The best new restaurant menu in Canberra - Wakefields Bar & Wine, Ainslie
If you're looking for the best place to eat and drink in Canberra right now, Wakefields Bar & Wine in Ainslie is the answer.
Exec chef Elliot Gotovac and Wakefields chef Nick Peters have put together a new menu built around sharing plates, bold flavours, and the kind of food that makes a table feel alive. The room has changed too — darker, warmer, more intimate than you might remember. The kind of Canberra bar and restaurant experience where you order one more round without really deciding to.
Whether you're after a date night in Canberra, a long dinner with friends, a great wine bar in the inner north, or just somewhere in Ainslie to eat and drink well on a weeknight — Wakefields Bar & Wine is open and ready for you.
Here's everything on the new menu, and what we'd tell you to order first.
The best sharing plates in Canberra — start here
The oysters are the move if you want to set the tone early. Sydney rock oysters with a green apple mignonette — sharp, clean, and exactly the right way to start a night at one of Canberra's best wine bars. Order two rounds. You'll want to.
If you don't know what a Gilda is, you're about to. A skewer of boquerones, caperberry, and guindilla — a Basque bar snack that's been around forever for a very good reason. It's salty, briny, and addictive in a way that's hard to explain until you've had one. One of the best bites on any Canberra bar menu right now.
The gnocco fritto with parmesan cream and wagyu bresaola is the dish people are going to talk about. Fried dough, rich cream, cured meat. It sounds simple because it is — and it's perfect because of it. If you're looking for the best bar snacks in Canberra, this is where the conversation starts.
Prawn toast, stuffed zucchini flowers, flatbread with garlic butter, house olives, Big Mak beef carpaccio, South Coast tuna with yuzu kosho, mushroom pate with crudite. Order broadly. Share everything. That's the point. This is the kind of spread that makes Wakefields one of the best restaurants in Ainslie and one of the best casual dining experiences in Canberra's inner north.
Canberra's best sliders, skewers and pasta — the middle of the table
The dry aged cheeseburger slider with white onion and American cheddar is exactly what it sounds like and better than you're expecting. Dry aged beef, proper cheese, a bun that holds together. If you're coming in with someone who claims they don't want much, order two of these and watch that change immediately. Easily one of the best burgers in Canberra.
The fish slider with iceberg and yoghurt tartare is the lighter option that doesn't feel like a compromise. The lamb kofta skewer with tabouleh and garlic crema is the one to order if you want something with a bit more substance alongside your drinks — and at one of Canberra's best cocktail bars, there will be drinks.
On the pasta side — the linguini vongole is the classic done properly, the kind of dish that makes you wish you'd ordered it first so you could eat it slower. It's the kind of pasta that puts Wakefields in the conversation for the best Italian-influenced food in Canberra. The beef and pork ragu on pappardelle with grana padana is what you want on a cold Canberra night. Rich, deep, the kind of sauce that takes time to build and tastes like it. The ricotta gnudi with broccoli and pangrattato rounds it out for anyone at the table who wants something a little lighter — still one of the best vegetarian options you'll find at a Canberra wine bar.
The best desserts in Ainslie — finish strong
Brioche with chocolate mousse and burnt butter. That's all we need to say about that. One of the best desserts in Canberra, full stop.
The gelato del dia changes daily — ask your server what's on tonight. It's always worth it.
Eat, drink and stay late at Wakefields Bar & Wine, Ainslie
Wakefields Bar & Wine is one of Canberra's best kept secrets — a dark, intimate wine and cocktail bar tucked into the inner north suburb of Ainslie, just minutes from Canberra CBD. Whether you're searching for the best wine bar in Canberra, the best cocktail bar in the inner north, a great date night restaurant in Canberra, or just somewhere worth the trip — Wakefields is it.
On the 29th we're hosting a night to properly mark the occasion. Burlesque performance, the full new menu, and a room that's going to look incredible. It's the first big event at the new Wakefields and one of the most exciting nights out in Canberra this month. Seats are going fast.
Details and tickets are on our Instagram — @wakefieldsbarandwine — or book your table at Wakefields Bar & Wine directly via the link below.
Come in soon. The best new menu in Canberra is ready for you.