Virginia Tavern

This evening was a pleasant surprise. The Virginia Tavern, located on Virginia Road near Coolalinga, served up two very enjoyable meals.
The tavern is located in the Virginia Shopping Centre, 30km from Darwin and only 10km from Palmerston.  It's small and has a friendly atmosphere. It was quite noisy with lots of locals enjoying their drinks, meals and gaming experience. We sat inside and did not have to wait too long for our meals to be served.

Mexican Barra

Lasagne

Mexican Barra, $25, pan fried with red and green capsicum, semidried tomato, dill, garlic, lime juice in a
tomato base. This dish comes with either baked vegetables and buttered beans or chips and salad. This evening I chose the vegetables and was so pleased I had done so.

When the meal first came out I was a little disappointed that it wasn't very hot. But I was soon to forget about that once I tasted the delicious flavours. The fish piece wasn't very big, but it was tasty and moist. 

I would have to say, that without a doubt, this was one of the most enjoyable meals I've had since starting this blog. 

Lasagne, $19.50, home made, served with garden salad. This was also a very enjoyable meal.

We passed our congratulations onto the chef. 

This tavern has a traditional feel to it, suited to the man on the street and his family. The restaurant has tables both inside and outside on the verandah and this evening they were full.  All the meals I saw coming out were large servings. Their menu was extensive and prices ranged from $16 to $30. 

There is only a small dining area inside, running along the length of the bar. They have a large selection of beers on tap and a good selection of wine. 

Parking is minimal at the centre, however there is parking available across the road. This made for a tricky journey back to our vehicle in the dark. 

There is also a small gaming area but we didn't partake as each machine was occupied. We did however have the opportunity to buy some tickets in the good old meat raffle.

If you are looking for a pub atmosphere with friendly staff and great food, then this is the place for you.

The Noodle House - Knuckey Street

This evening we visited the Noodle House on Knuckey Street, Darwin.
We ordered Combination Chop Suey $22.00, Szechuan Beef $22.00 and Special Fried Rice $13.00.

My first impression of this restaurant was that it was old and dingy. There were quite a few people there, a large table of birthday revellers, and a number of smaller parties, all seemed happy, enjoying their food. We did notice that patrons didn't hang around, once their meal was finished they left fairly quickly. 

The waiter was eager to take our order for food and drinks. No water was served at the table, however we were able to order from a small selection of soft drinks. 

Our meals were served quickly, within 10 minutes of ordering and the waiter served us up some Special Fried Rice. We were then left to enjoy our meals. I had a quick lesson on how to use chopsticks and  managed a few morsels before I gave up and delved into the food with a fork.

Two words summed this meal up for me. "Fairly ordinary." I was a bit disappointed as I'd had this restaurant recommended to me by my son. 

The Combination Chop Suey had an unusual tasting meat in it, I thought it was pork, however the waitress told us it was chicken. There were no prawns in it, such a disappointment. This meal didn't do much for me at all.

The Szechuan Beef had a delicious sauce; a subtle spicy dish. The strips of meat were extremely thin, with a crispy coating and had obviously been deep fried. It was only the tasty sauce that saved this dish. 

Overall, disappointing for the price paid.

The Hub

Every year the Hub, in Palmerston, sends out a birthday letter which entitles you to a free meal. These are a really great way to say thank you to members. This evening two of us had the birthday letters, a good excuse to spend a pleasant evening at the Hub.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Creamy Garlic Prawns

Grilled Chicken Breast with Creamy Garlic Prawns - $22.00

Chicken Schnitzel Mexicana topped with Melted Cheese, Jalapenos, Guacamole and Sour Cream -$17.50 (unfortunately, no photo of this meal)

Chicken Schnitzel with Garlic Prawns - $22.00

Chicken Schnitzel with Garlic Prawns

All three meals were huge, with lots of vegetables. We did find it really unusual that no potatoes came with the meals. We asked about that and three delicious baked potatoes with sour cream were brought out for us. 

The Hub was really busy tonight, thus it did take quite a while for our meals to be served. We had bread rolls to nibble on while we waited. I find it disappointing that they don't bake their own bread rolls. The rolls on offer look like the standard ones you can buy from Woolworths. 

