Welcome to our September newsletter!
Each month we will keep you up to date with our favourite things inside and outside the restaurants. There will be interviews, guides, and reflections written through our experience of the best place to be:
Canberra.

*Its a BIG newsletter this week so make sure you click view entire message..

Venue Highlight

Cafe Stepping Stone isn’t your average cafe. Run as a work integration social enterprise Stepping Stone exists to help women who have arrived in Australia as migrants or refugees from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The founders Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello, were recently awarded the 2025 Australian of the Year Local Heroes, a well deserved accolade. Recently Bar Rochford hosted their community cup raising over 12.5k for this amazing organisation. 

We love a good feed, and it tastes even better when it's going to good organisations creating positive change and opportunities for those in the community who need it most.

More on Hannah, Vanessa and Cafe Stepping Stone

Mal’s Monthly Lure Review
This month we are keeping is short and sweet, Like Mal. But buckle up for future reviews and a deep dive into all thing fishing with Mal.

One of my favourite lures for natives and redfin in the local lakes and ponds is The Daiwa Double Clutch. A versatile suspending Twitchbait  it has excellent casting ability due to Daiwa’s “Silent gravity oscillation system.” This is essentially a tungsten ball inside the bait that is propelled forward while casting and pulls forward when you start to retrieve the lure, balancing the bait and levelling out and dropping the rear on the pause.  

They are available in a range of sizes from 48 to 115mm. For the Canberra region, I have only used the 48, 60 and 75mm models but I am keen to try out the 90mm models this year.

My best success has been using them casting just to the side and over the top of shallow weed beds with short, sharp pauses. They suspend really well, and they allow you to keep your lure in the fish’s face for much longer than a conventional diving lure. 

Even though I would say overall they are a less effective way of catching bulk numbers of fish, I find fishing Twitchbaits more fun and an involved way to fish rather than hopping vibes of the bottom or Texas rigged soft plastics.

I can’t think of a similarly priced Twitchbait that can compare to the Double Clutch. They are priced between $19 and $32, depending on size, and I encourage you to support your locally owned tackle store where you can.

Canberra Gallery Guide - Moonlighting 

What does it mean to rethink how artists get paid? For Claudia Hunt and Riley Curtain, the duo behind Moonlighting, it starts with questioning the gallery model and imagining something more progressive, accessible, and fair for artists.

Both ANU students who moved to Canberra from interstate, Claudia and Riley quickly saw the opportunity to make the city’s art scene more open and vibrant. With few galleries in the Civic centre, they established Moonlighting in the old Nancy Sever Gallery space on Civic Walk. Their goal was to create a stepping stone for both artists and collectors, breaking down barriers that make collecting art feel exclusive or out of reach.

Each Moonlighting event pairs an exhibition with live music. There’s no stockroom; every work is sold on the night. Prices range from under $100 to around $1,000, pitched at young professionals, APS starters and recent graduates ready to use those starter salaries to buy a bit of culture. Just as importantly, tickets are structured as a profit share, so every artist gets paid whether their work sells or not. It’s a progressive approach that moves towards NAVA standards, benchmarks that many galleries, let alone unfunded ones, find hard to achieve.

For Claudia and Riley, paying artists is about more than setting a standard: it’s about keeping artists in Canberra, breaking down barriers for new collectors, and giving culture room to thrive. Their model is modest in scale but ambitious in spirit: a spark of what a more sustainable and vibrant art scene might look like.

The next Moonlighting event is on 14 September

Honest Thoughts.

In House.
News and events at Pilot and Such and Such

BYO THURSDAYS AT PILOT

For the month of September we have chosen to support ZamZam foundation. ZamZam founded by Dr Nilofar Ebrahimi, a former member of the Afghanistan Parliament who fled to Canberra following the Taliban's takeover empowers women and girls in Afghanistan and ACT through education and advocacy.

