SQUE @ Clarke Quay

Singapore is opening back up, and dining size restrictions have be removed. And all of a sudden everything in town were fully booked. We took a lot of effort to get this outside rotisserie and bar at The Central.

The Central has always been like the poor neighbour of Clarke Quay. Although very accessible by a basement MRT station, the footfall for the mall has always been people going to Clarke Quay. But in recent years, many good eateries have setup shops in The Central because of more reasonable rents. One of them was my childhood favourite Padang rice.

SQUE Rotisserie & Alehouse was a relatively newcomer on the block. They featured German-inspired fare which have been mingled with American pub grub favourites.

Chicken Skewer

with satay sauce

Essentially these chicken skewers were satay. The marinade used was a satay marinade and the dipping sauce was the satay peanut sauce. It even came with cubes of cucumber and red onions. I felt the satay tasted like the ones served in Business Class of SQ.

Snack Platter

prawn fritter, cube striploin, spam fries, prawn paste wing, french fries

A very generous portion, the snack platter had a bit of everything in their evergreen favourites of bar grubs.

The first can of SPAM luncheon meat was produced in 1937 in Austin, MN. SPAM was intended as a way to sell surplus pork shoulder by Hormel. It became a bestseller after WWII when it was a standard combat ration for the US armed forces. To this day, it still only contains six ingredients: pork, salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrate, which helps with preservation. 

Spam fries came into the menus of all the bars in Singapore sometime around 2009 when Wild Oats served it on their menu. Wickedly simple, it was a can of spam cut into shoestring fries and deep fried. Some came with mayo, others straight with Maggi chilli sauce. Here, you get a trio of dips (thousand island, tartar sauce and sweet chilli sauce). I wished it could be slimmer as SPAM is really salty.

The other surprise goodness on the platter was the cube striploin. Tender and juicy inside, smoky and charred on the outside, each bite size beef cube was a joy and a flavour bomb. The prawn fritters were a close third in terms of favourite. Bits of prawns wrapped with spring roll skin and deep fried, simple yet full of umami. Must be the MSG. My least favourite was the prawn paste wings. They were too dry and flavour was only skin deep.

Oysters by the River

We were quite shocked that the pacific oysters were served warm! We have to double-check if they were steamed oysters, but when they confirmed it was freshly shucked, we left them alone.

SQUE Platter

spring chicken, pork knuckle, BBQ pork ribs, spicy chicken and bratwurst sausage

The signature platter had enough meat to be shared among the group. The pork knuckle had a really crispy skin that simply crackled under the slightest pressure on the knife, and underneath was soft and moist pork knuckle meat. It beats the ones from Pauläner hands down. The bratwurst and beef sausages were ok, and the half a spring chicken and spicy chicken thighs and drumsticks were kinda dried out.In fact all the chicken tasted the same to me. But the BBQ pork ribs were quite divine – fork tender yet moist, they fell off the rib bones easily and all you need was additional smother of the sweet and tangy BBQ sauce.

Mushroom & Garlic Pizza

mushroom ragout, truffle tapenade, garlic, spicy bean, shredded mozzarella

THe mushroom and garlic pizza was one of the favourite of the evening. It totally got wiped out the minute it was put on the table. Thin crust with a generous sprinkling of truffle tapenade and mushroom ragout (stewed chopped mushroom), it gave off a whiff of the elusive truffle goodness but it was the garlic and mozzarella that stole the show. Couldn’t find the spicy beans in the pizza, thank goodness, but it could be the bits of fermented black beans in the tapenade, or where they olives.

Nicoise Salad

lettuce, grilled tuna, brined anchovy, soft boiled egg, lemon vinaigrette

Everyone was sick and tired of Caesar salad, so they were attracted to the Nicoise salad. Salade niçoise is a salad that originated in Nice. It is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives and anchovies or tuna, dressed with olive oil, or in some historical versions, a vinaigrette. This version sticked to the traditions except that they used grilled tuna that still left the middle red and raw instead of canned tuna flakes in this recipe.

Trio Cheese Quesadilla

mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, flour tortilla, tomato salsa

Beef Quesadilla

minced beef “bolognaise style”, mozzarella, flour tortilla, tomato salsa

From the looks, you could not differentiate between the two quesadillas. Only when you bite into one, you either get the cheesy trio cheese quesadilla or the meaty beef quesadilla. The meaty one tasted like a Mexican chilli than a Bolognese ragout. The trio cheese was way better with the different flavours of the cheese coming through perfectly.

1-for-1 Offers

Throughout the day and happy hour, beer on tap are all one for one. And during happy hour, bottled beers and cocktails are one for one. So we went through a lot of drinks by the end of the gathering.

Food was good, the beers were good (excellent selection of different beers from Belgium and Germany, many on tap), the service was excellent, but the indoor seatings were dismay. Ventilation was poor and we became a Covid cluster after this meal. Yes, we all got Covid. Other than that, the place was worth coming again.

SQUE Rotisserie & Alehouse
6 Eu Tong Sen St, #01-70 The Central, Singapore 059817
Tel : +65 6222 1887

Visited on May 2022