Spice Lounge

Eleven on Monaro brings proper Italian cooking to the Queanbeyan strip, hand-rolled pasta and a tight regional Italian wine list in a converted brick space at 11 Monaro Street. It has built a strong local following fast, with a 4.7 reviewer average across 250-plus ratings, and it keeps a dog-friendly outdoor section on the street side for people who do not want to leave the dog in the car on a Canberra weekend.

The dog setup

Dogs sit at the outdoor tables along Monaro Street, leashed and settled. The footpath section gets sun in the morning and shade later in the day, and the kitchen's open pizza oven is visible from outside, which is as good as street theatre gets for a waiting dog. Ask for an outside table when you book, especially Friday and Saturday nights, because the indoor room fills quickly and there is no dog policy indoors.

Worth knowing

The menu reads like a neighbourhood trattoria done properly: carbonara, lamb ragu pappardelle and slow-cooked beef cheek with polenta, plus a margherita and several pizzas. Dishes are made from scratch, and reviewer comments keep coming back to the handmade pasta. Lunch runs Wednesday to Saturday, dinner Monday to Saturday, and the venue is closed Sundays, so plan the dog-table lunch for a Saturday.

Getting there and parking

Monaro Street is Queanbeyan's main strip, a few minutes from the Canberra border. There is street parking on Monaro Street and in the council car parks behind the strip, and the venue is an easy walk from Riverside Plaza.

While you're out there

Pair lunch with a walk along the Queanbeyan River, which runs two blocks from the restaurant, or head to Kinlyside Avenue's fenced dog park in Jerrabomberra for an off-lead run before you eat. For another dog-friendly table in town, The Royal Hotel and Thirty 4 Cafe both welcome dogs at outdoor seating.

More options across the capital region are on the NSW restaurants list and the Queanbeyan destination guide.

Pepsi: They hand-roll the pasta and I hand-roll in the gutter. Everyone has a craft.