For its second outlet, at The Club hotel, The Disgruntled Chef ditches its Dempsey brunch rays and ladies-who-lunch crowd for a nighttime, street-smart CBD flock.
The welcoming crew ushers diners into a handsome 66-seater room covered in dark grey, with moss green armchairs set against walls of art. Outside, alfresco seating peers over the heads of Chinatown's low shophouses, and a private room for 13 hides away in the basement with silk wall coverings.
However, Daniel Sia – of Les Amis pedigree – will be discontent to note that most of the dishes suffer from the trek up from the basement kitchen. Sure, they're Instagram-able works of art, but plates like the crisped-skin, sticky-sauced Kurobuta belly ($38), or the shallow puddle of confit white asparagus with egg yolk and prosciutto ($21), are dismayingly lukewarm on arrival. And don't take the plates, classified 'Small' and 'Big', to be sharing platters, either – they're better suited as the (pricey) appetisers and mains they really are.
Fix these and Sia might do justice to his better dishes, such as the signature assembly of pungent cep-paste, wagyu beef ribbons and confit yolk ($26), fluffy truffle brioche ($12), and the textural dessert of champagne-cooked strawberries with mascarpone ($16). The new Disgruntled Chef's given us much to feel sullen about, but we'd like to think it can do better.