My husband and I went to SQUE for dinner on 17 March 2013. We had high hopes for it as it was set up by celebrity chef Emmanuel Stroobant. Particularly for myself, this dinner was to wrap up a week-long dining adventure for Restaurant Week (RW) March 2013. It started off promisingly enough - we were seated indoors (as per our request) and although the al fresco area offered a magnificent view of the Singapore River at Clarke Quay, we relished the quieter, cooler quarters in the cosy air-conditioned area indoors. The nice waitress (i think her name was Arica) came to offer us home-made cream of pumpkin soup, compliments of the chef! It was a rich mustard yellow, of a good, thick consistency, and generously drizzled with cream. It was flavorful, but perhaps a tad over-seasoned.In any case, it was on the house, so we didn't kick up a fuss ;) Then came the actual RW dishes: 1) Pan Seared Scallops in green pea emulsion and pickled cabbage. It smelt delish, and I was longing to sink my teeth into the browned, juicy morsels. Unfortunately, I was ordered by the doctor to abstain from seafood for the moment, so my lucky hubby got double portions of the scallops instead! I did gobble up the green pea emulsion (a beany-tasting foam) and pickled (red) cabbage though. And I liked it! Then came the mains: 2a) Oven-baked snapper in artichoke broth - this, the nice waitress had assured me, was supposed to be very light, similar to Chinese-style steamed fish. Instead, it put thoughts in our head that the chef might have been down with a flu that day... we felt it was quite too salty! 2b) Braised pork rack with sweet potato mash and blueberry sauce - We liked the mash- it was sweet and smooth, and provided a nice contrast in texture and flavour to the other offerings on the plate. The pork rack was a tad disappointing - we felt it was rather dry.... it only became passably juicy as we ate inwards nearer the bone. The blueberry sauce - drizzled over the pork rack and also served in a cute little sauce dish - was an unusual (and pleasantly surprising accompaniment. But it did little to redeem the supposed star of the plate - the pork rack. 3) Dessert was a little glass cup of mango bavarois. It was creamy, and the taste reminded us of mango ice-cream except that it wasn't as cold, and certainly did not melt like ice-cream. It was okaaaay. Not bad, but nothing to shout about. Mid-way through the meal,when the nice waitress came to inquire about how we wereenjoying the dinner so far, we gave her our honest feedback. She was really taken aback, apologised and offered to change our mains to something else . We were grateful for the offer, but declined politely. (We generally don't like to waste food, so we ate everything up anyway) As we were having dessert, she came back to the table, and asked if she could offer us complimentary coffee or tea, as she had felt bad about the mains! I mentioned that I could not take caffeine, and she offered other non-caffeinated choices! I eventually took up her offer of hot chocolate. When it arrived, she said, "This was made with love... they (the kitchen staff) said, 'You must tell her it was made with love, okay?'" I looked down and saw that the glass of hot chocolate was dusted with a cocoa-powder heart! So cute. I thanked her and tasted the hot chocolate - it was heavenly! Nice and milky, not too sweet, balanced with a hint of saltiness as good hot choc should be. It was a very comforting drink, made more comforting by her kindness. Would I come back? Definitely for the hot chocolate and seared scallops dish (when I can eat seafood again). I wouldn't order the same mains, but the chickens rotating in the rotisserie looked pretty enticing! Actually, for a restaurant that prides itself as a rotisserie, I was surprised that their RW menu did not include any rotisserie items. That might have been its saving grace. There was also another table of guests seated nearby which ordered nachos - that looked really tempting as well - slathered in sour cream, guacamole and other yummy goodness. But the price tag of $16 for a platter of nachos deterred us from ordering it to share that night. SQUE had an extensive (and very impressive) beer menu too, and a smattering of beer-related promotions throughout the week. I'm hoping they will add some good non-alcoholic beers to this litany of beers, so that nursing moms like myself can also join in the fun :)

Sarah Soh, 27 Mar 2013, 16:28

Good beer slection

25 Mar 2013, 10:49

It's the first time I actually enjoyed my meal during Restaurant Week. Sque has outdone themselves in terms of service, food and the value adds. Special thanks to Arica who is one of the best door host i met. Her unwavering smile and earnestness in providing the best service was evidence that good service certainly exists even during Restaurant Week especially to guests who may not be your target audience. She had even personally text me to confirm my seating preference the night before and even bothered to reply my late message at 1.20am in the same friendly tone where most others would've ignored. I was most impressed when she could read my mind to offer me an extra chair for our bags before I could even utter please. Sadly she was the only one who did that when I had wanted to ask for a chair from 2 other servers before she came. Another surprise came when we were offered soup before the appetizer and that was a surprise value add no one would expect. The Potato & leek soup came with a slice of buttery toast and kept us busy till our appetizer came. Both the soup and bread was good... Being complimentary we definitely have no complaints! The appetizer was the smoked duck salad and it was really good. The duck slices were tender, full of flavor with each bite and topped with poached egg yolk, green apple slices and bits of duck sauce. In short, the duck salad was just heavenly. The main we had opted for the crayfish pasta and it was a good choice. Sparing the ladies from having to wrestle with the crayfish shell, the crayfish meat was simply stirred in with the pasta. Though some may say that it was one way to cut cost, but paying $25 for this 3 course meal is already a steal and one should not expect too much. The pasta was delicious and I really liked how the seafood taste blended well with the fettuccine. However the downside of this was how the chef decided to cook it very al dente which was a little too raw for our liking. Personally we are no fans of soggy overcooked pasta but this one was a little too raw for our liking. Last item was the black forest cake which was unfortunately a disappointment. The cake was dry and too dense. The cherries were soaked in alcohol... Personally I'm ignorant about how much alcohol the cherries should contain but I would've preferred cherries without alcohol... Maybe a little wouldn't kill but this was too much for me. in addition coffee or tea was offered though not stated on the menu and yet without charge though I was expecting that to be on the bill. Overall despite the disappointing dessert, Sque has impressed me with their food and service. Sque is not stingy and keen on winning new customers over with their generosity in food portion and the extra stuff that other restaurants would never offer at $25. Thanks Sque!

Jasmine Wong, 24 Mar 2013, 10:18

Great food and great service! Went for lunch and it was really reasonably priced, even ordered an extra one-for-one Irish Cider! Staff were all very polite and kept checking if we were ready to order. The food came fast too, and there was even a complementary soup before the starters! Would definitely come back again.

24 Mar 2013, 08:02