Rude Chef

Don’t let the name fool you. Rude Chef is anything but abrasive, and their portions are generous. Tucked into Humayunpur’s beloved Asian food hub, it serves up contemporary Southeast Asian cuisine with a confident vision: think seafood-forward palettes which are surprisingly like comfort food, co-owner Lanchui Lungleng’s Manipuri roots showing up in local spices, and a set-up easy on the eyes.

As you enter, you’ll notice one of two things. The bamboo seating, pen-sketch artwork on the walls and warm yellow lighting make it comfortable for long meals and conversation, with enough space for large groups too. Or the madly popular house black sticky rice wine on almost every single table. Rose-hued, gently fermented and lightly sweet, it works well, with an excellent selection of quantities.

Seafood lovers should definitely make room for the grilled prawns in truffle and basil sauce or the generous seafood curry platter served with rice.

I’ll go out on a limb to say that the non-seafood dishes deserve more attention. The braised pork belly is buttery, easy on the teeth, and prepared in perilla sauce, served alongside a tahini dip and stir-fry vegetables. Buff skewers marinated in mountain pepper are soft and spicy, and pair well with the buff salad, where beef carpaccio sits over a bed of lettuce, tossed in citrusy flavours, gochujang, sirarakhong chilli and truffle sauce.

Overall, Rude Chef delivers polished cooking and prices that feel fair for the quality on the table. It’s an easy place to return to.

Time Out tip: If you want to take some rice wine home with you, you’ll have to bring an empty bottle.