bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Jo Bowman

XpressAsia.com: minimum order $120 or $240, depending where you live.

The Web site works a bit like an online book shop, and customers click to add dishes to their 'shopping basket' before heading to the cyber-checkout to confirm the order. Registering takes about two minutes.

 Choosing dishes is simple enough, but browsing would be much easier with a booklet or with more information on each Web page. Cuisine includes British, Japanese, Indian and Mexican.

 The first night we tried to order from Malabar restaurant but gave up after 20 minutes of being told our basket was empty despite choosing a range of meals. Staff promised this was an unusual glitch but the same thing happened the next night, so we ordered by phone.

 We ordered fish and chips from the Godown, and a generous and tasty serving arrived hot in 50 minutes. Phone staff had not said how long it would take, and the Web site makes no promises about delivery times. The service has been suspended until the computer glitches are sorted out.

Dial a Dinner: 2598 1716, minimum order $150 from each restaurant.

We chose Indian food from the Viceroy after flicking through Dial a Dinner's brochure, which lists menus from a range of restaurants. Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Thai and Irish are also offered.

 A cheerful woman on the end of the phone took our contact details and credit-card information the first time we ordered; other times we have only had to give the phone number before ordering.

 After ordering our dishes and having the address confirmed, the operator said that because it was raining and demand was heavy, we would not get the food for almost two hours. Usually they promise to deliver in 50 minutes, and are often early. The delay didn't matter to us, but it was annoying not to have been warned of the wait before we ordered, which took three or four minutes.

 The food, when it arrived an hour and 45 minutes later, was warm but benefited from a couple of minutes in the microwave. All the tubs were clearly labelled and their contents tasty, with a couple of free condiments thrown in, but a mix-up with the naan bread meant we got plain bread, without the garlic we'd asked for.

Food by Fone: 2868 6969, foodbyfone.net, minimum order depends on customer's address and the restaurant chosen, ranging from $100 to $250 per restaurant.

We used Food by Fone's Web site to browse the menus of 23 restaurants, then settled on Indian food from Ashoka. Other options included Italian, Mexican, Thai, Lebanese and Cajun.

 It took three or four minutes to give the phone operator our contact details the first time we ordered. In future they can call up our address given only the phone number. Reading out the item numbers from the menu took just a couple of minutes; it was read back and confirmed, and delivery promised in an hour.

 The food took an hour and 10 minutes to arrive, and one of the side dishes - which appeared on the bill and for which we paid - was missing. The containers were not labelled and it took a while to tell some of the meat dishes apart. The driver did bring a printed copy of the full Food by Fone menu, which will make choosing more convenient in future.

 The dishes were warm but not hot; the containers were foil, however, so we could not put them in the microwave and had to heat the meals on plates. It all tasted nice enough and matched the menu descriptions, but everyone agreed that the Viceroy's food, which was a little more expensive, was better quality. In hindsight, it would have been better to choose one of the other Food by Fone restaurants.



DINNER ON THE RUN A HIT-AND-MISS AFFAIR