“My Kitchen Rules” aired its second pair on Tuesday, with Western Australia couple Kat Donald-Hill and Andre Pagano shedding a few tears during serving time. The otherwise vibrant pair earned praises for their seaside motif in their Perth home backyard, but that’s the only good thing about their presentation.

Calling their Instant Restaurant “Fin & Tonic,” the fun-loving party hosts almost had their coastal-themed restaurant perfect, save for the placement of their cutleries. As VIC socialites Ash Pollard and Camilla Counsel noted, Kat and Andre didn’t even give them main spoons.

Entrée: Smoked Cod with Crunchy Mash, Cabbage and Leek

Kat and Andre’s first dish of the night didn’t get much praise from judge Pete Evans, who thought the smoked cod was cooked beautifully but wasn’t smoked, the mash was bland, and the portion of the entrée was a tad too small. That’s because Kat and Andre overestimated the size of the fish they bought earlier, thinking that one cod would be enough to serve 12 people.

Manu Feildel was a little more generous with his praise for the entrée. He said the crunchiness of the mash was perfect, the leek and cabbage were brilliant, and the fish wasn’t smoked but still tasted good. However, like Pete, he wasn’t satisfied with the ratio of the fish and the sides.

The unsmoked cod was highly anticipated to be smoked not only because the menu said so, but also because it was Kat’s critique of QLD cousins Jac Bakhash and Shaz Bellings’ salmon. The other teams were fully expecting Kat and Andre to get their fish right this time, so they were fully disappointed with the outcome.

ACT mother and daughter duo Gina and Anna Petridis were also not happy with the size of the servings. Anna was complaining that she was too hungry to eat just a small portion. “I’m hangry,” she complained later on, explaining the word is a portmanteau of “hungry” and “angry.”

Main: Crayfish Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce

With the first dish failing to live up to expectations, Kat and Andre hoped their main dish would be impressive this time. However, the couple took their sweet time preparing the second plate, with over two hours have passed before they served the group the crayfish ravioli. And unfortunately, it wasn’t worth waiting for that long.

It’s a good thing that Robert Murphy, who is in the competition with his daughter Lynzey, entertained the group once again with his cowboy stories and his Texan accent, which never failed to capture everyone’s attention. According to his fellow contestants, whenever he starts to talk, everyone would just stop whatever they are doing to listen to him. It’s the accent, they reckoned.

When the main dish was served, again, its serving was too small for their starving guests. They were expecting around five raviolis on their plates, but instead, some were served three, while others got only two. The tomato sauce was too basic as well.

Manu didn’t think the sauce was plain, though. It was actually the best part of the dish. The crayfish ravioli was supposed to be the star of the plate, but that wasn’t realised. Pete again stressed the importance of the right serving size. He told the couple that if they would be serving 12 people, they should cook for 17.

“We’re getting the lowest score in the ‘My Kitchen Rules’ history,” Kat predicted to Andre in the kitchen. And they may be right, though it’s too early to tell at that stage. She couldn’t help but tear up a little from her own prophecy.

Dessert: Chocolate Tart with Raspberries and Cream

Embarrassed with their first two dishes, the disheartened couple vowed to end the night on a high note. They hadn't. The tart was too simple and too small again. They even cut raspberries in halves just to fulfil their promise of raspberries on the tarts instead of just one raspberry.

Manu told the couple that at least they were consistent with their dishes. All were stingy in portion sizes. It wasn’t a great-tasting dessert as well. It wasn’t bad, but there’s no wow factor in it.

“It’s nice. It’s teeny tiny like the rest of the meals tonight, but it’s all right,” Shaz struggled to put in some positive comments about the tart. Robert said he enjoyed his dessert. It was not as sweet as it could have been, but that’s just the way he liked it anyway.

Scores

Knowing that their evening didn’t quite go as planned, Kat and Andre were prepared to receive a lower score than Jac and Shaz, who were the first to present their skills. They even said they would be surprised if they went above the other couple’s score of 59. Nevertheless, they were crushed when they got 58. The other pairs gave them 27, while Pete and Manu gave them a combined score of 31.

Pete gave their entrée a 6, the main a 4, and the dessert a 6. Manu gave them a 6, 4 and a 5 for each dishes respectively.

Here are the scores they got from each pair:

Ash & Camilla: 6
Gina & Anna: 5
Annie & Lloyd: 5
Robert & Lynzey: 5
Jac & Shaz: 6