As TRM (Tongariro River Motel) does not have any guest dining facility (yet?) the choice of fast food restaurants locally is so much more important. Almost every day anxious ravenous guests ask where to go for a decent meal.
The local selection is excellent for a small tourist village (resident population under 3,000 and steadily falling…). The obvious choices are similar to many other small towns on SH1 with the usual local selection between Burger King, Turangi Tavern, their offshoot bar “Rust”, two Chinese Takeaways, Italian, Indian, Pizza, or Fish & Chips.
For “fine dining” – needing to book a table – the clear winner is “Hare & Copper”. Highly recommended by SWMBO. Three other larger motels also have restaurants.
But this report is all about fast foods – takeaways. This is so important. TRM’s inmates are a different species to the usual motel clients. They are much more important to the local economy compared to the usual motel over-nighters. i.e. At the moment, there are six units occupied by fishy guests staying for up to two weeks (coincides with the reopening of Lake O). This is why all units are completely self-contained with full-sized ovens, microwaves, fridge freezers, etc. – much better equipped than usual. This makes the selection more important as most guests are exhausted after fishing all day and are too pooped to cook their own.
So purely on behalf of TRM inmates, SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed is the Catering Manager at TRM) has been regularly checking local standards for almost twenty years. Her usual test pattern is by inviting in these qualifying regular long-term fishy inmates to share a takeaway meal. This is also a valuable opportunity for anglers to meet and check up on how much better all the others are doing. Such cosy fraternization is still allowed at TRM. Some have known each other for as long as we have been here – since 2004 – so they are catching up on old friends in a relaxed neutral social setting.
Amazingly, over that time, one particular take-away restaurant has been so consistently good that their latest menu is left in all units so that guests can phone in their order. We refer to the Hong Kong Take Away Restaurant. Their dining restaurant is now closed as their takeaways take all their time. The Management and prices have changed since TRM’s last report in 2021 so it was time for a review.
Last night nine worthy critical inmates attended the Asian Banquet. They selected a wide variety to judge, including Brian’s usual Bami Goreng (he has had the same order for over 20 years!), SWMBO’s usual Egg Foo Yong, Sweet & Sour Pork, Beef & Black Bean Sauce, Chicken & cashew nuts, Curry Beef on rice, Roast Pork Fried Rice, Singapore Noodles, Spring Rolls, Wontons, etc. Again they concurred the quality and size of the meals was most satisfactory. The increased prices since 2021 are not relevant when it is deducted from SWMBO’s housekeeping budget.
For comparison, the last Turangi fast food report in February 2021 (during Covid) is repeated below.
Local takeaway restaurant criticised?
That incredible new book all about Turangi, titled “Tongariro Skulduggery”, mentions the “Asian Banquet” that just happens to occur about every fortnight at TRM. In-house fishos join together for a social informal get-together to swap fishy stories and try to find out where and how the others were catching all the trout.
After about sixteen years that adds up to over 400 banquets. (Updated to 2024 = 460 banquets)
Can you believe certain regular inmates like Brian have attended every occasion? We inherited him with the motel in 2003. Others have been staying at TRM for over twenty years so they have a balanced impartial appreciation of the quality of the offerings. Based on 20 years’ experience of Asian taste tests, their opinion deserved some respect. OK?
In case you were wondering, it is sort of free of charge for loyal inmates. SWMBO just quietly adds it to their room rate so they don’t feel a thing.
This is particularly mentioned after the local Hong Kong take-aways came under some criticism recently. So last night at our “Banquet” attended by ten critical fishos, they were interrogated about the relative standard of cuisine.
Last night we experienced eight different dishes for ten punters aged between 50 & late 70’s. The varied menu included Bami Gorang, Sweet & Sour Pork, Beef & Black Beans, Egg Foo Yong, Chicken & Cashew Nuts, Curry Beef on Rice, WonTons, Roast Pork Fried Rice, so that should have provided enough variety for a critical assessment. There was plenty for everyone with enough left over for another meal. After TRM’s “banquet” the diners were warned they had just taken part in a taste test…
After the recent criticism (which just happened to be from a Taupo fast food outlet manager) they scored nine of ten. They dropped one point for the slow delivery time, which was my fault.
So TRM just thought that after reading all the raves, we have the advantage of many years regular tests with both the previous management and the new management.
Some inmates suggested they had not tasted better! But that may have been more a reflection of the relaxed enjoyment of the fishy company and perhaps the influence of pre-dinner drinkies.
So this blog is just to restore some faith in Turangi’s most popular Chinese takeaways.