The staff here are always pleasant and the atmosphere is warm and relaxing. One comment that I'd like to make is that I feel it's about time a new entertainer was hired; we need a fresh voice to listen to. It would be ideal to have an entertainer who could actually play the piano, not one that bashes away at an electronic keyboard while mutilating lyrics. 

Salt n Peppa

Salt n Peppa, Cafe Ristorante, is located on Woodlake Boulevarde, Durack, Palmerston. Ph 8932 1818.

NOTE: Salt n Peppa now has a liquor licence.

This restaurant is a welcome addition to Palmerston's eating establishments. Palmerston has been sorely lacking fine cuisine...now we have Salt n Peppa...this is a must-go-to restaurant.

It has a warm, cosy ambience for diners seated inside, with its ochre hues and panoramic mirrored windows. The outside seating also looked comfortable; diners sitting on the front veranda made a picturesque setting.

The staff were pleasant and waited on us in a professional manner.

We started with Roasted Garlic Focaccia, $6.60 -  four large, delicious pieces.

Moroccan Lamb - marinated lamb cooked medium rare served on a red lentil mash, harissa sauce and a mint yoghurt, at $19.00, was an absolutely delicious meal. The lamb was tender and not too pink; it melted in your mouth. The lentil mash had a slight spicy tang to it which made it very pleasant indeed. The harissa sauce and yoghurt complemented the meal with their unique flavours. The meal was served with baby spinach. I'm not sure if this meal was meant to be hot or warm. It came out warm, I wondered if it had been sitting for a while and had lost its heat. This however, did not detract from my enjoyment of the meal.

Thai Prawns - marinated prawns, vermicelli pancake served with a mixed herb salad and chili, ginger and lemon grass dressing (imported), $28.00. Nine extremely tasty butterfly prawns, a rather plain looking salad, and an interesting looking vermicelli pancake. This was an unusual mix that worked well.

Crispy Skinned Chicken Kiev - stuffed avocado and Camembert cheese served on wilted spinach, potato fritter and a home made hollandaise sauce, $29.90. This meal caused the most discussion at the table. It was chicken on the bone which looked like it had been poached then lightly fried, and it was swimming in chicken jus (which was not mentioned on the menu.) A diner at a nearby table ordered the exact same meal and hers looked quite different, with not as much jus, and the chicken looked crispier with a definite charred finish to the bone. We wondered what had happened to ours.

The meal was served with home made bread rolls, although we did have to ask for them after we noticed that every other table had been served with bread rolls and ours hadn't. They were delicious. It's really good to see a restaurant that still serves bread rolls, so few do these days.

Wildberry Stack

We don't normally treat ourselves to dessert, but this evening we decided to try our luck. Chocoate Mousse, Wildberry Stack and Chocolate Mud Cake. All baked on the premises. The Wildberry Stack was the nicest of the three. All three desserts were beautifully presented and we were especially delighted to find they were served with real cream. The Chocolate Mousse was disappointing, lacking texture.

The chef, Chris, came out to chat with diners at the end of the evening. It's great to see a chef who is keen to learn if his patrons enjoyed their meals, he took on board all our comments. He was eager to chat about his recipes and ideas for future menu changes.

Choc Mousse

Choc Mud Cake

This restaurant was busy, all tables being reserved. Since opening nine weeks ago they have done a roaring trade and have been packed nearly every night.

It would be wise to book if you intend going.

Fasta Pasta

Fasta Pasta, located next to the Casuarina Shopping Centre, is a popular local fast food franchise. I'm loathe to call this establishment a restaurant, it's more like an eatery. Being very noisy; it reminded me of an eatery in a large shopping centre. Patrons were casually dressed, overly casual in some instances. Thongs and singlets.


We had to line up to order our food, taking 10 minutes to move along the line. A friendly and courteous young lady took our order, apologising for the wait. We only had to wait 20 minutes for our meals, pretty good considering how busy they were.

