Bahn Thai Restaurant

We decided to visit the newly opened Bahn Thai restaurant in Palmerston, situated on the corner of Maluka Drive and Rolyat Street.

Our first impression was good. Clean, freshly painted and with a touch of Asian authenticity. At first we were seated in the corner, with myself looking straight into the walls. Not being happy with my view we asked to be moved to a different table. We were offered another table where I would be looking into a wall. Eventually we got to choose - great, this evening we could have a table that  would normally be for four people. Room to move!

We decided to share our main meals and get a fried rice to complement them.

Royal Thai Massaman

We were surprised when the Royal Thai Massaman was served in a soup bowl. For $26 we felt this serving was quite small. The beef was obviously silverside and had not been cooked in the curry sauce. The beef was tender and the sauce was delicious. Just not enough of it.

Chicken Fried Rice

The Thai style Fried Rice, $19, with spring onion, tomatoes and coriander was a little greasy. You could taste the peanut oil.

Chicken Pad Thai

Thai style fried noodle with bean sprouts and peanuts, at $19 this was the best meal for value we had on the night. Quite delicious.

Prawn Chu Chee

Tiger prawns with spicy coconut sauce, $27.00. We counted 10 prawns, they were delicious. I could have eaten the whole plate myself. The spicy coconut sauce being the nicest I've ever tasted.

The meals at this restaurant are not big, make sure you order extra to fill the gap. It's a pity they don't serve their meals with steamed rice.

Desserts range from $7 to $8.50 and are mostly made up with western style icecream desserts. We had wanted to try the glutinous rice balls with coconut milk, the only Asian style dessert on offer,  but they weren't available.

They also have a comprehensive wine list.

We were disappointed with the service, they were very slow to attend to us. Our meals weren't brought out at the same time. It's just as well we were sharing meals and could start on the first one.

Brrrrr - this is a very cold restaurant. The air-conditioning is powerful. Our meals were nearly cold when served, most likely because the air-conditioning chills them off too quickly.

Some of our meals had peanuts in them and they weren't advertised with peanuts. If you have an allergy, make sure you ask about each meal.

We ended our evening with tea and coffee. Be prepared for another lengthy wait, they only have a small coffee machine. No pots of tea, only a tea bag. Shame!

I found that sitting at the table was quite uncomfortable. The chairs are too low for the tables and there is no way you can tuck your legs under the chair because of their design. The tables have four splayed feet, like cafe tables. This makes it quite awkward when placing your feet.

Overall, I was a little disappointed with the Bahn Tai Restaurant but I'd be prepared to try them again. Next time I'll order steamed rice to fill the gap...and take a shawl.

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.

Hungry Hearts

You will find Hungry Hearts at the Oasis Shopping Village, Palmerston.

hhearts@bigpond.net.au
www.hungryhearts.com.au
ph 8932 8042

And why were we here on a Thursday? And for lunch?  Well, the holidays caught us out again, with this Friday night being New Year's Eve we had to meet for our weekly feast early. We decided to try out Hungry Hearts and I was pleasantly surprised. I'd always thought it was just a coffee shop. Well I was wrong!

We ordered from the special's menu.
Nasi Goreng $12.90; a huge plate full of delicious Indonesian rice topped with a fried egg.
Fettuccine with chicken, mushroom and spinach in a creamy sauce $14.50; a large serving, really pleasant sauce, a very enjoyable meal.
Tuscan chicken and vegetable pie with salad $8.50; homemade old fashioned pie, large salad. A really nice meal  served with NO CHIPS. Well done. For once, a chef who feels comfortable about serving meals with no chips.

Pleasant staff, yummy cappuccino, and glasses of water - we were well looked after.

Their normal menu looked really interesting too. They have a wide range of food from breakfasts to snacks, meals, desserts and cakes. Something for everyone. Prices are reasonable.

Hungry Hearts also cater functions.

I'm glad I tried them out. No longer will I walk past this shop thinking it's just a normal coffee shop.

Elements

Elements is located at the Free Spirit Resort, right beside BP Palms, close to Palmerston.

www.darwinfreespiritresort.com.au

ph. 08 8935 0888

Due to Christmas Eve being a Friday evening we decided to dine out early this week, hence we lobbed at Elements on a Tuesday evening. As it turned out, Tuesday evening is Sri Lankan night, $19.95, all you can eat, including salads, hot meals and dessert.

 None of us would have ordered these meals ordinarily, but we saw it all laid out in the bain marie and the delicious curry aromas were very alluring. Lamb curry, chicken curry, rice, fish and eggplant were on offer. We tried a bit of everything, then went back for seconds for the ones we liked in particular. A delicious meal, one that we all enjoyed immensely.

The salad bar had an interesting mixture of salads and accompaniments.

A traditional Sri Lankan pudding was on offer. The look of it didn't appeal to me, however, I'm glad I took the plunge and tasted it as it was absolutely delightful. They also had a traditional plum pudding, one that tasted very much like it was home cooked. They had a delicious syrup to complement the plum pudding. Lots of healthy fruit salad was also on offer.

