The Atrium - Cairns

Niçoise salad and baguette was to die for! A definite must have en route to the Palace of Versailles.

We had a staff dinner on the weekend and chose The Atrium at Doubletree by Hilton as the venue. We started with drinks in their well appointed and comfortable bar - our favourites were the Espresso Martini and the Cool Breeze Watermelon Cucumber cocktails. All the staff were very friendly and helpful. I particularly appreciated their willingness to 'personalise' my cocktail by adding more soda water as I don't like sweet drinks. For starters we had bread with smooth mild goats cheese, onion jam and a pesto which was pronounced "perfetto" by our Italian staff member who is also a keen cook. We had grilled mushrooms on toasted ciabatta and tender calamari on salad which came with an unusual citrus dipping sauce. This sauce was so good that we mopped up the last drops with our fingers. The Thai beef salad topped with crispy noodles was tasty, and so large it couldn't be finished. For mains, I had perfectly cooked barramundi with rice, bok choy and Tom Yum salsa, which was delightful. My companions thoroughly enjoyed the crispy skin pork belly, and the salmon on crushed potatoes with broccolini, bacon and shellfish broth. The portions were so generous, none of us were able to entirely finish our mains! Our only disappointment was that we were so full we had to pass on the desserts we'd eyed off at the start of the evening - lemon tart with blood orange sorbet and raspberry coulis, and buttermilk pannacotta with salted caramel and the special Doubletree cookie. What a good excuse to go back, which we certainly will. Top effort, Atrium!!!

For a quick lazy meal or if it's raining outside, this restaurant is convenient for residents. Wide range in menu from a simple schnitzel to a fancy seafood tower. Good value.

Service was great very good wait staff, menu had lots of choices, pricing reasonable, sticky date pudding desert was unusual with the sticky date on the side not incorporated in the pudding itself.

We ate at the Atrium in the Doubletree Hotel as it was Anzac day and we didn't want to pay the 15% surcharge in the nearby local restaurants. The starters were very good - we had salt & pepper calimari and Moroccan lamb cigars. One of the specials was T bone steak with jacket potatoes and vegetables. The waiter told us that this was a very large meal, suitable for sharing. We did as he suggested and the serving was more than enough for us after the large starters. The waiter was friendly and eficient.