Incidentally found this new Italian restaurant while browsing through some websites, and decided to give it a try 'cos its menu looked quite interesting! This restaurant took over Rubato's space at Clover Way. I've never been to Rubato so I cannot compare the food standards!
When we reached, we told the staff that we were dining in the restaurant and they promptly freed up a parking lot for us to park in front of the restaurant. Inside, it was relatively quiet when we reached with 2 other tables only and the restaurant's music was barely audible. However more people came after awhile so the silence wasn't that bad. Also, my partner and I just talked as per normal so the silence was okay for us.
We took our time deciding what to order in the rather vast menu and finally settled on the stuff shown below!
Pane Pizza all'Aglio
Fresh hand-streched pizza bread spread with garlic, mixed herbs, olive oil and sea salt & baked to perfection. Served with cherry tomatoes
$4.80
This pizza bread was AMAZINGLY crispy. But it still retained a tad bit of chewiness and so the texture was a win in my books. Also led me to say "hmm I don't mind coming back here for pizzas" the garlic was fragrant and so were the herbs. Felt like garlic bread haha. This serving was far too much for 2 people and after awhile, the bread got cold, and got a bit boring. So I'd recommend this for 4 people instead! 3.2/5
Bisque di Aragosta
A rich & flavourful soup cooked with assorted crustacean stock, dressed with clams, mussels & fresh river shrimps
$15.90
Soup: it was so SO rich omg! If this is really purely made with seafood then zomg how much seafood must they have used! It was really super rich! Bordering on too sweet haha.
The seafood: mmm overall freshness was okayish. Some mussels were a bit stinky. That pincer like leg's "thorns" were a bit too sharp for us. Also we had 1 prawn and then 1 flower crab! 3.2/5
Risotto Frutti di Mare e Zucca
Little neck clams, mussels, river shrimp, flower crab, squid & prawns, all sautéed together with garlic & onions, & cooked in white wine tomato sauce dressed on a bed of pumpkin risotto
$26.90
Actually what attracted us to order this dish was the new pairing of seafood with pumpkin risotto! Okay so firstly the risotto: honestly its too wet. Felt like we were eating porridge! But it was flavourful and yummy. A drier version would've been much nicer though!
Seafood: once again it was okayish. All the seafood esp the flower crab + idk if it was a yabby/crayfish/lobster or what, anyway these 2 items turned v mushy. 3.4/5
Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia
Fresh homemade squid ink pasta, tossed with assorted seafood in a squid ink sauce dressed with char-grilled squid
$23.90
I've been hunting high and low ever since my previous fav squid ink pasta dishes dropped tremendously in standards. So I was hoping very much that this would be THE one after so long. When the dish arrived, it looked super promising. Dark, murky, thick, fragrant sauce. I had great hopes :)
Next the pasta was made very thin, but flat, and the sauce coated the pasta wonderfully, I got yummy mouthfuls of the sauce each time I had the pasta and it was very easy to twirl it with my fork. I loved the pasta! The texture and the doneness was purrrrfect. However main gripe, TOO SALTY! But after awhile your taste buds just kinda adjust. But again, if it was less salty, this would've been purrrrrfecto! I loved the char-grilled squid and not just normal boiled ones. Adds smokiness to the dish and a bit of crispy with the crunch of the grill. The rest of the seafood was okay. 3.7/5
Orange & White Chocolate Fondant
Freshly baked-to-order & made with fresh orange, & served with vanilla ice cream & strawberry
$12.90
Honestly when this first came I was like whutttt such a small size?? It is quite pathetic in terms of size vs price. Also it was a tad overcooked and the "lava" took awhile to flow. There were real wedges of orange inside which is a new thing I suppose. Also the flavour is also a new one! Kudos to creativity :) Did it work? I felt that the taste was okay a little bordering on cough syrup-ish but still okay! 3.1/5
Dark Chocolate Tart
I'm sorry I don't know how much this costs because it was a special item (i.e. not on the menu) and I threw away the receipt + I didn't look at it so I dont know the price! They have a lemon tart on the menu for $7.90 so am assuming it should be around the same price? Haha.
The tart: the chocolate was wonderfully dark which I loved. The crust was v thin but wasn't soggy which I initially thought it would be! It held up the thick chocolate ganache well and was still crispy!
The ice cream: vanilla flavoured but barely any vanilla taste. Instead there was this artificial taste so I barely touched the ice cream and let the boy finish it for me.
Overall: 3.5/5
Service was good, fast, polite. A couple that sat down before us were told of the daily specials from the menu, a family that sat down after us were also told the same thing. However we weren't told such a thing. Also, when the staff asked if we wanted to have desserts, we said yes and he brought over the menu but didn't tell us the dessert special. It was only after awhile did a lady come up to us and tell us about the chocolate tart. And boy was I glad she did :)
Ambience: just a very basic simple set up of dark tables + chairs and then a bar at the corner that's about it. Decor wise plain + simple.
Food wise: Average Italian food! But creative menu that doesn't follow the norm which I admire! There are some more dishes that I would want to try and if I want to go for italian somewhere near and don't mind some okayish food then I would come back again to try the other items and hopefully it'll be better than what I've already tried!
Follia Italian Restaurant
Mon, Wed-Fri, Sunday: 11.45am-3pm, 6-11pm
Saturday: 3-11pm
Closed tuesday
63433995
You can book via chope.com.sg as well
