Spathe Public House

I have been reading lots of reviews about Spathe and thought I would head over to check it out with Tx. Situated right beside Chikuwa Tei along Mohammad Sultan, Spathe is within a 10 minute walk from nearby Clarke Quay MRT station. I took Bus 195 in front of St Andrew's Cathedral and reached Spathe in about 3 stops. 

Tx made a reservation and we were ushered to our table the minute we reached. Just as we were settling down, we realized that it was unnaturally warm in Spathe. The place was air-conditioned, but it was just so warm and stuffy inside. As the night went on, I felt like I really needed fresh air. Spathe should definitely improve on the ventilation or adjust the temperature of the air-conditioning. 

We asked for recommendations and after much stuttering, the waitress eventually settled on recommending the 12 hour slow-cooked Pork Belly ($24). I asked how it tasted and whether it was the crispy sort of pork belly or braised. I gathered she was rather inexperienced, or just unfriendly, but she was unable to reply. She looked around for a long while and eventually muttered that it was not crispy. Ok Spathe, you have to train your staff. Your staff needs to know what you are serving. You cannot throw them out to face the crowds with an inadequate understanding of the food you are serving. 

Happy Hour was until 7 pm and my attempted conversation with the waitress took us to a minute or two past 7 pm. So I asked if I could still place an order for the happy hour drinks since we were literally only a minute or two past 7 pm. It was definitely not even 7:05 pm! The waitress told me no, I could not. By then, my patience was starting to wear thin so I asked if she could check with the manager whether we could still place an order for the happy hour drinks. I have not visited a place that adhered so strictly to a happy hour timeline! I understand that if we were to interpret this strictly, they should stop serving happy hour drinks at 7 pm and I was being audacious for requesting happy hour drinks at 7:02 pm. My bad. But as a gesture of goodwill, most places do allow happy hours drinks slightly past the guillotine time. In fact, most bars and restaurants offer them without any prompt, because, hello, customer service. You do want people to return, don't you?

Anyway the manager allowed the happy drinks so we ordered two Krons, the 12-hour slow cooked Pork Belly, and Belgian Waffle with Fried Chicken with Cheese. 

The 12 hour Slow-cooked Pork Belly ($24) came with poached egg and creamy mashed potato. The pork belly was indeed not crispy. It was braised, tender and rather delicious. 

The Belgian Waffle with Fried Chicken and Cheese ($17+$3 for cheese) was ok. The waffle was fluffy and the fried chicken went very well with the cheese. 

I would say the food is pretty decent but nope, I would not return because 1) no ventilation; and 2) lack-lustre customer service. I must declare that I do not have any high standards in service but this truly made me want to place my head in my hands and heave a huge sigh of exasperation. If you are into western food in the area, just take a bus down the road and visit Five and Dime. I guarantee you would have a much better experience. 

#01-01 8 Mohamed Sultan Road

67351035

Mon - Sun: 11:00 - 23:00