[Food] Mad for Garlic Singapore

THE SUBJECT

Mad for Garlic Singapore

3 Temasek Boulevard #01-039

Suntec City Mall (Galleria), Singapore 038983

Tel: (65) 6333 1507

THE EXPERIENCE

Our group dined at Mad for Garlic on a Tuesday night and surprisingly the place was a full house.  It maybe the same case every other night, so you must remember to call in for a reservation when you decide to make a visit. We were offered a table in the outdoor area of the restaurant.  Normally, I would turn it down, but since Singapore humidity on that day was fairly endurable we took the seats anyway.  

The dining experience may be considered pleasant, especially if you are seated indoors.  The interior of the restaurant is cozy.  The ambience is quite conducive for a relaxing night out with friends, or even a romantic date.  I liked the concept of bundles of garlic hanging from the ceiling for decoration.  It would have been really nice had they chosen a more subtle playlist for the music instead of the pop genre they had on that night.  Or at least that's what we were hearing from the outdoor dining area.  Some jazzy tunes would be appropriate to further enhance the Italian Bistro feel of the place. 

Upon seating us, the service staff immediately offered us the menu and glasses of water.  As it was our first time to dine here, we took a while to place an order, but finally here's what we had for dinner.

Dracula Killer  (SGD 9.90)

We found this to be an interesting twist to garlic bread.  Instead of the bread being garlicky, the garlic is prepared separately.  Upon service, the staff will grate cheese on top of the hot plate while you see the cheese melt away.

It's good for an appetizer, but you'd want to order more as one order serves only two especially for our appetite kind of people.

And just a caution when ordering this, the cooked garlic is pipping hot.  We almost burned our tongues! 

Gorgonzola Pizza (SGD 16.90)

At first glance at the menu and seeing this item, we immediately got curious.  Why you say? Because this one is a pizza with Italian Gorgonzola cheese served with a honey dipping sauce.  Seriously, does cheese and honey go together?  We had to find out.

To our surprise, it actually does, and really well at that!  The saltiness of the cheese and the sweetness of the honey had a great taste combination.  

It was totally unexpected.  And it was the best dish of our meal!

Garlic Snowing Pizza (SGD 18.90)

After the wonderful Gorgonzola Pizza we had, we had high expectations for this next pizza.  After all it is Mad For Garlic's signature dish.  It is a sweet garlic pizza topped with shrimp and pineapple dice.  Upon service, the staff will grate cheese over it.

It didn't quite hit the mark for us.  It's not bad, but it's just not as good as the first pizza.  And I reckon there is mayonnaise it in.  At least that's what we got by the taste.  If ever we're returning for a meal at Mad For Garlic, this pizza would less likely make it into the order.

Garlicholic Rice (SGD 15.90)

This rice dish looked so delicious with all the colors it had from the asparagus, to the shrimp, and the chunks of garlic.  And it actually was very tasty and yummy.  The only let down is it was too darned hot from the chili.  We know it would be hot since it had a chili icon right beside it on the menu.  1 chili icon.  But we were in for a fiery surprise.  

We managed to finish it, though, with the help of glasses (and glasses) of ice water.  And the cream-based pasta dish that's coming up next.

There is another item on the menu named Suicide Rice with 3 chili icons.  Now we're curious, by this rate, how hot could that dish be?  It might be that whoever eats it will require an esophagus transplant after the meal.

Lobster Pasta (SGD 19.90)

Next up and the last course of our meal is a pasta dish.  Lobster Pasta, a garlic cream sauce pasta rich in lobster meat and fish roe.  It comes with spaghetti noodles.

It's a good contrast to the spicy rice dish we had.  Upon service, the staff will ground some pepper over it.  We asked for just very little pepper as our tastebuds were still trying to recover from last dish.

The lobster meat in the dish is generous.  The fish roe provided a different texture.  I get a nutty flavour from the sauce.  I just couldn't figure out were it came from.  It was a so-so dish.  Acceptable but not outstanding.

We had to say pass on the sweets as the dessert menu was not really exciting.

Our bill for this meal was 95.95 SGD for 5 menu items shared by 4 adults.  That's inclusive of the 10% Service Charge and 7% GST. Quite pricey for not-so-generous food servings.  And we didn't even order for drinks.

THE CONCLUSION

Food:

For the dishes we have tried, it's quite nice.  Apart from the fact that we love garlic, they served  well prepared and creative food.

Ambience:

The decor and lighting inside the restaurant was really cozy.  Too bad we had to sit outside.  But by what we have seen, the restaurant interior offers a relaxing atmosphere for dining.  A good place to go for a date.  The only throw off was the music they had playing - too much pop, not quite appropriate for a classy bistro appeal.

Service:

Upon arriving at the restaurant, we we're immediately seated.  Too bad we didn't not call for reservations so we had to be given seats outdoors.  The service staff is attentive.  We we're immediately served glasses of iced water.  Just an observation, when we asked the staff if she could recommend any dish for us to try being first time guests at the restaurant, she just replied that we can try out the items marked as signature dishes from the menu.  Not so insightful for a service personnel, I see.  

Value for Money:

It was a bit too pricey for small serving sizes.  The serving sizes are not for sharing.