3.5 Hour Small Group Walking Food & Art Tour with DINNER Tuesdays to Saturdays

Thank you for your review. We're glad you thought Phat Mango was 'excellent' as it's one of our favourites and that's the kind of experience we expect to have at each of our restaurants. I apologise that we had an off-night, and that the food for the rest of the tour was not to your liking. You're right, this particular tour was a bit rushed looking at street art, partly because service was slow in one of the restaurants and we had to hurry to get to the next restaurant to meet our reservation. That's unusual, as we normally have lots of time to linger at the art. We’re a little over a year old and we’ve learned some tough lessons about the restaurants we offer. I'm reviewing what you experienced to see what we can improve. In terms of your comment about safety, all of our venues are on main streets in the centre of the city and in well-lighted areas. We travel in groups and our guides are all longtime, streetsmart locals who know how to avoid conflict with the very rare drunken person they may encounter on the streets. Remember, for part of that tour, we're walking along the Number One party street in Darwin, lined with pubs and nightclubs. We avoid problems in advance. I was surprised by your comment about the brule at Hanuman, and you didn't indicate whether or not you had tasted it, just that others had not. Our view is that just because someone didn't eat something, doesn't make it poor food. On the contrary, that inventive Asian brule is often cited as being a strong favourite among all the deserts we offer. Again, I apologise that your tour was not up to our usual high standard.

Here's a copy of the email I sent to you personally, responding to comments you sent me via email: Thank you for your candid feedback regarding your recent tour. As a food tour connoisseur, you’ll know that many disparate elements combine to create a satisfying tour. We’re pleased that you had an “excellent” guide in Jaime, and the first two restaurants “…offered some very interesting and delicious local food.” It seemed everything was going well up until then. But Jaime, Tour Manager Aaron, and I were all mortified to hear of your experience at Urban Pantry. As Aaron said, that’s “…not the dining tour we want our guests to experience.” We’ve previously had wonderful experiences at Urban Pantry. Why did they have such an off night? To find out, Aaron has approached the owner of Urban Pantry and is thoroughly investigating what went wrong and what we can do to prevent it from happening again. If we cannot secure guarantees that Urban Pantry will not drop the ball again, we’ll drop them from our tours. On behalf of our company, I apologise that your experience at Urban Pantry did not match our high standards for the rest of your tour. I wish you all the best for your continued travels.

Thank you so much for this review. And I'll be sure to give Chris your warm regards.

Thank you for giving us a review. I'm so glad the timing was right for you to see the sunset over the Arafura Sea--yes, it can be awesome. And I'll be sure to pass your comments along to your guide, I know they will be appreciated.

Thank you so much for taking the time to give us a review. I'm the owner and I'm so glad you enjoyed your tour, and I'll pass your kind comments along to your guide. Best regards, Darrel Trueman

Hi John, I'm sorry to hear that parts of your tour did not meet your expectations, but I'm glad that you were happy with Phat Mango, the first stop on your tour. Yes, the owner is very passionate and we love sitting near the kitchen and hearing about how local ingredients are sourced from Aboriginal communities throughout the Top End of the Northern Territory. I apologise that there were not more descriptions about the food at the other two restaurants on your particular tour. I'll work with our guides and restaurant partners to ensure that we continue to consistently get descriptions into the tour at all of the restaurants we visit, as we normally do. I'm not sure why that didn't happen as it should have on your particular tour, as like you, we consider it to be an important element of a food tour experience.

Thank you Jane, that's much appreciated. We especially loved the food and the seating at Char, with each of us facing the Arafura Sea on such a beautiful tropical evening.