Tortellini Zucca; at $16.40 this was a reasonably priced meal. Such a shame I could not eat it all due to the fact that the tortellini tasted like floury dough. The accompanying sauce, chicken and pumpkin tasted delicious. If I'd had a plate of that alone, minus the tortellini, it would have been a great meal.

Due Funghi; This meal was ordered from off the special's board, another reasonably priced meal at $17.90. It looked appetising with its crisp asparagus and porcini and swiss mushrooms.

Linguine Turismo; A delicious meal, reasonably priced at $17.90, however it did not have a lot of seafood.

We also ordered the Cheese Bread - melted mozarella on crispy toasted bread. Mozarella looks great melted, but it lacks flavour.

We noticed that a nearby table, with several young children, were a little agitated as they had been waiting quite some time and their children were getting hungry. A couple of the adults had been served their meals before the children. Food establishments need to consider children when preparing meals. If all the meals can't be served at the same time, then the children should be served theirs first. This would make the dining experience more pleasurable for all concerned.

Overall, I'd say this eating establishment is well priced, with an interesting selection on the menu. As long as you don't mind the casualness and associated noise I'm sure you would find a meal of your liking and would enjoy the visit.

We didn't stay too long, no after dinner coffee or cakes, far too noisy for my liking. We moved on to quieter surroundings.

Jilvies Bistro

Jilvie's Bistro can be found in the Plaza Karama Tavern.

This bistro was a pleasant surprise. Staff are working under strenuous conditions, with renovations to the shopping centre resulting in a leaking roof, however they keep the place running as if nothing was amiss. Buckets  are moved occasionally to catch any drips, customers are happy to pay no heed.

Scotch

Jilvie's served us with three excellent, down to earth, pub meals. Tbone steak, egg, and gravy, served with vegetables or salad and chips, $26; Scotch steak with vegetables or salad with chips, $20; Grilled Pesto Chicken,  with salad or vegetables and chips, $19.

T-Bone

All three of us enjoyed our meals. The steaks were a decent size, tender and full of flavour. The Scotch steak was ordered as well done, and the T-bone as medium,  both were cooked to perfection. The chicken was moist and quite a large serving. All meals came with a generous serving of vegetables or salad. The meals were large and certainly hit the spot.

Chicken Pesto

Only one criticism came from the main meals. The Grilled Pesto Chicken had quite a lot of sauce on the plate, hence the salad was swimming in it. Perhaps this salad should have been served on a side dish.

We decided to try the coffee and cake, at $6 a head we figured we couldn't go wrong.  I wasn't impressed with the coffee, I felt it could have been a lot stronger and hotter, however I was impressed that the beans were freshly ground.  We tried all three cakes on offer - Black Forest Cake, Chocolate Mud Cake and Caramel Mud Cake. All three were very tasty. They were only small serves, but after such a large meal that was all we needed.

The staff were pleasant and they actually knew how to wait on tables correctly. This was certainly impressive. This is not a restaurant however these staff had far superior serving skills than others we've been served by in restaurants.

Not bad for a local pub.

Dolly's Bar

Dolly's Bar - Hibiscus Tavern

Dolly's Bar has a pleasant atmosphere, a quaint decor with a mixture of interesting seating options inside, and is obviously a popular spot with the locals.

From off the menu we ordered Marinated Lamb Cutlets, served on a sweet potato mash $19.50; Tuscan grilled chicken breast with Italian salad, served with a light mango coulis, $16.50; and Irish Stew with tender pieces of lamb slow cooked with seasonal vegetables, $13.50.

We had paid for the meals on two dockets but had explained that we were sitting together on the one table. I ordered garlic bread and asked for that to be brought out first. Not long after we sat down the Irish Stew was brought out. Why? Where were the other meals? And where was the garlic bread? We sent the Irish Stew back, we wanted all our meals to be served together.

The young lass informed us soon after that she had found our other docket and the meals would be ready soon.

Yummy garlic bread. The first plus.

There were three medium sized marinated lamb cutlets which were quite tasty and the gravy was delicious.  Unfortunately though this meal was served with chips which really was ridiculous as the lamb chops were already sitting on a bed of (almost cold) mashed sweet potato. Two servings of potatoes on the one plate is not a brilliant idea. There was no salad. The meal was small and not filling at all.

