Note: 5th Quarter is moving out of Hotel Vagabond, but will open again at a new venue.
Red velveted institutions have lost their glamour of late. Why make the trek home to preen when you can rock up to an upmarket casual in your business wear? And what do you do when you don’t know what a salsiccia is, or if lardo summons a fat man to the table - ask the bowtied waiters? Err, no thanks.
This is the very dread that washed over us as we spied The Unlisted Collection's newest opening, at the Hotel Vagabond on Syed Alwi Road. Thick, red velvet drapes from ceilings and clads walls, the armchairs and banquettes are thick with tapestry, and lounging ladies and men in the paintings judge your underdressed self from their many frames on the wall. Leaving the dining room dress-up to the owners and hotel designer, Jacques Garcia's eclectic tastes paint a gestalt of overpriced excess, which ultimately does executive chef Andrew Nocente's food and his good prices a disservice.
His food is anchored on the cured meats and hearty cooking of his Italian heritage. A starter of five cured-in-house charcuterie ($22) includes three cured meats, one paté and a rillette – good introductions to Nocente’s prowess. Order that with a mini platter of bracing carrots, red onions and cucumber pickles in a soil of mushroom and herbal cream ($6) to lift the fat. A curl of carabinero prawn ($25) is a bright orange head-turner, packed with sweet, crunchy meat and a funky lug of head stuff, while a rum-cured stripe of pork belly ($12) is rich with bright watermelon cubes, walnut paste and pickled onions.
You'll do your stomach and wallet all right if you skip the pricier mains ($25-$56). That's not to say that the short rib with nubs of sweetbread ($36), isn't stunning. The 8hr-smoked meat is fork-tender and accompanied by a pomegranate cream to clean up the palate. But for its serving size, the pork felt a touch overpriced.
Ultimately though, 5th Quarter is a jarring stew of heavy opulence, expensive drinks and a languorous pace to the meal, set to an incongruous soundtrack of gangsta rap. Food of this calibre deserves better.