In-room dining 23.04.08

Entrée
Chicken and prawn nasi goreng
Sautéed rice with coriander, green shallots and bean sprouts

Main
Tasmanian Salmon
On Minted green peas, steamed Kipfler potato and lemon butter sauce

Dessert
Rich Chocolate Cake
With coffee cream and pistachio ice cream

Drink
Lemon, lime & bitters

I thought I better write about what I just had for dinner while it’s still fresh on my mind and palate, of course.


The Holiday Inn in Darwin offers two types of Room Service menu. One is called A La Carte and the other cheaper option is affectionately called Take Inn. A La Carte comes as a full tray service and finishes at 10pm. The hotel charges $4.00 for the tray. Take Inn, on the other hand, is served “Takeaway” style with some items available to order 24 hours a day. The 24 hour availability is a very good idea as some flights to Darwin from interstate does not get in till close to or just after midnight.

Looked promising!?!?!?!?!

For what the hotel charges for such a simple dish I was certainly expecting something much better than what most take-away shops offer. Most of what I paid for probably went into the packaging. (Ok, ok, the office is paying for it). The dish came in a Chinese takeaway box. The box really looked good. But as soon as I opened it my heart sank with what I saw. The Nasi Goreng looked more like a badly made risotto. The grains of rice were hardly recognisable as they were all stuck together like glue. Parang paste! The coriander and green shallots were also missing. Big disappointment! I will not order it again!

Really bad Nasi Goreng!

As a Pinoy, I actually did not have the courses separately. I did not finish the Nasi Goreng first before having the salmon. I had them both at the same time.

I’m not really fond of minted peas. I’ve decided early on to eat the salmon with the Nasi Goreng anyway so it didn’t really bother me that the salmon was served with it. I just would not eat it. To my surprise though, the minted peas (which was mashed) actually tasted good. I finished all of it together with the Kipfler potatoes. The salmon was a bit overcooked but it was nice enough I finished all of it.

The pistachio ice cream that was supposed to be included in the dessert I ordered was nowhere to be seen! Yes, the chocolate cake was served with ice cream but it was not pistachio! I was already suspicious when I first saw the ice cream. The colour was too much on the pale side. It wasn’t pale green. It was white! Maybe it’s coconut (I was hoping)! What other white coloured ice cream are there around? Of course it’s vanilla! It was plain old boring BANILYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cake, unfortunately, was not able to make for it. It was more like boxed Sara Lee chocolate cake straight out of the freezer.

All in all, tonight’s dinner is a 4 out of 10!