I love food establishments that reek of passion. Passion for their trade. Passion for their food. Passion to serve. Very often, the difference between a mediocre restaurant and a good one, lies in the passion of its owner/chef/service staff.

Here at Pasta Inc, I've not been disappointed in the last 4 times I've been there in 2009. Maybe one of my friends was disappointed with her limp garden salad and the presentation of the appetisers in general, but their service recovery was impeccable with promises of improvement (which I noted).

Let's just rate the place based on the food I've eaten:

***Seafood Soup***
Rich with intense flavours due to the reduction process. In other words, it is NOT watery, not bland.

The seafood within was rather generous.

***Mushroom Soup***
Taste wise. Its excellent. One of the best for the price range

However, I would caution against looking at it while eating it because the dollop of cream they spoon in tends to clot inside and look a little "yucks".

***Crayfish bisque***
This is one of the most wonderful bisques I've had in Singapore. It was intense in flavour due to the reduction process. Best paired with red wine. I'm salivated just recalling the experience

This is not a regular item on the menu. I had it over New Year.

***Grilled portobello mushroom (appetiser)***
Presentation - No frills. Just came on a small white plate with nothing on it.
Taste - As good as a grilled mushroom should be.

*** Squid Ink Spaghetti***
Rich. Yummy. Bordered on decadent. The pasta was cooked al dente and cooked with a generous portion of squid (which they harvested the ink from), and a fair portion of scallop and mussles

This pasta is not for first dates because it blackens your lips and for some, the teeth. Neither is this highly recommended for people with cholesterol or health problems.

***Crayfish pasta (I usually change it from Angel Hair to linguine) in tomato cream sauce***
Ok, this version of pasta sauce is not on the menu but can be done upon request. Again, the pasta was done al dente. If you choose to have the angel hair, be warned that the pasta will seem a little over-done. But this is typical of angel hair, the angmoh 'mee suah'.

If I'm not wrong, the pasta came with 2 small sized crayfish. The tomato cream sauce was rich and tasted like it was made from scratch and then reduced for a pretty long time. Good stock! With cream added, the sauce because much much thicker and I think looked "clumpy" to me. Apart from its looks, I had no complaints about the taste

***paper baked angel hair with seafood***
This is their signature dish. Again, I highly recommend that you change the pasta to linguine or spaghetti because of the tendency for angmoh mee sua to get too soggy.

Taste wise, the tomato sauce was rich and really quite delicious on its own.

***Squid ink risotto***
Not available on the menu. But available upon advanced order.

When I ordered this, I really wasn't sure if it would turn out good because not many people in Singapore know how to cook risotto the way I like it. Not too "wet", not too "dry".

Like the squid ink pasta, the dish was served black. All the photos turned out horrible because there was no contrast between the grains. It was a pile of mush. Black mush.

So here came the taste taste. The grains were cooked just nice and I reckon that the chef didn't use as much butter as a typical recipe required. If you like the rich flavour of squid ink, you won't go wrong with this dish that came (again) with lots of squid.

***Mushroom risotto***
Available on the menu. Advanced order preferred. Aiyah, just order in advance lah

This risotto was served with a slight red tinge which gave me the impression that it was cooked with some tomato sauce. I also suspected some wine to bring out the flavour of the rice and mushroom while removing the woody notes of the fungi.

Each grain had 'bite' and was cooked just the way "a ha a ha" I liked it.

***Grilled Lamb Chops served with half a roast potato and buttered veg***
Nothing to shout home about. It wasn't bad. In fact it was grilled really nicely and somehow, the chef managed to seal the flavours of the herbs used in such a short span of time (I saw the frozen chops being taken out from the freezer). However, for that price point, I think Pasta Inc could do better in terms of presentation to up the "value for money" perception.

***Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Mousse (Dessert)***
Not too heavy nor cloying. Neither was it exciting. It was just nice.

The lime sorbet served with it was quite refreshing and a nice contrast to each spoonful of dark chocolate mousse. Try it. Its nice

***Tiramisu***
Good but the quality can be a little inconsistent.

Good because the scotch fingers (when done properly) are well soaked in good espresso. The mascarpone was generous that balanced the taste of the coffee soaked scotch fingers.

***Coffee***
Okay to Good. Relatively strong coffee but not the best I've had. But good enough to round off the meal.

Things to note:
1) Value for money good Italian pastas
2) Please park at Petain Road or City Square Mall and walk
3) Call to reserve a table on weekends
4) Lunch promotions at $24.90 nett includes any soup, any pasta (even the expensive ones, excluding the risotto), dessert (usually a half sized tiramisu) and coffee (even latte or cappuccino). Only on week days.