eating a macaron (salted caramel, if you must know) when you’re sitting beside a fitness centre and can see, through an expansive glass wall, people fitted out in designer gym gear running like hell on a treadmill.

But that’s what I found myself doing on my first visit to Farmers Daughter in the city. It didn’t stop me from downing the macaron, but it did remind me that my New Year’s resolution to join a gym is, well, a little behind schedule.

Farmers Daughter in the city… specialises in specialty coffees and teas, freshly made sandwiches, gourmet cakes and a line-up of macarons. Photo by Gary Schafer
Farmers Daughter in the city… specialises in specialty coffees and teas, freshly made sandwiches, gourmet cakes and a line-up of macarons. Photo by Gary Schafer
This is the baby sister to Farmers Daughter that opened with a bang at Yarralumla shops a few years back. The emphasis is on baby sister. It’s a small shop – some would argue more a kiosk – in the North Quarter food court of the Canberra Centre with a very small menu.

Farmers Daughter specialises in specialty coffees and teas, freshly made sandwiches, gourmet cakes and a line-up of macarons (note to self: at least it was just a macaron and not a massive slice of cake or a decadent brownie).

You order at the counter and are given your table number, which is inserted into a green granny smith apple (cute, but a waste of apples?). If eating in, you then head behind the serving counter to find a seat. The space is what it is, but I didn’t find it inviting. Perhaps it’s the combination of the surrounding fitness centre, escalator and the ATMs. Just remember “food court” and you’ll have a better perspective.

Farmers Daughter promises that its breakfasts and lunches will “make your saliva glands work overtime”. It sure has done so for me in Yarralumla, but not so in the city. The selection of sandwiches was acceptable but not innovative… smoked chicken and avo, BLT, ham and cheese, you get the drill.

I ended up with the chicken, made with lovely gourmet bread, tender meat and creamy avo. It hit the spot although I waited ages for it to arrive, even though the place wasn’t busy. Indeed, I had to enquire at the counter if my sandwich was even coming and did so some time after my coffee and macaron had been served.

One of Farmers Daughter’s claims to fame is that they are the only outlet in the city to serve Campos Coffee. Some search for this specialty coffee label but as we all know you can have a great bean, roasted to perfection, but ruined by a barista who hasn’t a clue. This barista did the coffee great justice. It was a superb cappuccino and, yes, it went well with my macaron.

Farmers Daughter, Shop FGK 12, Bunda Street, Canberra Centre, call 6249 8809.

 

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Wendy Johnson

Wendy Johnson

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