The second episode of My Kitchen Rules began with Krysten and Lucy leading the first Instant Restaurant round on 72 points. South Australian best mates Angus and Simon needed three strong courses to catch them, and their gastro-pub menu gave them every chance.

Angus And Simon Open Last Orders

Angus and Simon welcomed Manu Feildel, Colin Fassnidge and the five guest teams to Last Orders, a suitably cheeky Instant Restaurant name for a fifth-generation funeral director.

Their menu started with a Wagyu sausage roll, caramelised onion chutney and homemade kimchi. A gochujang chicken parmi with enoki fries and green apple slaw followed, before coconut panna cotta with sesame snap and butterscotch sauce for dessert.

The sausage roll looked like a confident opening. Manu loved the buttery, salty and crunchy pastry, while the kimchi earned high praise. Unfortunately, the Wagyu filling in the middle was dry enough to drag the dish down.

Manu and Colin both scored the entrée six out of 10. It was respectable, but not the start Angus and Simon needed if they wanted to take the lead.

A Wine Bar Conversation Exposes The Divide

While the cooks moved on to their chicken parmi, the table found a far more combustible topic.

Jane and Shane admitted pubs were not usually their scene, saying they preferred a wine bar or a French bistro. When both revealed they had never eaten a chicken parmi, Alisha decided they were “a bit snobby”.

The conversation then turned to Jane and Shane's extended stays in Italy. Alisha was quick to point out that she and Deanne travelled too, proudly adding, “And guess what? I love Bali.”

The joke could not hide how out of place she felt. Alisha explained that she and Deanne had not grown up with the same lifestyle.

“We grew up real. We grew up a bit rougher,” she said.

The social divide had been simmering since opening night, and Alisha and Deanne had already warned that the episode would push them to breaking point. It was about to get there.

The Chicken Parmi Sparks An 'Acid' Argument

Angus and Simon cooked their chicken well. Manu and Colin agreed it was juicy and tender, but the gochujang flavour was far too timid. The enoki fries were inconsistent, and the green apple slaw did little to cut through the rich parmi.

Colin dismissed the slaw as an afterthought. Once again, both judges landed on six out of 10.

Before that verdict arrived, Tiffany had suggested the slaw needed more “acid or vinegar”. Alisha questioned the term, only for Colin to use “acid” in his own critique moments later.

To Alisha, it felt like the table had set her up to look foolish. The frustration from the wine-bar conversation, the talk about travel and the earlier digs all came spilling out at once.

“We've been made to seem like we're pretty much idiots,” she said. “People think we just have no idea what we're talking about.”

Alisha declared she was done and walked out of Last Orders, with Deanne following her outside.

Colin Follows Alisha And Deanne Outside

Colin was not prepared to let the night end there. He followed the pair outside and challenged Alisha's belief that he had taken somebody else's side.

His point was blunt: the food criticism was valid, and listening to people with more experience could help rather than humiliate her. Alisha and Deanne initially refused to return, but eventually cooled down and walked back into the restaurant.

The return did not magically settle everything. They still believed some of their competitors were being fake, with Jane firmly in their sights.

It also left next week's dinner with even higher stakes. Alisha and Deanne are the next team to cook, and they now have something to prove to a table they believe has judged them too quickly.

Dessert Lifts Angus And Simon To 70

Somewhere beneath all that drama, Angus and Simon still had a dessert to serve.

The coconut panna cotta was their strongest course of the night. Manu praised its creamy, silky texture, although the sesame snap was too sugary. He scored it seven.

Colin wanted more sesame flavour and better balance in the butterscotch sauce, giving the dessert six. That brought the judges' total to 37 out of 60, with Manu contributing 19 points and Colin 18.

The guest teams added 33 out of 50. Alisha and Deanne scored eight, Mary and Golden gave seven, while Jane and Shane, Krysten and Lucy, and Tiffany and Giancarlo each awarded six.

Angus and Simon finished on 70 out of 110. They could not knock Krysten and Lucy off the top, but landed only two points behind them in second place.

It was a solid result from a menu that never quite delivered the bold flavours it promised. Unfortunately for the hosts, their sausage rolls, parmi and panna cotta may still be the second or third thing anyone remembers about Last Orders.

My Kitchen Rules continues Monday at 7.30pm on Seven and 7plus.