After the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, the human rights situation of women and girls in Afghanistan deteriorated severely. Since then, the Taliban has been increasingly introducing new restrictions with the apparent aim of completely erasing women's and girls' presence from public arenas. Taliban policies oppress women and girls in almost all aspects of their lives. Any meaningful form of public or political participation by women and girls is now prohibited.

The organisation supports local-led initiatives for education in Afghanistan; runs small community projects in the ACT in collaboration with the Afghan diaspora and Canberra community, including a women's group which funds driving and swimming lessons; fosters partnerships for change; and advocates for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Sun-days and nights

If you missed the PSA we are now open on Sunday evenings from 5:30pm. Our regular set menus will be available as well as a à la carte snack menu for walk-ins. We still have a few reservations available for Father’s day this Sunday the 7th September.

That Other Place

We have confirmed the re-opening of That other place, our spring/summer pop up bar in the front courtyard of Pilot. Starting on 25th September you are welcome to drop in pre, or post dinner or just treat it like your local. There will be margaritas, tins and short menu of snacks to get you through. We aren't taking online bookings but if you do want to hold a table send us an email and we can arrange that for you. The menu will be up closer to the date.

Spring means new dishes! If you haven’t been to Pilot in a while now's a great excuse. Corned beef and white sauce is now the main course served with red radish and wasabina. If you are looking for a quick lunch in the city fish burgers are available for lunch service only from 12pm - 3pm Tuesday - Saturday.

Looking forward.

We don’t claim to know everything but here's bits and pieces from around town. If we have missed something, or you want to share future events send us an email and we will try our best to include it.
Make sure you click view entire message as there’s a bit on.

FOOD AND DRINK

Pilot’s 7th Birthday
Sunday 5th October 2pm - 8pm
Bookings available Monday 8th September or walk in on the day

BK Wine Dinner at Minima
Thursday 18th September

“LIL MICKEY’S MILk BAR” at Recess with Church
Saturday 6th September from 5pm

Bar Rochford X Bar Superette in Merimbula
Sunday 14th September 12pm, 3pm, 6pm

That Other Place
Opening Thursday September 25th, Thursday - Sunday from 6pm

BYO Thursdays at Pilot - ZAMZAM Foundation

ART / MUSEUMS

Civic Art Bureau

Canberra Contemporary Art Space

National Portrait Prize 2025: 16 August - 12 October

Inferno Paris-based Australian artist, Mikaela Stafford at NFSA

National Library: 1975 living in the seventies

National Museum

NGA: Cézanne to Giacometti
Closing 21st September

ART / GIGS

Moonlighting
Sunday 14th September 7pm

Concurrent Exhibition at Civic Art Bureau
Saturday 27th September 6pm

GIGS
There is so much going on in the city for live music so check out these venues for more info
Dissent
Baso
Gang Gang
Fun Time Pony
Shadows

Eucalypta.cbr Celebrating 25 years of Barney Kato
Friday 12th September 10pm

Free Range Fundraiser at The Vault
Saturday 6th September 3pm

WATCH
Lend Me a Tenor
17th - 27th September
Keep an eye out for ‘Julia’ played by Ross’ Mum Sally Cahill

Peter/Wendy at The Mill Theatre
3rd - 27th September

Friday night cult classics with venus mantra at NFSA

'This Is Home' is an immersive environmental film and conversation night presented by Mont at The Vault

Canberra Theatre

SPORT

AFLW Giants v Bulldogs
Saturday 13th September

Socceroos vs New Zealand
Saturday 5th September

DO

Flowers and Vino with Such and Such and Gracias Flower studio ft. Vino Friendo
Sunday 21st and 28th September

Lifeline Canberra Book Fair
26th – 28th September

Neighbourhood Bookclub at Barrio

PILOT | SUCH AND SUCH | THAT OTHER PLACE | GIFT VOUCHERS

Any feedback, comments, or chats please reach out.

Dash, Mal, and Ross
Made in collaboration with Cassie Abraham