One thing that impressed us was the professionalism of the staff. Chef kitted out in traditional  "chef wear." All the staff dressed smartly in their uniforms. All the staff were very pleasant and hospitable. Even the chef came out and spoke to us, asked us if we had enjoyed our meals. We were waited on like royalty.

Water served at the table and a strong, tasty cappuccino went down well with the meal.

We checked out their standard menu, some interesting meals to be had there and quite reasonably priced. They also offer children's meals, one of which is  roast, including vegetables. Well done!

There was only one thing that I didn't like - the number of flies hanging around the food. They really do need to find some way of covering the bain maries.

 Elements is an open air restaurant, we were lucky on the night that it wasn't too hot. Plenty of fans overhead made it very comfortable.

This is a great place to eat. You can enjoy a swim in the pool, as long as you are spending your money either at the bar or in the restaurant. So far I can only vouch for the Sri Lankan food but I think you should  go and check it out, I'm positive you will be pleased.

Eventfully Yours

This Friday evening we spent with colleagues and friends at our workplace. The company and atmosphere made the night. The catering firm "Eventfully Yours" served us with a mediocre meal.

Entree of seafood, prawns and oysters - no thought put into how we would wash our hands after peeling prawns. We had to organise our own finger bowls.

Traditional roast turkey was pressed, processed meat.

Honey Glazed Ham, looked like they had bought the ham at Coles, sliced it up and poured a tiny bit of sauce over it.

Barramundi fillets oven baked with a local kumquat butter - the fish was a little dry, cooked too much.

Roasted glazed pumpkin and carrots - these were okay.

Creamy scallop potato bake with cheese - not enough cheese I felt.

Egg plant parmesan topped with cheese and parsely - this was delicious.

Thai style salad with coriander - unusual, perhaps a little too much coriander.

Fresh bread rolls with butter portions - the first bread roll I've had since we started our blog.

Dessert - Cheese platter and Tartlet Fingers - The lemon meringue tart was dry and gooey.

The caramel tart suspiciously looked and tasted like it had tinned caramel as the filling.

The cheese and bikkies were nice.

Catering firms really should train their staff better. It's quite rude to take away someone's plate before they have finished eating.

I was hungry so I ate, however I felt that I could have prepared the same meal myself. Nothing special.

Quizzes and party games, what more could you ask for? It was fantastic listening to Sand sing once again.

We did have a great night.

Red Lantern - Palmerston

Well...where do we start.

Grimy looking windows, If you walked past through the day time you would not want to enter these premises. Luckily once inside you realise it's the transfers on the windows that make them look this way.

Very ordinary attire worn by the waitress. She looked very much like she was going out for a jog, tight leggings and all.

Comfortable chairs - quite a pleasant change, and a proper tablecloth on the table. Elegant looking menus. Dimmed lights but no candles at the tables.

We waited about half an hour for the first meal to be brought out, and around another ten minutes before the others arrived.

Two of the ladies ordered Laksa Soup, one without pork. When the soups arrived they were told that the chef had not wanted to make a mistake so both soups had no pork. Now, is this a qualified chef, or is he just a cook who does not know what he is doing?

Both of these ladies did not like their Laksa soup. Too watery and no flavour. It was also interesting to note that later on in the evening both of these ladies had headaches and did not feel well.

My meal was quite tasty, prawns with cashew nuts, although I was a bit put off by the odd aroma when it first arrived. I couldn't work out if it was the over abundance of bamboo shoots or the cooking oil used.

The fourth meal was satay prawns, this meal went down well too. I would have to say though that both the prawn meals were quite small.

Quite a few people at the restaurant although not fully booked out. Lots of people ordering take aways. It started to get a bit warm as the air conditioner worked overtime.

They allowed us to pay the bill separately, with no fuss. A plus.

As we were paying our bill a couple left the restaurant telling the staff at the counter that they had only been served their entrees and had been waiting two hours for their main meal. They were not prepared to wait any longer.

Oh I forgot, my plate had a big chip out of it.

Overall I found it inadequate and would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Kenny's Fusion Grill - Palmerston

NOTE - this restaurant has now closed. 

Kenny's is fairly new to Palmerston and is on a site that has seen several other restaurants. One of my friends commented that this might be an omen.

We watched in awe as amazing meals were brought out to other tables. The meals looked huge and customers seemed to be enjoying them immensely.

Our meals arrived. I was disappointed with my choice. Thai Chicken Salad. The chicken was a bit dry and there was far too much chili. I do like chili, but this was too much and spoiled my meal. The salad was pretty basic.

There was much consternation and discussion at the table over how the rice had been presented. A mound of rice with a cherry on top. NO chef would have been trained to serve rice in such a fashion. NO woman wants to be confronted with food that imitates a part of the female anatomy.

Our meals were not as big as those we had seen served to other customers. We then realised they had most likely ordered the specials - quite pricey specials I might add.

I noticed the chef (or is he just a cook) looking through the window of the kitchen door. He kept looking out at the customers. This was a bit off-putting.

Service - Not once were we asked if we would like to order a drink. Kenny's is byo, however they do have soft drinks in a fridge.

Decor - not changed since the last owners had it. Still has the pizza sizes painted up on the wall. Tacky!

For me it was disappointing.