Dejeuner

Rating: 2

We ate dinner here in August 2021.

Baked goat cheese, beetroot, rocket, walnuts and crostini
Venison with red onion, kale, butternut squash and juniper berry jus
Braised short ribs with potato gratin, mushroom cream, charred leek
Duck fat potatoes
Opera cake with maple and walnut ice cream

There are two important historical points you need to know about Dejeuner.

In 2020 the head chef at Dejeuner had a heart attack and they have a new head chef

In the late 2000s, there used to be a grotty basement bar called Uno at the site where Dejeuner now stands.

As is our custom, we arrived at Dejeuner without a reservation. We weren’t sure that we would be able to get a table, as we have eaten here under the previous head chef and knew it to be an upmarket, popular spot. The waitress walked us through a refined dining area complete with golden plate awards and quiet music in the background, down the stairs to the basement. What a difference. The first thing you notice is that you are alone. We saw a lot of reserved signs on the tables upstairs, and when we left, upstairs was totally full. Downstairs was dead empty. It was also cold. The wall paper was not wallpaper. Instead it was actual paper featuring an unconvincing brickwork pattern, barely stuck to the wall. There was neon lighting, green around the “brickwork” and multicoloured down the stairs. There was a framed photo of a wine glass decorated with diamantes. There was a $25 fake fire with who-are-you-kidding-flames flickering in it next to a bar heater. The floor was laminate boards that were warped and coming up at the ends which didn’t help our already wobbly table. The bar still had the word Uno on the front. There was a television playing a loop of heavily curated Instagram style video from someone’s 2017 travel footage. Snorkeling with turtles, waterfalls aplenty, the Eiffel Tower, all accompanied by upbeat beach resort pop music. The music and footage would have been right at home at a Club Med swim-up bar. The side of the basement that contained the bar was curiously empty apart from some stacked chairs. We learned why when were peeking in that area and inhaled, all these years later the smell of Uno’s toilets was still lurking in the corner. To top it all off, the wait staff regularly ran up and down the stairs with no apparent regard for how noisy this was. And we mean running - the male server took the steps two at a time.

In complete contrast to the decor, the goats cheese entree was splendid. Fabulous contrast of textures, a symphony of flavours, we’d love to have that again. The venison was also superb. It was perfectly cooked, tender, juicy, flavourful, and the vegetables paired beautifully. The duck fat potatoes were tasty, but were clearly wedges. The short rib at first appeared nice. But on closer inspection the gratin was undercooked and the beef was flavourless. The opera cake was very bad. The sponge was abysmally dry, it seemed like it had been sitting in the fridge uncovered for the last five to six days. The layers of coffee cream between the sponge were very firm and not tasty at all. We really had to dig our spoon in to break the cake apart, and the payoff wasn’t even worth it.

If you would rather not eat in the basement, then reservations are recommended, but you’d be missing out on a pretty special experience.