Fox & Bow

If you ever find yourself adrift in Canberra’s south, make a beeline for the local Farrer shops. It’s not the florist or the pet salon you’re after (or maybe it is). You want Fox & Bow, a bustling community cafe where Spanish flavours are strong, and a crowd spills out into the laneway festooned with lights for woodfired weekend dinners.

Plates here get a Spanish spin thanks to owner Alex Piris’s heritage. Jamon and manchego croquettes sneak their way into an eggs Benedict, while fried eggs might come with hunks of chorizo, guindilla peppers and anchovies. The Casablanca salad – a riot of roasted pumpkin, corn, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, quinoa and feta – adds lightness to the menu.

There’s also sweet stuff, like torrijas (imagine French toast, done Spanish style) topped with Catalan cream, poached baby pears and spiced orange.

For the menu, Fox & Bow aims to source things as locally as possible. Regulars donate homegrown produce, but stuff from Ingelara Farm, Ainslie Urban Farm and the cafe’s own little kitchen garden shows up often. Naturally, acclaimed local roaster Ona is pulling through the espresso machine.