Wicked Garlic Review

The Wicked Garlic has come a long way from a humble hawker stall selling Italian food at Serangoon Garden's coffee shop in May 2013. Fast forward to 4 years later, Stanley Heng and his co-founders now run three full-fledged restaurants in Singapore — with their latest outlet recently opened at Orchard Cathay Cineleisure. The founders are so passionate about their food that they doesn't have time for marketing (they didn't have an instagram account at time of review) — most of his customers know about The Wicked Garlic through word-of-mouth. It was through Kris (a foodie friend)'s hairstylist who knew both Stanley's wife and Kris that a connection was formed — The Wicked Garlic must have some sort of digital marketing in the 21st century, and hence we got invited!

The Wicked Garlic Storefront — Cineleisure

Review of The Wicked Garlic 

Ambience: 7/10

Hygiene: 9/10

Service: 7/10

Price: $20++ per pax 

Food: 8/10

Drinks: 7/10

Unique factors: Ask for window seating to get a nice view of Orchard Road

Cuisine: Italian Cuisine

Reservations and walk-ins available

Attended the tasting session with Chubby Botak Koala,  Epicurious Caniggia, Her Pen And Fork, IvanTehRunningMan, msginginly and Purple Taste

Wicked Lemon Tea, Mango Juice and Pineapple Juice

Chai Tea (Iced)

 Salmone Affumicato Pizza — S$19.00

8 slices of Salmon Pizza

Pizza topped with home-made tomato sauce, smoked salmon, mozzarella cheese and drizzled with dill. My first fear was that the pizza will be overly salty — something that is common among smoked salmon pizzas. However, the fatty fish was not only lightly salted— it tasted really good along with the freshly home-made sweet tomato sauce. It was a good decision not to slice up the salmon so that the diner can enjoy the full sensation of chewing on the salmon in the mouth!

Spaghetti Marinara Alla Cartoccio — S$19.00

Pasta in parchment paper is all the rage these days — oven-baked to perfection, this technique helps retain the moisture and flavours of the seafood dish. Here you'll enjoy spaghetti tossed with prawns, squid, Newzealand half shell mussels and asiatic clams in tomato sauce. All these are airflown twice a week— which is a huge competitive advantage because seafood supply in Singapore is generally quite expensive! Quite messy and a challenge to eat!

Spaghetti Aglio Olio E Acciughe (with King Prawns)— S$14.00

If there's something noteworthy of The Wicked Garlic, I'd say they're generous with their ingredients. 

Penne Salted Egg With King Prawns (S$XXX - Available Upon Request) 

Stanley and his staff loves to experiment with dishes — and that's when they came up with salted egg penne with king prawns — something that isn't available on the menu. I was absolutely stoic by the way this dish is being brought together — it was sweet, the prawns were succulent and juicy and tasted great with the salted egg yolk. Can they make this permanent please?

Risotto Quattro Formaggi E Funghi — S$15

If you want something really filling, get this plate of strong-tasting dish. The Italian Aborio rice is cooked with tollegio, gorgonzola, mozzarella, goat cheese and porcini mushrooms. It's great for sharing!

4 Cheese Tortellini With Truffle — S$22

Hand-made Tortellini Pasta filled with four cheese, tossed with shitake mushrooms. Black truffles in light onions cream sauce, topped with shavings of Parmigiano cheese and drizzled with truffle oil. My favourite dish — which I've tried to order right from the start but it only came in during the second round for this. I can finish the whole plate on my own!

Gnocchi With Truffle Cream Sauce — S$22.00

Hand-made gnocchi pasta with potato, ,tossed with bacon in cream sauce, topped with shavings of parmigiano cheesse and drizzled with truffle oil. Stanley shared a remarkable technique of retaining the chewiness of the gnocchi — most of the time, the gnocchi gets soggy after it is soaked in the sauce but this one didn't. They decided on a 2-step procedure — first deep-fry before oven-baked and proceed to deep-drying again and it was magic.

Grilled Prawn Pizza — S$24

Served on a non-stick black stone pizza pan, the Pizza Grilled Prawn (SGD $24) is worth sharing among couples or families. The 8 succulent king-size prawns is aesthetically pleasing, and yet it retains a smoky sweet flavour on a handmade thin crust pizza.

The Wicked Garlic

Orchad Cathay Cineleisure8 Grange Road Cathay Cineleisure #05-03
Orchard S239695
T: 69138506

Other outlets:

International Plaza
10 Anson Road #01-37 International Plaza S079903
T: 8509 2942

Clifford Center
24 Raffles Place #02-02 Clifford Center S048621
T: 9102 3722