Pei Modern

The days when only losers ate in their hotel dining rooms have long gone. Ask the Mandarin Oriental in London, where Heston Blumenthal's Dinner by Heston has star billing. Or Bangkok's Metropolitan Hotel, where David Thompson's Nahm has put jungle curry on the map. Or New York's NoMad Hotel, which revolves round the beating heart of Daniel Humm's NoMad restaurant and bar. These aren't hotel dining rooms run by Food & Bev departments, they're 'restaurants with rooms'.

Marque's Mark Best first rode the wave by opening Pei Modern beneath Melbourne's Hotel Sofitel in 2012, in partnership with the Movida group's David Mackintosh, Peter Bartholomew and Tom Derichs. The wine-oriented, edgy bistro formula worked so well, they have brought it to Best's home town, installing it in the split-level lobby space that was Hamish Ingham's The Woods at the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney.

Pei Mod's talented head chef Matt Germanchis also crossed the border, along with crunchy little salt cod croquettes ($13.50) and a particularly awesome dish of casarecce pasta with chicken dumplings ($35). Why awesome? Because it calls for a 25 minute wait as the twin-tubed pasta is cooked in chicken broth, in the style of risotto, taking on flavours far more interesting than boiling salted water. And because the little polpettini are pure nonna material, formed of chicken hearts and gizzards. And because the stock is enriched with so much Parmigiano Reggiano, it's a liquid cheese platter.

Even if you don't know how it was cooked, you'll respond to the richness anyway. Likewise, when presented with a large saute pan of jointed Holmbrae chicken with yams and saltbush, ($70 whole/$38 half) you may not immediately register that the chicken has been brined for 5 hours, steamed at 65C for 1½ hours, 'smoked' over the hardwood charcoal grill for three hours and finally, roasted in the wood-fired oven at 400C for 10 minutes. All you'll get is the camp-fire smokiness, the burnished skin, the firm ivory-and-pink meat and the sense of largesse. You'll also get that the promise of 'whole roast chicken' has never been so faithfully kept. This is leg with claw on, neck with head on – don't order it if you can't handle it.

The beef tartare that comes out on three crisps of toast topped with fat slugs of sea urchin ($20) is, to use the latest critic-speak, a SELL; intriguing but not essential. Tiger prawns off the grill with slow-cooked pineapple are also a SELL, the flesh difficult to prise out. Wood-roasted salmon tail ($40) however, is a BUY; for its sensitive cooking, mermaid imagery and smoky, fatty richness.

The lower level casual bar, theatrical open kitchen and free-ranging, moodily lit, dining space is now less decorative and more business-like, staffed by a helpful, mostly professional young team under restaurant manager Tara Sullivan.

Sommelier Annette Lacey has curated a broad and interesting list, running from pioneering locals such as Damien Tsharke's crisp, citrussy 'Girl Talk' Barossa Savagnin ($12/$60) to seasoned performers such as the fleshy, vibrant 2010 Brolio Chianti Classico.

After wowing Melbourne, Best's creamy duck egg sauternes custard ($17) pops up here, as do damn-near-perfect, miniature fennel-spiced and sugared doughnuts ($16) injected with blood orange curd.

Pei Mod has landed as smoothly as an Airbus A380, piloted by professionals, designed for numbers, and yet delivering a superior product. It fulfils its come-what-may hotel dining room remit with corporate steak-and-chips lunches and goes beyond it, with slightly off-to-the-left, clever, contrarian cooking. This place is going to fly.

THE LOW-DOWN
Best bit: The theatre of the open kitchen, wood-fired grill and oven. 
Worst bit: Punny menu ("fromage to ewe").
Go-to dish: Casarecce, chicken dumplings and Reggiano $35.

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide. This rating is based on the Good Food Guide scoring system.