Three restaurants, three different weeks
The resort lists three restaurants — The Vue, il Piatto and Dragon Court — and calls them award-winning without naming the awards on the pages I read. What matters more for a short stay is that they do not all open on the same days. Plan a dinner before you plan the evening around it, because the night you arrive may be the one night your first choice is closed.
| Restaurant | Food | Published hours | Detail worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Vue | All-day dining | Breakfast 7am–11am daily; all-day menu 12pm–9pm; bar menu 12pm–12am | Private dining room. The restaurants page listed it as 'Operating at il Piatto' on 31 October 2026. |
| il Piatto | Italian | Lunch Fri–Sun 12pm–2.30pm; dinner Wed–Sun 5.30pm–9pm | Overlooks the Arafura Sea; expansive deck and open kitchen; houses the Territory's first indoor vertical farming unit. |
| Dragon Court | Chinese | Mon–Tue and Fri–Sun 5.30pm–9pm; closed Wed–Thu | Dim sum and banquet menus, vegetarian options, and what the resort calls Darwin's most extensive tea menu. |
The Vue, and where it is right now
The Vue is the resort's everyday restaurant: breakfast from seven, an all-day menu from noon, and a bar menu that runs to midnight. Its breakfast menu includes a children's section for twelve and under, and its main menu lists a Humpty Doo barramundi fillet — a Territory place name on the plate, which is the kind of local detail I look for.
On 31 October 2026 the resort's restaurant index showed The Vue as "Operating at il Piatto", while The Vue's own page still listed its normal hours. The resort did not say why. With the hotel renovation starting the next day, I would assume the service has moved temporarily and ask at reception where breakfast is served.
il Piatto — the Italian room on the water
il Piatto is where I would book for the sunset. The resort describes it as overlooking the Arafura Sea, with a large deck and an open kitchen. Dinner runs from 5.30pm, Wednesday to Sunday, which in the Dry puts the first course right on top of the sunset — 6.29pm in mid-June, 6.44pm in mid-October. Lunch is served only from Friday to Sunday.
There is also a detail I did not expect: the resort says il Piatto houses the Northern Territory's first indoor vertical farming unit, which it credits to Invertigro, growing produce inside the restaurant itself.
Chapter 4Dragon Court — dim sum and tea
Dragon Court serves Chinese food from 5.30pm to 9pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It lists dim sum, banquet menus and vegetarian dishes, and it claims Darwin's most extensive tea menu. The menu includes steamed barramundi. In the Wet, when the deck at il Piatto is less inviting, an indoor table here makes sense.
Chapter 5Planning the week
| Night | The Vue | il Piatto | Dragon Court |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Open | No dinner | Open |
| Tuesday | Open | No dinner | Open |
| Wednesday | Open | Dinner | Closed |
| Thursday | Open | Dinner | Closed |
| Friday | Open | Lunch + dinner | Open |
| Saturday | Open | Lunch + dinner | Open |
| Sunday | Open | Lunch + dinner | Open |
Two observations from the grid. Thursday — the main market night — is a night when Dragon Court is closed, which suits me: Thursday is for eating at the stalls anyway. And on Mondays and Tuesdays il Piatto does not serve dinner, so those are Dragon Court or The Vue nights.
The bars have their own food: The Vue Lounge opens from 7am to 10pm daily, and the market next door has around sixty food stalls on Thursdays and Sundays in the Dry. See bars and the market guide.
Food and drink reservations at the resort: (08) 8943 8881. If you are sending a room request through this site and want a particular dinner booked, write it in the notes and the desk will pass it on — we do not take restaurant bookings ourselves.
Checked 31 October 2026: restaurants index · The Vue · il Piatto · Dragon Court · facility amenities