Michelangelo's

penne vodka; penne sauteed in clarified butter and onions flamed with russian vodka and finished in a rose sauce topped with a crown of fresh parmesan shavings - 8/10

i've been wanting to try michelangelo's for quite some time now but never got around to doing it. i've heard some good things about it, so being me, i wanted to see (or taste) it for myself. initially i was slightly put of because of the limited selection of the online menu, but apparently i found out that what you see online is only a small portion of what they actually have at the restaurant. i remember reading through the online food reviews and hearing good things about their food, so one day i decided to pop by for a weekday lunch.

michelangelo's is located in holland v, chip bee gardens area. it's along the row of restaurants, where da paolo, bistro petit salut and sistino all are. it was a hot afternoon, and as i approached the restaurant, i saw the outside al fresco seating option. wine and dine recommends sitting outsite because it mentioned that the inside "could get stuffy". with the scorching hot weather, i declined and opted for the inside dining instead. after about 5 minutes, i realized what they meant. michelangelo's has an open kitchen concept, and it gets insanely hot because of the radiating heat from the kitchen. They had quite a few air conditioners but it felt as though they weren't even turned on. i couldn't take it much more so i decided to move outside.

spaghetti frutti de mare; an ensemble of local & imported seafood sauteed with garlic and fresh chilli served on a bed of spaghetti pasta in a zesty tomato sauce - 7/10

the waitstaff brought us two menus, one was the promotional/set lunch menu, and one was the ala carte menu. i realized that they had a great deal on the former. apparently all amex cardmembers get a 1-for-1 set lunch. so you order one and you get one free. i think its about $28 if i remember correctly. on the other side of the menu is the citibank 1-for-1 ala carte menu. the choices on the set lunch menu were kind of limited, and they only allowed you to choose between 2 mains and 2 starters (i think they do have dessert and coffee/tea if i remember correctly).

initially i wanted to order 2 dishes and get 2 free. so i'd pay for two mains and get the other two, using the citibank. however, the waitstaff said they couldn't do that. so i was a little peeved and asked them why, and he said its meant for two people. i tried to reason that i'm still paying for the second one so its not like they're giving it to me for free, and besides, they didn't even mention the limitation on the menu. he said they couldn't do that. if da paolo (which is just next door) can do it, why can't they? if there is something i hate, its unflexible restaurants. restaurants that can't cater to your order or have to "check with the chef" as to whether they can change your choice of pasta. i believe running a restaurant is simply about pleasing the customer, so if linguini makes him happy instead of spaghetti, give him the damn linguini. its not going to kill you. flexibility and keeping the customers happy is the cornerstone of any successful business. and besides, its not that hard when it comes to a restaurant. Ray Kroc (the founder of mcdonalds) used to say "keep the customers happy and the rest will take care of itself". i think people should give that some thought.

so i decided to order from the citibank promotional ala carte menu instead. they had a pretty large selection of mains, and it seemed quite similar to the normal ala carte menu too. i remember reading reviews online about the penne vodka, so i decided to get that. d wanted to get the frutti de mare. we got the fettuccine in light pesto cream sauce to share also.

the food didn't take that long to arrive. they all came out at the same time, and soon we were shoving our faces with it. i tried my penne vodka first; not bad i thought. the penne was al dente, with the rose (cream and tomato sauce) gently clinging onto the pasta. the taste was light, with a mildly creamy texture to it. but the parmesan cheese really topped it off well. it gave the dish a slightly cheesier side to it, making it quite delightful.

next came the frutti de mare. it was served with a generous portion of seafood and a light, tomato sauce. it tasted really zesty-tomato-ey. not fantastic to be honest. i wasn't very impressed. perhaps it was because i expected more from michelangelo's.

fettuccine genovese; fettuccini pasta sauteed with smoked salmon in a light basil pesto cream sauce finished with roasted peanuts - 7.5/10

last up was the cream sauce pesto with fettuccine. the salmon was cooked till firm, then mixed in with the pesto and cream sauce along with the fettuccine. there wasn't any fishy smell, and the overall taste was pretty good. the pasta was done al dente and the cream pesto was quite an intereting taste. but after awhile, i got bored of it and realized that i probably would have preferred either pesto alone or cream alone.

all in all, i wasn't very impressed with michelangelo's. perhaps it was because i expected too much. but honestly, i really didn't like the ambience and the food wasn't say excellent either. i don't think i'l be back very soon.

http://www.michelangelos.com.sg/

Michelangelo's - Chip Bee Gardens, Blk 44 Jln Merah Saga
Price - about $20-25 per entree