“We had a fabulous lunch and all six of us agreed we couldn’t fault a dish. So, go Bar Nova!” A new Kingston restaurant delights dining reviewer WENDY JOHNSON.

Each December, I wrap the year of weekly food reviews in a single article listing my top five picks. 

While it’s early days still, my bet is the new Bar Nova in Kingston is going to make the grade for 2026. We had a fabulous lunch and all six of us agreed we couldn’t fault a dish. So, go Bar Nova! 

It was set menu time ($99 each; parties six and above). We ate, drank and were merry with a wonderful selection of dishes, and a large number at that. 

Divine were the appellation raw oysters from Merimbula we ordered as extra, served at the perfect temperature ($7 each).

These premium, hand-grade selected gems were plump and truly tasting of the sea. They were perfect with a well-balanced, sharp and tangy mignonette. Trust me… life doesn’t get any better.

We adored the pie-shaped slices of salty rosti, served piping hot with a side of what Bar Nova charmingly calls a “bogan potato salad”. It’s addicting.

Equally addicting were the crispy waffle fries that arrived with a masterful beef tartare and anchovy mayo. The beef is hand cut into delicate cubes and sprinkled on top with dried cured egg yolk, for added flavour and visual appeal.

It’s an understatement to say we were on a roll. We salivated over the tuna with white gazpacho (ajoblanco) and Italian calabrian chili (spicy but not overly so).

A cracker of a dish was the rustic rag pasta, traditionally created by roughly tearing fresh lasagna sheets into irregular, bite-sized strips.

Bar Nova has gone next level with this dish by cooking the fennel and radicchio in fat. As we were told: “It’s not necessarily ‘healthy’, but it’s bloody yummy.” It was and the pork was mighty delicious.

Out of this world was the super tender charcoal chook, with the meat soaked in brine for a lengthy period. It arrived with a garlic yoghurt and decorated with an abundance of fresh, vibrant bright green herbs. 

Bar Nova twists and turns with many of its food offerings, including the dinner rolls with burnt honey glaze and garlic butter. 

And we give Bar Nova a huge round of applause for its simple leaf salad, which looked as gorgeous as it tasted. So many restaurants get overly fancy with salads when sometimes one created with top-quality greens and bold, sharp and assertively bitter radicchio is the way to go.

For dessert we tickled our tastebuds with soft-serve ice cream, banana and Jack Daniels caramel. 

The wine list at Bar Nova is intriguing and we loved our Vino Friendo Bianco-Fiano ($75 a bottle).

Service was exemplary and staff delightful. True to its name, Nova is a “new star” in Canberra (Eyre and Kennedy streets).

 

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