But there are also evenings where bookings are very thin, or where we operate the Mountbattenzwith no bookings and don't get any walk in traffic either.
Running a fine dining restaurant five days, a week means staffing a full kitchen and front of house team for every service regardless. Singapore's F&B sector is facing sustained manpower and cost pressures that make this difficult to sustain, and committing a full team to a quiet outlet while other areas of the Club are busy places real strain on the wider operation - which is not fair on the staff, or on the Club.
There is a further point worth making. Mountbatten covers a significant proportion of the Club's commercial gross floor area, and space at the Club is finite and genuinely precious. We have a responsibility to ensure it is working as hard as it can.
None of this is to say that Mountbatten has been failing. Far from it. When we get the format right, the response from members has been terrific. The Sunday steak lunches have proven so popular that we have extended them. Chef Kumar's kitchen takeovers have drawn strong crowds. Wine dinners and gin pairings continue to sell well. And events in the past (remember the Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses dinners) have been a genuine highlight of the Club calendar - the kind of evenings that members talk about long afterwards. The Mountbatten thrives during events, that have genuine focal point, and during peak times.
The question the committee is now grappling with is how to build on that. Management has proposed moving towards a more deliberately events-led model - curated dinners, themed evenings, Sunday lunches, and banqueting overspill - rather than maintaining a full à la carte operation on the current Wednesday to Sunday schedule. That feels like a sensible direction of travel. But before any firm recommendations go to the main committee, we want to hear from you.
The Club President has asked that this be a genuine, open consultation with members. You are the people who use the space, or who would use it more if it offered something that appealed. Your views should shape what Mountbatten becomes.
So - what would get you up there? More themed dining events in the Fawlty Towers mould? Regular chef takeovers? A gin and cocktail evening? Or perhaps we can use the space for something else like a tea and coffee lounge, a cocktail lounge, a snooker and games room, a smaller restaurant for special events.
We are genuinely open to ideas, and nothing is off the table.
Tim Williamson, Chair, F&B and Events Committee