Courgette

Ph: 6247 4042; 54 Marcus Clarke St, CANBERRA 2600 www.courgette.com.au

Modern European, $$ +, ** for Food & Ambience
Open Lunch Mon-Fri noon-3pm Dinner Mon-Sat 6-10pm; Licensed, BYO , Corkage $9 bottle; AE DC MC V EFT
Chef James Mussillon & Adam Hartwell (29-11-08) Owner James Mussillon (29-11-08)

Mietta's Review
James Mussillon opened Courgette in the old Fringe Benefits site whilst still keeping his excellent, long runnning Griffiths establishment, Aubergine. And very smart it is too. Classically based dishes of some refinement are the order of the day. They are priced identically and are very similar in style to those of Aubergine (entrees $17.50, mains $28.50). The feeling is rather more modern than its older sibling and the service a little less assured.

Other published opinions

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 15.5/20, One Hat "If restaurateur James Mussillon is the king of the Canberra dining scene, Courgette is his crown and glory. The comfortable cream and white toned fine diner with high-backed microsuede chairs and dark plush carpet will have you feeling like royalty, too"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "One of Canberra's most corporate restaurants, Courgette ticks all the expense-account boxes, with its boardroom decor and sumptuous caband shiraz-heavy wine list. The food is teased, twirled, moulded, pressed, reduced, moussed and pureed"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "The flagship in James Mussillon's restaurant triumvirate serves the city's finest meals. The setting is dramatic but still intimate: candles flicker, white tablecloths cascade around soft beige chairs and chocolate carpet, and a glassed-in diorama of Canberra down one side looks better than it sounds"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "There's a trend for Canberra restaurants to be named for ingredients and, like its sister restaurant, Aubergine, this humble vegetable demands attention"

Sydney Eats 2008 "Mains such as a perfectly cooked wild barramundi with crisp skin on creamy leek, topped with three golden ravioli $33 still delight"

Canberra Times Bryan Martin, 25-04-07 Score: 14/20 "A beautiful, world-class dining room with a great heritage but very underwhelming on this occasion."

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2007 Score: 15/20, One Hat "Canberra is a city blessed with international expectations and the expense accounts to match. Both are met with panache at this dining room of sumptuous pleasures. James Mussillon, Canberra's culinary man about town, continues to thrill with his rich and robust cookery on the site of the legendary Fringe Benefits."

Gourmet Traveller 2007 Restaurant Guide "This second restaurant from the team behind Griffith's Aubergine has a decidedly corporate feel. The look is muted and manicured, heck even the private dining room is called The Boardroom. Service, while efficient, tends to the robotic rather than polished side of this aesthetic, as can the food."

SMH Good Food Guide 2006 Score 14/20 "Courgette has large shoes to fill on two fronts. Firstly, it's the sister restaurant to the well-known and loved Aubergine and secondly it sits on the former site of one of Canberra's legendary fine diners, Fringe Benefits. However, in both cases, it more than meets expectations. This is a seriously luxurious restaurant"

Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide 2006 * "The cultured couple in their 5Os studying the wine list, the table of middle managers still wearing their security lanyards and drinking Crownies in the middle ofthe room, the pairs of young women considering more pinot grigio: this smart, forgivably corporate room offers a fair sample of dining Canberra. But the menu, happily, is far from capital dining's median."

Sydney Eats 2006 "Perhaps even more glamorous than its sister Aubergine, Courgette oozes style and comfort. You may be lucky enough to be seated looking out onto a little garden. With talented owner/chef James Mussillon in charge of the kitchen, you can expect a high standard."

SMH GFG 2005 score 14/20 One Hat Good Wine List "James Mussillon's ratatouille of restaurants continues with the opening of this shiny new city sibling to Aubergine. Courgette sounds much classier than zucchini and this place certainly hums with finesse. Soft candlelight, halogen-spotlit tables, loungelike charcoal and black fabric chairs, a small bar/lounge area and modern sophisticated elegance are backed by attentive service. It complements Mussillon's refined, beautifully presented, French-influenced fare with its fine recommended wines"

Sydney Cheap Eats 2005 "Sister to the glamorous Aubergine, Courgette is also stylish and comfortable. Vegos won't find much joy here, though winos sure will. The business lunch is great value with a four-course degustation, $29.50 per person"

Gourmet Restaurant Guide 2005 "It's a warm space, bathed in navy tones and featuring soft furnishings. Mussillon's "signature" spice-crusted tuna will be familiar to those au fait with Guillaumme Brahimi's work in Sydney, ... The strong wine list extends to an excellent selection of digestives. The service is consistent with Mussillon's ethos of less-formal dining, but lacks the polish of experience."