Promenade

📍Mad for Garlic @ Suntec City

Ambience: 9/10 ❤️❤️❤️ ❤️ 🤍
Flavor: 8/10 ❤️❤️❤️ ❤️ 🤍
Service: 9/10 ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 🤍
Overall: 26/30 ❤️❤️❤️❤️🤍

Last night, I visited Mad for Garlic, a unique restaurant that serves garlic-infused Italian dishes, but with a Korean twist. It is located at Suntec City West Wing, #02-300/301.

I ordered (1) Triple Garlic Seafood Pasta (S$25), (2) Garlic Snowing Pizza (S$27), (3) Grilled Chicken & Mushroom Risotto (S$25), (4) Red Berry Wine Cooler (S$8), and (5) White Berry Wine Cooler (S$8).

The Triple Garlic Seafood Pasta was absolutely the highlight of the night. It was topped with fresh mussel, squid, shrimp, and baby octopus, which provided a hint of the flavours of the sea. While the seafood was good on its own, when combined with the al dente spaghetti coated with red chili pepper sauce and an adequate ratio of garlic sprout, it created a perfect savoury pasta with a kick of spice. It was a satisfying blend of flavour that did not have either the garlic or the chili feels too overwhelming.

Their signature Garlic Snowing Pizza was a solid dish as well. It is a thin crust pizza filled with sweet white sauce that really hits you with a burst of flavour as you move towards the crust. It is also topped with fried garlic, shrimp, pineapple dice, and tableside-grated cheese. It has no doubt lived up to its name of “Garlic Snowing Pizza”.

Unfortunately, the Grilled Chicken & Mushroom Risotto was a disappointment. The risotto itself wasn’t bad, but the grilled chicken felt like it did not belong to the dish at all. By itself, it tasted dry and bland. Even when it was eaten together with the risotto, not only did it not elevate the dish, but the toughness of the meat also almost made it a chore to eat a spoonful of the dish. Perhaps it would have been better if the dish was kept as a Mushroom Risotto without the Grilled Chicken.

As for the Red Berry Wine Cooler and White Berry Wine Cooler, at just S$8 per cup, they were perfect complements to every single dish that I’ve mentioned above.

For that, I give Singapore’s Mad for Garlic an 8/10 for Flavour and 9/10 for Service because the tableside grating of cheese was a very nice addition to the dish that elevated my expectations of the pizza.

On the aspect of Ambience, I truly fancied the colour theme of the restaurant, as the deep brown coloured (almost black) brick walls luminated by the white light brought about a very calm and relaxing vibe to the restaurant. No doubt a good environment to be at if you are looking to chill and catch up with your friends.

For that, I give Singapore’s Mad for Garlic a 9/10 for Ambience.

Overall, Mad for Garlic at Suntec City scored a 26/30 after combining the scores for Ambience, Flavour, and Service. To summarize, despite being Garlic themed, you do not need to worry about neither the flavour nor smell of the Garlic being too overwhelming, as the garlic are infused into their dishes. Do give it a try if you are looking for a unique concept of eating garlic-infused Italian dish but with a Korean twist!

Visited Hollin @ Suntec City on a Saturday Afternoon and ordered their Best Sellers Series (1) Pink Guava Rock Salt Macchiato (Large, 50% Sugar, Add-on Honey Handmade Pearls).

Flavour: 8/10
The Pink Guava tasted like a much more concentrated version of the Marigold Peel Fresh Pink Guava Juice Drink that I really love, and the milk foam was light, creamy, fragrant, largely sweet, with a hint of saltiness. When I drink them in its entirety from a top down approach starting from the milk foam, the combination was extremely refreshing - perfect for a humid day or after a heavy meal. The honey pearl does have a subtle taste of honey - not too overpowering, which I feel will be a perfect fit for drinks that are on the lower-end of the sweetness level.

Overall, I feel that $6.20 for a Large cup of Bubble Tea given its quality and uniquely-flavoured handmade pearls that changes in flavour daily is very value-for-money.

Visited Tendon Kohaku @ Suntec City for a Thursday Lunch and ordered (1) Kohaku Tendon Set, (2) Chawanmushi, and (3) Ice Lemon Tea. The Kohaku Tendon Set includes: 2x Prawn, 2x French Beans, 1x Chicken Breast, 1x Squid, 1x Pumpkin, 1x Baby Corn, 1x Crab Stick, and 1x Shiitake Mushroom. It also came with a complimentary Miso Soup with a Rice option to choose between a Japanese White Rice or a Japanese Multi Grain, with a Sauce option to choose between Original, Spicy, or Mala Sauce. I chose Japanese White Rice and Original Sauce.

Ambience: 6/10 (for a lunch with your colleague)
It is a decent spot to have a lunch with your colleagues - very cosy and comfortable with a great atmosphere that will invite conversation filled with fun and laughter.

Service: 2/10
It saddens me to say this but the customer service was far from pleasant. The staff was very unwilling to accomodate to the additional requests that we had and always gave a vibe that she was trying to chase us out of the restaurant. For instance, my colleague had a request to have less ice in his cup and switch his ice lemon tea to a coca-cola. However, upon hearing our request, the staff frowned, took the items, and stomped away in a jiffy. This touchpoint with the staff left us so confused as it wasn't a very unreasonable request. Going into the meal - around 15 minutes in, one of my colleague who was a very fast eater had already finished his Kohaku Tendon Set. The same staff came over, cleared his plate very loudly while the rest of us was still eating - almost seemingly intentionally to signal us that we should be on our way soon, and walked away. At this point, I was left a touched annoyed as I felt that this was not how customers should be treated. Nevertheless, I brushed it off as my own sensitivity. But after another 15 minutes later, the same staff came over to us and asked if she could clear all our plates as she, i quote, "needs the table". At this point I have only just finished the Tendon Kohaku, halfway through the Chawanmushi, and have yet to begin drinking the Ice Lemon Tea. In fact, it has only been slightly over 30 minutes since we have begun our meals. Thus, this entire customer service experience I've received at Tendon Kohaku @ Suntec City left me extremely disappointed.

Flavour: 8/10
This is the best Tendon that I've eaten at this price point in Singapore hands down thus far. The quality of the ingredients and the flavours were impeccable. The batter was light and crispy throughout, the flavours of the vegetables were elevated, brilliantly executed, satisfying, and tasted garden-fresh (yes, it was THAT good), while the chicken breast was moist and tender. The chicken breast especially surprised me because you would typically expect it to taste slightly on the drier side as it is not a fatty cut of the meat. The Chawanmushi and Miso Soup taste about what you would expect of the dish.

Overall, the flavours took me by storm as the dish was truly very well-executed. This would have been a thousand-percent-return-again restaurant if not for the horrible customer service experience.