Mad For Garlic (Suntec City)

I have been recommended this place by K a long time ago, and actually shortlisted it for a lab lunch once but got veto-ed by boss. A few other colleagues also said it was nice, so I have been wanting to give it a try. Happened that I needed to go to Suntec to run an errand, so asked Lynn to come along with me and we can give Mad For Garlic a try.

We were seated at a nice little corner where I had space for my big box of new purchase. Then we browsed through the words-only menu. Lynn was the one who found out that our table placemat paper (is that what you call those things?) had photos of some of the items. It was a good while later that I found out that her copy and my copy are completely different items and between the two pieces of paper, almost the whole menu is represented.

It had been a weekful of beef for me so I wasn't quite thinking of ordering it, especially in a non-steak restaurant. But Lynn was adamant, so we opted for a Garlic Hug Steak - tenderloin stuffed with garlic and cream sauce. We also ordered a Caprese salad (tomatoes and fresh mozzarella). For some reason I was uber tempted by the mussels, so we ordered a White Sauteed Fresh Mussels - a cream based concoction. Finally, we decided to try out a pasta to round up the mains, so ordered an Arrabiata. There was some kind of promotional set of a dessert and two drinks, so we added that and ordered a tiramisu and I absolutely cannot remember the drinks we got.

The drinks arrived first, while Lynn was on the phone. I was happily trying to show her how nice they were with my non-verbal facial expressions, and I think she tried to ignore me. Both were soda mixes I think, with red wine in one (suits her) and yuzu (pomelo zest) in the other (I like). The salad arrived shortly after and we really liked it. The mozzarella was light and fresh, complimented nicely by the tangy tomato. This is nothing surprising or special since all Caprese salads have these two component. What's a nice touch is the basil dressing, that sea of green surrounding the tomato and cheese. It was a blend of olive oil and basil and I don't know what other herbs, probably garlic was one of them. It was fragrant, light and adds a very nice touch to the tomato and cheese combo. We loved it so much that Lynn almost didn't let the server take the plate away after all the tomato and cheese were gone and only the dressing is left.

Some blend of red wine and soda on the left, yuzu and soda on the right

Caprese salad

The mussels came next, a bowl of them swimming in a rich, creamy, garlic broth with peppers, and the accompanying bucket (background) for shells. We were so sold. This was the best dish we had the entire night. The mussels were fresh, and any fishiness were covered by the fantastic broth. We were literally drinking the broth. I could imagine myself chomping down a nice, crusty bread soaked in that broth. We loved it so so so so much. It was probably the best mussels I had in a while (ok, minus my ma's, but then it's different category since my ma's is purely Chinese style, and these were obviously Western).

White Sauteed Fresh Mussels, in a spicy pepper and garlic cream sauce

Next up, the Arrabiata. Tomato-based spaghetti with spicy peppers added. Their version had bacon in it. A little on the oily side, but the sauce was aromatic and the spicy kick just nice. Bacon were a little too chewy, and left me guessing what they were for a moment. The nicest thing about this? It was when we asked for parmesan cheese to top the pasta. For some reasons they don't have grated cheese in those little shakers, so they brought us shaved parmesan from the kitchen in a small dish. Woo lala. I would take these over the shaker anytime boy. We stirred all of it into the pasta and they melted in immediately to give us a nice, gooey pasta. How's that for flavor? =)

Arrabiata spaghetti

Shaved parmesan

The Garlic Hug Steak came last. A cute little island of meat in the middle of a creamy sea of cheese sauce. But this one was a miss. You know what they say about not making cuts in your meat before you cook them, or the juices will escape. So you can imagine a garlic stuffed steak (no way you can stuff things in without making cuts), the meat wasn't fantastic juicy. It was a little dry, and the garlic in it was a little over the top. The minced garlic was sweet, and if in small quantities, I think would have been ok. But the huge lump of it in the centre of the steak was just too much. I didn't care much for it. The cheese cream sauce wasn't even as good as the the one in the mussels. I think we were doing the take-the-meat-from-one-plate-and-sauce-from-the-other thing...

Garlic Hug Steak - garlic stuffed tenderloin smothered in cheese cream sauce

 The final course is of course the dessert. Tiramisu arriving next to a cocoa powder garlic. I think it's their way of garlic-fying a non-garlic containing dish (I would think a garlic tiramisu tastes completely wrong). We found it weird to be eating a tiramisu without that signature layer of cocoa powder on top. It was a so so tiramisu.

Tiramisu

Overall we found that the meal started pretty good, but declined in satisfaction as it proceeded. We liked the salad and mussels the most, the spaghetti was also pretty good, and the steak and dessert disappointing. In fact, the dessert was so unsatisfying we ended up at Haagen Daz for round two. Lol...