The Five Dishes Diners Can’t Stop Ordering at Minima

With a wave of new openings across the city, Canberra’s dining scene is no longer living in the shadow of its coastal counterparts. Among the venues helping cement the capital’s reputation as a culinary destination is Minima, a 22-seat contemporary Southeast Asian diner focused on what its owners call “third-culture cuisine”.

“The concept of third culture really struck a chord with us as people who grew up in an environment culturally different to their parents,” says co-owner Benn Ratanakosol, who runs Minima alongside his brother and head chef, Mork Ratanakosol. The pair are veterans of Canberra hospitality, having worked in their parents’ traditional Thai restaurant before spending 15 years serving their signature brand of “rebellious Thai” at the successful Morks in Kingston.

Their latest venture, however, is driven by a desire to experiment, push boundaries and obsess over every detail. “We farewelled Thai cooking and wanted to put our own spin on the classic style,” says Rantanakosol. “We’re a contemporary restaurant but the philosophy behind it is all about embracing openness in the techniques we learn from around the world and the ingredients we have access to in Australia today.”

Broadsheet and NAB have teamed up for Bookings With Benefits, a dining program that gives you $50 off the bill when you spend $250 or more on your NAB credit or debit card at selected venues – including Minima – across the country. Ahead, Ratanakosol gives us a rundown on his five must-order dishes.

Mapo-style tofu with doubanjiang and blue cheese

Mapo tofu meets buffalo wings is the brief behind this innovative plate. “This dish really speaks to what Minima is trying to achieve when we talk about it being a third culture eatery,” says Ratanakosol. “Diners can’t believe the ingredients work together until they try it.” The tofu is fried until golden, then coated in doubanjiang – the funky, fermented chilli paste from China’s Sichuan province known for its distinctive numbing heat. It’s finished with melted gorgonzola and glossy sauteed Swiss chard. “It’s got a Chinese backbone with Italian cheese and inspired by a classic American dish of hot sauce and dipping sauce,” he says.

Char siu sausage with winter pickle salad

“One of our chefs, Justin, was on a mission to make a dish that said ‘Chinese charcuterie’,” says Ratanakosol. A recent addition to the menu, this dish takes the basic elements of Chinese barbeque pork and turns them into a bold mix of sweet, salty and tangy. Instead of a traditional cut of meat, the team uses pork sausage that they make in-house, with flavours of garlic, honey and white pepper. Once the sausage has been fired off under the grill, it’s painted with a furu glaze made from fermented tofu. “We then pair the sausage with a winter pickle salad, which has a sauerkraut-y vibe, for that refreshing kick against the succulent pork,” says Ratanakosol.

Fried lemon chicken, thyme, chilli and garlic oil

For the Ratanakosol brothers, there’s one dish that reminds them of being treated to a succulent Chinese meal as kids: lemon chicken. “A theme we love in our dishes is nostalgia – the fortnightly takeaway was very much part of our identity growing up,” says Rakanasol. Naturally, Minima puts its own spin on the classic. The chicken is marinated overnight in koji, a Japanese rice ferment, before being fried into crisp, golden bites. It’s paired with a bright lemon sauce that features the “magic ingredient” of chicken salt for an extra hit of nostalgia, then finished with thyme-chilli oil for warmth, heat and herbaceous complexity.

Three-pepper Mongolian grass-fed striploin

“We’ve bumped up the peppery savouriness and turned down the sweetness of this classic dish,” says Ratanakosol. Minima’s take on Mongolian beef centres on quality grass-fed striploin, coated in three varieties of crushed pepper and served rare alongside roasted capsicum and onions. “We don’t use black pepper at all, which is kind of odd, but it means we pack in this level of complexity with all the peppers,” he says. The blend includes floral Javanese long pepper, numbing Sichuan pepper and earthy green peppercorns, each bringing its own character to the dish.

Grilled masala South Coast snapper, roast pumpkin and puttanesca salad

This dish is a fitting expression of Minima’s third-culture philosophy, drawing inspiration from multiple culinary traditions. The snapper, sourced from the NSW South Coast, is marinated in yoghurt flavoured with garam masala and cumin before being grilled and blowtorched for a crisp finish. It’s served atop a silky miso pumpkin puree and finished with a tomato and caper salad inspired by Italian puttanesca. The result is a dish that balances warming spice, sweet roasted vegetables and bright acidity in every bite.

The Broadsheet Dining Program Special Offer of a $50 discount when you spend $250 or more is available when you dine at a Participating Restaurant between 13 January 2026 and 16 December 2026. To be eligible for the Discount Offer, you must make a booking via the NAB Exclusive Booking Link for the Participating Restaurant which is found on the Broadsheet Booking Page and spend a minimum of $250 on your NAB credit card. Between 2 June 2026 and 16 December 2026, Select venues will also accept NAB debit card payments. The Discount Offer will apply at the Restaurant when you pay the final bill amount including GST and service fees and charges (if any) with your NAB credit card (includes a digital NAB credit card) or NAB debit card (includes a digital NAB debit card) at select venues. The Discount Offer is only valid once per booking and will not apply to any split bills and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. For the full Terms and Conditions of this Offer, please click here.

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