Don’t let the name of the restaurant The Disgruntled Chef put you off from eating there, because far from being disgruntled, chef-owner Daniel Sia and his staff really take pride in their food and service. This is evident from the delicious food that’s brought forth from his kitchen.
The items on the menu feature ingredients and influences from a mix of cuisines such as Chinese, French, Japanese, Italian and English. The ‘Small Plates’ section of the menu features items that are meant to be shared between two or three people as they are served in small portions. The selection of ‘Big Plates’ items is much smaller (only five to choose from) and can serve as a main dish for one person if you’re not inclined to sharing food. Of course, that’s not to say you can’t share the big dishes.
The clean, sleek lines of the interiors are of soothing grey and white tones, allowing natural light that pours in from the big glass windows to bounce off them. At night, the windows accord diners a nice view of the blue and white fairy lights dangling from the trees outside.
The Chicken Liver Parfait ($14) with red onion marmalade and brioche toast was a silky smooth pate that was tasty and I’m guessing, had a tiny bit of alcohol added to it which helped to enhance its flavour. The red onion marmalade gave it a slight tinge of sweetness to balance the parfait’s saltiness. The combination of parfait and red onion marmalade spread on top of the crunchy brioche toast makes for a mouthwatering canape.
Stacked like a short tower of Jenga blocks, the potato chips and the squared-shaped Steak Tartare ($16) were a delightful pairing. Hidden beneath the nicely flavoured tartare (minced raw beef) was a soft quail egg that was split into half.
The Baked Bone Marrow ($14) was seasoned with persillade, a seasoning mixture of parsley chopped together with other condiments such as garlic, herbs, oil and pepper. With the smooth, cream-like bone marrow spread on top of the sour dough toast, this was another bite-size item to thrill the tastebuds.
Chef Sia takes inspiration from the traditional British food with his Scotched Quail Eggs ($12) served with soy mustard. The eggs were coated with bread crumbs that were fried to a perfect golden brown colour and the soy mustard gave extra kick to the dish with its slightly bitter and ‘hot’ flavour.
As I bit into these Crispy Lamb Shortribs ($14) seasoned with chilli and cumin, it evoked images of Morocco as its flavours reminded me of those found in the North African cuisine. The surface was slightly crispy with a delicious mix of spices and the meat was very tender. This dish was one of my favourites of the night.
I’ve eaten quite a few suckling pigs in my lifetime, but I have to say this Crackling Suckling Pig ($16) with crudites (sliced raw vegetables) is one of the best I’ve ever eaten. The crackling was so crispy and hearing the sound of it crack as you bite into it is like music to the ears. The pork below the skin was tender and it almost melts in your mouth. Another favourite on the menu.
Curry fans will love the Curried Mussels ($16) served with sour dough toast. The mussels were plump and fresh and the curry was very tasty while not being spicy – that suited me fine as I can’t take spicy food!
From the ‘Big Plate’ part of the menu, we had the Roasted Miso Cod ($28) with sauteed mushrooms and baby spinach. The miso was, thankfully, used in small doses and hence complemented the cod well without overpowering it.
Our last savoury dish of the night (ok, for two people we did eat a lot) was this serving of Marinated Japanese Cucumber ($8) presented like delightful ringlets. These were seasoned with miso beans and finished off with a sprinkling of white sesame seeds.
For dessert, my friend decided to go for the Vanilla Panna Cotta ($12) that came together with basil strawberries, aged balsamic and olive oil. I decided to opt for a cup of Hot Chocolate ($6) instead as I was too full to eat anything else. I liked my cup of Hot Chocolate as it had a good dose of real chocolate in it and it wasn’t a watered down version. The dessert menu here isn’t extensive and I think the highlights at The Disgruntled Chef are the savoury dishes.
I’ll definitely be back to try out their lunch menus and I look forward to trying the other items on the menu such as the Pork Knuckle Terrine and the Breaded Oysters and Tuna Tartare.
The Disgruntled Chef
26B Dempsey Road
Tel: 6476 5305
Open: Tue – Sun
