Dobinsons is great for picking up baked goods for an office morning or afternoon tea - their tarts are to die for and always go very quickly.

As other reviewers have noted, the eat-in service has dropped off recently, but I would still recommend Dobinsons if you want to pick up a sweet treat.

You can't go wrong with any of the Muffin Break cafes in Canberra - a wide variety of yummy muffins and great coffee. The cafe inside Belconnen Mall has comfortable seating and lots of reading material. They also have a loyalty card, with your 10th coffee free. Nice!

My husband and I had been clients of Nouveau for very long time, but finally decided to switch allegiances to a new salon. As their clientele dropped off, it seemed that Nouveau's attention to detail did as well. We are now saving over $100 per visit to our new hairdresser, and I am much happier with my new colour.

Tucked away in a retirement community, Birrigai Cafe is a little hard to find, but is ideal for lunch or breakfast on a walk or cycle around Lake Ginninderra. The cafe is unpretentious, with friendly service, good food and great prices.

Cafe Copenhagen in Westfield Woden is pretty good - fast, efficient service, good coffee, an excellent range of baked goodies, and lots of reading material. The only downside is that the tables are so small - like really small! - that there is barely enough room for your elbows, let alone a broadsheet newspaper.

Shingle Inn at Westfied Belconnen is a notch up from other franchise cafes, with very clean premises, comfortable seating, lots of reading material and great coffee. They also serve excellent raisin toast.

We have been very impressed with the level of professionalism and service we've received from The Plumbing Doctor. Our last job was expensive (due to our tree roots) and The Plumbing Doctor sent us a thank you note with a $25 gift card for next time. Nice!

Amazing Clean provides professional cleaning services for mattresses, upholstery, curtains, blinds and awnings, for both domestic and commercial properties.

We contacted them recently to clean the curtains in our lounge/dining room and bedroom. While Amazing Clean does provide onsite curtain cleaning, they will need to take your curtains away for heavy cleaning or mould.

The cost for cleaning five sets of curtains, including mould removal, taking down and rehanging, was about $870. Amazing Clean removed our curtains on Monday and they were back up by Friday, looking and smelling a lot fresher.

I would recommend Amazing Clean for a thorough and professional cleaning job.

Energy Fitness Centre is a small gym just near Kippax Fair, which offers personal training, a range of group classes, and reformer Pilates classes. The staff are very friendly and helpful, and the Centre has a fun atmosphere.

Price-wise, Energy Fitness can't compete with the special deals offered by larger gyms, but their reformer Pilates classes are reasonably priced at $25 for a casual visit (or slightly less if you purchase a five- or ten-visit pass.) All the Pilates instructors are very knowlegeable.

T2 is gaining in popularity in Canberra, with shops in Civic, Belconnen and Woden. They offer a great range of fancy teas, and you can sample them instore. The staff are very helpful.

T2 also have an online store at http://www.t2tea.com

I am giving them only three stars because, while the quality of the tea is excellent, you can buy similar teas for about half the price from other specialist tea retailers.