Underrated heritage charm at Hathaway

NEW RESTAURANT Hathaway Autograph Varel Singapore 189 Selegie Road Singapore 188332 Tel: 6450-3416 Open daily: 7 am to 10 pm

RESTAURANT names are designed to reflect the kind of cuisine they serve. Not Hathaway, though.

It lures you in with visions of granola, free-range eggs and honey harvested from friendly bees, but just as you’re ready to tuck into a feast of occidental whimsy, it swings closer to home, with laksa, chicken rice and kueh pie tee.

Not that we expect it to call itself Chapalang Heritage, but when it comes to identity, Hathaway still has some way to go. 

But Hathaway confused us from the start. Some may remember that it first appeared in Dempsey in 2020 – as a brunch-centric, almost Asian, sometimes European and possibly Middle Eastern eatery. Even if you didn’t understand the food, you could enjoy the greenery.  

Then it moved to Capital Tower and leaned closer to its Asian roots. Now, it has set up its flagship at the new boutique hotel Varel Singapore on Selegie Road – cute but cramped lodging where the old Selegie Centre used to be.

Right on the cusp of Little India, tucked into the Mount Emily/Mount Sophia pocket of residential condos and curry puff stalls, Varel has the bohemian vibe that indie travellers love. Its design plays into that image with its tropical, open-air features and co-working spaces.

Hathaway plays its part in feeding guests breakfast and possibly lunch; whether it enough local diners come through its doors is another story.

That might explain why the staff looked at us like a Grab delivery they didn’t order when we stepped in one evening. Either that or the dining room is so dark and dreary, the sudden movement frightened them. But don’t be perturbed if you’re the only customers here. The servers are exceedingly warm and gentle, and the food more grounded than you might expect.

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Chalk it up to executive chef Kenneth Loke, whose long hotel career that goes back to Otto Weibel days keeps the quality at a minimum standard.

The menu is mostly Asian, with strong Indonesian links thanks to its Indonesian-Chinese owner.

Think the usual hawker suspects, given the modern hotel treatment. So the ingredients are luxed up, with heavier sauces and fancy presentation.

There’s an extensive a la carte menu, but make things easier with the set menus that offer smaller portions and more variety. Four courses are priced at S$48 and six courses at S$78, a good representation of what Loke has to offer.

Don’t expect anything particularly inventive – the little cones of otak mousse and kueh pie tee on a bed on green beans are almost circa 1990s – but it’s comforting and pleasing nonetheless.

The food is prepared without pork or lard, so the kueh pie tee filling is more like a generic stir-fry of carrots and turnips, topped with shrimp. The otak cornetto is topped with fish roe and quite spicy, but otherwise ordinary.

Piping-hot fried mantou is a fluffy crisp foil to a passable chilli crab sauce that overdoes the ketchup, but chicken skewers that take the best of Thai and Malay satay styles are surprisingly good.

For sure, the Indonesian options fare the best.

Bakso broth is a clear beefy broth packed with hefty beef balls with just the right sticky gelatinous texture from cartilage bits. But between this and the sup buntut (oxtail), we pick the hearty latter with its fall-off-the-bone meat and green chilli sauce dip.

In fact, Loke does gelatinous textures very well, especially with the 12-hour braised beef cheek that loses all resistance and leaves just fork-tender jellied meat in a thick, deep and dark buah keluak-infused gravy.

But it’s the side dish of deep-fried tempeh cubes, fluffy and tossed with green beans, that is the real star.

Finally, there’s the signature Ah Nya’s barramundi curry: a mainstay since 2020 with its thick laksa-ish gravy accentuated with plenty of lemongrass, topped with crunchy okra fritters.

Dessert also has Indonesian influences, with a so-so kueh salat paired with gula melaka ice cream, and kaya gelato in a somewhat salty coconut cream that’s an acquired taste.

While the food has potential, Hathaway needs to step up to create more inviting surroundings – it can be quite dark and depressing in the evenings – and stronger messaging.

Get that right and the rest will fall in place.

Rating: 6.5