GDR- Grand Dining Room

Thursday 31 March
     ICMS is a hospitality school, this means there is a lot of hands on classes. One of these classes involves working in the Grand Dining Room for 3 weeks, to learn how to serve in a 5 star restaurant. I'm not taking this class, but as an on campus student, I get to eat here for free! They serve lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, you have to be in business attire for lunch and dressed up for dinner also it is a 2 hour affair. I went here for the second time on Thursday and it was even better than the first time.
     The doors open at 6:15 and we are shown to our table. Out server takes our drink orders. As on campus students there are a few free drink options which include, fake red and white wines (they're really just juices), orange juice, and water. If we want pop, wine, or cocktails it costs money. We all ordered water and the faux red wine for the table. Our server then takes our first course and main course orders. After this the manager on duty welcomes everyone to the Grand Dining Room at ICMS (there are people from Manly and Sydney area who dine here as well).
     After a little while out drinks are brought out. They do a full wine service where the person who ordered the bottle (this was me) does a taste test, and smells the cork to make sure the wine is still good, and what they wanted. Since it was juice I just did the taste test and he proceeded to fill everyone's glass.
     Soon we were given our bread course, it comes with butter and is served fresh from the basket by the server. Then we received our first course. There is always an option of soup or salad. Tonight the options were a lentil and chorizo salad or a potato and roasted leek soup. I chose the salad, and it was amazing! The chorizo was so good, and I discovered I quite like lentils. Some of my friends got the soup and said it was delicious as well.
    Next came the main course, steak! We were all really excited about this since the food in the cafeteria is usually borderline edible. There was an option of rump steak or chicken, however every single one of us chose the steak. It came with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes and zucchini. We were all extremely pleased with our choice.
    After this our server brought the menus back and we had the option of 2 desserts. A triple chocolate cake or a pear compote with marzipan. We all chose the chocolate cake. It was delicious, but it was exactly like the one served in the cafeteria except it had lots of chocolate sauce on the plate. It was still delicious. I even at half of my friends piece.
    After this there was yet another course! The coffee course. We have the option of tea, espresso, or coffee. This time I got a cappuccino. It very good, but I had to put a few packets of sugar in it. However, I will not be getting it again, because at this time, it was already past 8 pm and I was up until 3 am because of it.
    Altogether the meal was fantastic! I even have reservations to go back Monday 11 April. The menu changes every 3 weeks, so I will get to have a delicious steak again!