Spathe Public House (Dinner)

The S3's been slow and so I'm doing some housekeeping to clear the photo gallery. Whoops - I found a whole backlog of food pics to blog about. With so much to choose from, one must be selective.

Spathe (pronounced ‘speyth’) is named after the leaf-like bracts that encloses a flower cluster, meant to symbolize the start of something new. Well, that stretch of Mohamed Sultan is sorta new I suppose, having had a faceover with so many nice restaurants clustered there now. I for one, prefer the new Mohamed Sultan, compared to the bacardi-soda-littered days of Madam Wong and Wong-San's (no doubt there are some ehem good ol' memories there..).

That night, we had five pax, a good number for a dinner party, perfect for Spathe's "sharing" concept. I had read somewhere that there were certain off-menu items we had to pre-order, including beef tartar. B and Alf being huge fans of beef tartar (and all things moo), I pre-ordered two portions ($18 each - I think) so the boys wouldn't fight. 

The portions were pretty generous. Good. The rest of us get to try it too (no offence, B & Alf).

B, the BTT connoisseur thought it was pretty good though he insists "You haven't tried the one I make yet" - yes dear, I have been anxiously waiting to try but it's slowly becoming imaginery...

We ordered 3 of their Mammoth Signatures, though we only went with the elephant portion for the Sou Vide Octopus salad $38 ($18 for single portion). One of the best salads I've had in a looong time.  

Loved the texture from the octopus, spinach, honey, garlic, wholegrain mustard vinaigrette. Lucky we ordered the mammoth, otherwise I would have ungraciously hogged the huge salad bowl.  

We ordered the single portion of the Mohd Sultan Meter Dog ($18/ $55 for mammoth). Apparently there's a Mammoth Challenge – diners who can finish this enormous hot dog within 10 minutes will get to eat it for free! Hmmm. Diner or diners? If the latter I am keen to participate - who's in with me?

Take a deep breath. Say veal-and-chicken-spicy-curry-wurst. Yum yum. Loved the wasabi mayo and caramelized onions. I am seriously considering the challenge now.

We also had the 12 hour Slow Cooked Pork Belly ($24). It was pretty good (though not wow) - pork belly was tender and who doesn't love the runny goodness of a poached egg? The wholegrain mustard and bordelaise sauce went well with the mashed potatoes.

The Chicken and the Sea paella ($25 /$78 for mammoth) came with, well, chicken and seafood (surprise surprise). Perfectly al dente and a medley of flavours in the mouth. I would definitely order this again in a heartbeat, but I cannot imagine achieving the same level of consistency if they were to cook in a mammoth portion? Yes, that's a question for you guys.

Now, you'd think that a place that does its mains well would serve mediocre desserts but here's an exception. The Poached Pear Charlotte Royal with warm chocolate sauce ($11) was excellent, as was the Sticky Toffee Pudding with hokey pokey (?) ice cream ($12). My favorite dessert of the night was off-menu - simple, unadulterated buttery waffles with creamy vanilla ice-cream (can't remember price).

Verdict: I have so fond memories of this place I'm taking my sis here for her birthday brunch. Watch this space for my review!