Stockroom

Score: 11/20

Welcome to Double Bay, Hotel Intercontinental. It's great that you're here to give momentum to the retail and hospitality turn-around that's happening in our chi-chi beachside suburb. Latest landings include The Vine, with its wine-friendly Mediterranean menu, and new Brazilian coffee stop Filosify. Next up, proven Japanese performer Sake and Bondi cafe Shuk.

In turn, the Hotel Intercontinental is doing its best to welcome Double Bay, although I am not sure its architects had welcome top of mind. Why a driveway that is entered from the right and exited from the left, which sees taxi-drivers meeting head-on?  Why a ground floor entrance that is one of the great missed opportunities of known hoteldom?  Why hide things like the new Stockroom restaurant behind closed doors, allowing access only through service stations? Once found, it's a lovely room, richly furnished and carpeted, with deeply comfortable banquettes and dining chairs; an elegant and charming addition to the neighbourhood.

Chef Julien Pouteau has moved from the existing Intercon in the city to put together an on-trend menu that tries also to cater for that pernickety thing, the hotel guest. That, perforce, means a scattered offering listing Grazing dishes, The Fisheries, Salads, Sides, Pasta, Roasts to share and a Robata grill. It doesn't always tell you what you need to know, however. Had I known the cured tuna belly ($18) came with blueberries and watermelon balls as well as crunchy cauliflower, fennel and avocado cream, I may have re-considered. Had I known the smoked duck ham, duck egg and lavoche ($18) that sounds so intriguing was a thin sample of ham scattered with grated egg with three tiny puffy crackers on top, ditto.

It's early days, so you expect a waiter to bring something odd like pickles instead of the promised rouille with a share dish of bouillabaisse ($75). But you do hope for more, in that moment when the Le Chasseur casserole lid is lifted, than a brown broth of no great character, with bits of over-cooked scallop, prawn, octopus, and New Zealand green-lip mussel lurking in its depths.

The wine list is solid, pricy, but usable, with a good seafood-friendly 2013 Sorrenberg sauvignon blanc at $18 a glass.

On weekends, the room is given over to a set-price lunch, a raid-the-pantry affair of too-cold seafood, good charcuterie, breads, cheeses and a hot share dish. Two guests ignore all savoury offerings and head straight to the dessert to check out the tiny tarts, macarons, fromage blanc creations, caramel popcorn and pillow-soft marshmallows. "So we know how much room to leave". It's a good strategy, as the young (24-year-old) dessert chef is a whiz. On the regular dessert menu, a light and lovely Parisian-inspired almond pastille with buttermilk, white chocolate and honeycomb ($15) is a treat. 

The table tops are odd, showing every drip and drop of condensation, and certain staff members combined scant product knowledge with a tendency to drop things made of glass. But it's marvellous what a generous gesture such as a free pour of Champagne Taittinger at the weekend brunch ($75 pp) will do to mitigate dry, over-roasted chicken with king mushrooms and soft chips.

So welcome to Stockroom, and the Hotel Intercontinental. It's a recognisable, almost institutionalised idea of hotel dining that for me, misses a lot about how we eat today. But I'll just mention again that free pour of Taittinger on weekends in case you missed it. You're welcome.

THE LOW-DOWN
Best bit: Anything sweet
Worst bit: Easily smeared table tops
Go-to dish: Endless pour of Champagne Taittinger with weekend brunch ($75pp)

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.