Michelangelo's, Chip Bee Gardens

Here's another one of the many Italian restaurants at Chip Bee Gardens (44 Jalan Merah Saga, 6475-9069), located right next door to their sister restaurants Original Sin and Sistina with those voluminous wine lists. I'm not a huge wine person though, so the test tonight was going to be specifically for the food itself.

It was a mixed bag. The bruschetta, while having a very refreshing tomato and basil topping, interestingly was supported underneath by ungrilled bread. The penne vodka was rich and still exuded a hint of the namesake alcohol despite allegedly being flambeed, but that seemed like more of a gimmick than anything that really added to the taste. Fortunately, the Veal Marco was tender and done just right, complete with a couple very minor local fusion touches of keropok shrimp crackers and a sweet and spicy sauce that I surprisingly liked.

The big letdown though was the spaghetti aglio olio, which was adorned with all sorts of non-traditional ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes and bell pepper slivers, but was still severely lacking taste (i.e., it needed just some basic salt and a good browning of the garlic in the oil). In the end, we left a tad on the unsatisfied side, especially given the rather high prices charged here (the staff also forgot our water and surprisingly one of them made a rather crass burp as he walked by our table). Given the choice, their competitor Da Paolo will probably be preferred.