Dinner at The Square @ Novotel Clarke Quay

Dinner 4 nights ago with the MGS schoolmates was at The Square, a cafe located inside Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel near their hotel reception area. I've been there before for a buffet last year with the company and thought the food was mediocre for a hotel but one of the friends had a 50% voucher hence we decided we might as well use it there. We initially thought that they would serve local fare on top of Western food like most of the other hotels in town hence we were surprised to see the rather limited choice of Western dishes in their a la carte menu.

Three of us had the tomato soup with basil whilst JL had the butternut squash with crabmeat soup. The tomato soup was pretty tasty but a bit on the salty side... though the portion was huge. We had a bit of a problem finishing it granted that there was still the main course to be served.


JL's butternut soup was pretty good too according to her. There was a distinct taste of blended crabmeat and it had a little bit of a strong herb taste.


Our main courses then came shortly after they took away our soups. Two of my friends had the cod fish, I had the ribeye steak whilst JL had the salmon. Food was pretty good, though the ribeye was a bit on the tough side(it was supposed to be cooked medium-well) but nevertheless quite tasty with the pepper sauce. The frites were the saving grace...they tasted like homecooked potatoes and were thick-cut. Really delicious!

Ribeye Steak with Fries and Salad

Salmon Steak with Carrots and Asparagus

Grilled Cod Fish Fillet With Tomato Dressing

We liked the overall ambience of the place...JP commented that the palm trees outside the cafe made it look like LA! But the wait staff seemed to be rather inexperienced...the guy didn't seem to understand us at all when we asked for the bill until like after 5-6 tries and I was on the verge of saying it to him in Mandarin before he finally got the idea. The waitresses also didn't seem too friendly when we presented them with the 50% voucher at the door and behaved as if we were here to get a free meal out of them...to clarify, the voucher was JL's as she had the hotel membership card.

I guess the place is nice to chill if you're looking for a quiet afternoon chat with friends.

Address:
177A River Valley Road Level 7

Rating (out of 5):
Service: 3 porkchops
Food: 3.25 porkchops
Ambience: 4 porkchops