Later on I inquired as to whether a salad should have come with the meal or not, and I was informed that yes, it should have. I asked for a small refund, the manager came out to speak to me, apologised and offered either a free drink or dessert.

Interestingly, we noted several other people had sent their meals back as they didn't have salads either and I overheard one lady at the counter complaining that she had not got hers. It seems the kitchen staff need some further training in this area.

The Tuscan Grilled Chicken was actually a very nice meal indeed. "Beautiful" was the comment given. It was presented nicely with not too many chips. Another plus.

The Irish Stew was a dismal failure. Tasteless, even the seasonings didn't help. The stew consisted of 6 small pieces of lamb, potato puree, potato chunks, carrot and celery. It had a pastry round on top to give the appearance of a pie. At $13.50 this dish was an injury to taste buds and  pocket. We wondered where the traditional dumplings were. This meal needed some drastic improvements.

The free dessert brought out was the Homemade Citrus Cheesecake served with ice-cream, cream and chocolate sauce.  I had seen it on the menu, it sounded good and I wanted to try it out. I shouldn't have. The texture and taste of the base was definitely that of a packet mix. It had a stale taste to it. The chocolate sauce was cheap and nasty, with a sharp taste that went up the back of your nose. Whipped cream from a can! How hard is it to whip fresh whole cream?

We were disappointed. One nice meal out of two. Not good enough.

It was almost a relief when the music forced us to leave.

The Arch Rival - Palmerston

Archies without a doubt would be the best place to eat in Palmerston. Three of us dined here this week and we all enjoyed our meals.

We decided to try out the $14.95 specials: Cindy's Malay Chicken Laksa, Oven Baked Pie, Thai Green Chicken Curry. All three meals were presented nicely, were ample servings and tasted delicious.

Staff were pleasant, all had smiles and were extremely helpful. This was quite a change from previous experiences we've had at other Palmerston restaurants.

We scrutinised the menu and were pleasantly surprised to see a wide range of dishes. There would be something here for everyone to enjoy.

Just one comment where Jason could improve upon - the kid's menu needs revamping. I really don't like kid's menus that serve lots of chips, and the chicken nuggets must go. Kids deserve a nice meal too. It would be pretty easy to cook up a small steak and serve it with salad. Too many children are obese these days, restaurants need to do their part in educating children in how to appreciate good meals.

Overall we were very pleased with The Arch Rival, I would have no qualms in suggesting this restaurant to others. A big thumbs up to Archies.

Palmerston Tavern

Yes, yes, yes...thankyou! At long last, an enjoyable meal for all.

As I entered I noted the number of customers. We were quite early, 7pm, and already quite a few people were there. It's a large dining area, there were several big tables laid out for group bookings, with a smattering of customers sitting at them, making me think that bigger group bookings were still to arrive. As the night progressed the customer flow was steady.

Friday night turns out to be the Fish Special night. Two of us decided to order the Picatta Barra, and the third lady ordered a schnitzel. You order at the counter, we were lucky and did not have to line up in a queue.

Our meals were served in less than 10 minutes. We were all quite surprised, and pleased, at their promptness. This started a discussion on what techniques the chef would be using in order to pump meals out quickly. As both the fish and the schnitzel could be cooked quickly we felt safe that our meals hadn't been half cooked previously.

I'd ordered the Picatta Barra as I'd never heard of it before. I was amazed to find my piece of fish wrapped in a batter of egg, making it look like an omelet. It was actually quite tasty. The meal was very small, but in proportion to the price of $13. If I had known how small the meal was going to be I would have ordered an entrée to go with it, but this is more to do with how hungry I was on the evening.

My friend who ordered the schnitzel really enjoyed her meal too. It was pleasant to hear positive comments from all.

The one thing we felt needed improving upon was the accompanying salad. Our salad was served in a very small dish, probably less than a cupful, and we all felt it was inadequate.

The only other thing that I myself thought should be changed was the lack of decaffeinated coffee.

Overall, the Palmerston Tavern was a pleasant experience. Service was prompt, staff were friendly, food was great.