🍝 Pasta

Had 1-for-1 mains; the fiancée had the pesto prawn linguine, and I had the BBQ pork ribs. Pork ribs serving portion was huge! Ribs were tender and soft. Perhaps I would have liked it to have been roasted a bit longer. It did feel like I was eating into semi-boiled pork ribs instead of BBQ pork ribs.

Pesto prawn pasta was fantastic though. Pasta nicely coated with the sauce. Would definitely order again. It was also the first time we were trying a kombucha… if you have never tried one before, it has the texture of root beer… but tea.

Visited the establishment close to 1.10pm on a Sunday afternoon after a hike along the Rail Corridor, and it wasn’t too crowded. The two mains, one kombucha and the tiramisu (not in picture) cost a total of $59 (after Burpple discount).

I’m back at Pasta & Co. once again for the fifth or sixth time! I’m glad to say standards are still well maintained at the establishment, though I must say my usual Lamb Merguez was a tad bit too spicy this round.

My friends had the Ragu, Mentaiko, and the Pasta alla Vodka. Alcohol taste in the pasta wasn’t too visible and was probably the favourite of the night.

Total spent $62.80 for 4 pax’s full-portion (after Burpple Beyond); doesn’t break the bank. I’m happy that the establishment is doing well. Michelle (lady boss) always serves with a nice smile; service is still fantastic. Would always recommend someone to try this place.

Ribs were fantastic, size was quite big! The meat was quite tender (could be even more tender, fall off the bones kind, but that’d be pushing it) and the potato wedges were nicely fried. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Appreciated the corn at the side, it gave a nice balance to the dish. Really colourful and bright too!

Girlfriend ate the “Frutti di mare”. Sauce was tomato-based, tons of ingredients that made up the purée sauce. It was nice, though the girlfriend didn’t quite enjoy it.

A jug of water was given to us too, such a nice service by the cafe. We also ordered a side drink of “sunshine glow”. It was a strong blend of mango flavours, and you’ll probably get an overdose of vitamin C from drinking it!

With Burpple, paid about $44 total. Girlfriend says she’d like to eat the ribs, while I’d probably like to try another main the next round. Price may be a bit steep if going without Burpple. Will be back to try more pastas!

Location: Ulu. ⭐️⭐️
Price: Slightly steep. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Value with Burpple: Fantastic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Third time back at Pasta & Co! Staff is friendly as always (or maybe cause she just recognises me already hahah). Wanted to get the Risotto but because the ingredients weren’t delivered by the supplier yet so we couldn’t try that. Instead ordered the Laksa and the Beef Bolognese.

The Laksa… tasted like how laksa should taste like. Prawns were slightly charred and has a just-nice BBQ flavour. Sauce was well matched with the noodles. Girlfriend’s opinion: “It’s good pasta and it’s nice. But would I want to pay $21 for Laksa? Hmmm… questionable. One off is ok.” So although the pasta is nice, perhaps not the star attraction of the restaurant.

I had the beef bolognese with the squid ink spaghetti. Here’s a strong shoutout: SAUCE WAS DAMN GAO LOL. Literally bits of minced meat everywhere in the sauce! This ain’t your standard beef bolognese where you get bits and pieces of minced meat here and there… THIS SAUCE WAS GAO. And it wasn’t too salty either! Just nice, had the good consistency between the tomato base and the meat flavour. Now at some places, beef bolognese could go really wrong in many ways - diluted sauce, lack of meat, way too salty… but Pasta & Co did the beef bolognese well. Every bit of my noodle was well coated with sauce.

That being said, couldn’t really taste the squid ink flavour of the noodle, but I ain’t really complaining bout that la. Also, beef bolognese isn’t like a MIND BLOWING dish la… like it’s a simple dish done well. If you’ve had bad beef bolognese, it’s like eating shit wanton mee. You know it’s bad. But when you have good beef bolognese, it’s like good wanton mee. How good can good wanton mee be? Hahah. What I’m trying to say is that the beef bolognese is good. Simple dish done well. But don’t come here expecting your mind to be blown. After all, it’s still a simple dish. (But at least you’ll know that other beef bolognese really taste like crap, not gonna mention some fast food chain.)

Overall, I would still rate Pasta & Co quite highly, even after 3 visits. The pasta dishes are done well. Would I return to eat beef bolognese? Maybe if I’ve had some shit beef bolognese, yes. Otherwise, I would recommend you come here to try interesting concept dishes, like the lamb muergez or mentaiko pasta. They’re probably bigger stars than Laksa or beef bolognese. Pasta & Co does simple dishes well, and they bring out the main flavour from the sauce and noodles, not relying heavily on side ingredients. (So don’t expect tons of ingredients in their dishes. Expect to savour the traditional pasta flavours.)

Pasta & Co could improve by having a bigger space, or having one more service staff. But I’m sure they’ll figure it out as the establishment grows in the pasta scene. Keep it up!

Absolute horrific experiences! (Yes, plural, because I've been to Assembly Ground TWICE.)

First time I went there with my girlfriend, ordered the prawn pasta, which was great in taste! BUT food service was so slow, and it took them almost 20 to 30 minutes to serve the food. WORSE STILL. We only got served our appetisers (chicken poppers) AFTER we had finished our mains. Even the waitress serving our table was absolutely embarrassed. I mean seriously, who waits 20 minutes without appetisers, and then proceeds to serve it after mains? But food was good, so we decided to let it go and try it one more time.

AND WE REGRETTED. Second time (today) that I went with my girlfriend and our university friends. It was actually my friend's birthday and she loved pasta, so we decided to give Assembly Ground another try. On a positive note, yes, they finally learnt to serve appetisers (truffle fries, which yes, was filling and large in quantity), BUT WOW we got served our first pasta 30 MINUTES after our order... as usual we wouldn't start until everyone's food arrived... BUT EVEN AFTER 50 MINUTES after our order we were still waiting for ONE MORE PASTA. WORSE STILL: it was my birthday friend's pasta. Come on, gosh. We kept asking the staff where our mains were, and all they could say were the same old excuses: "Sorry, we'll rush your order, it should becoming soon."

Now I work in the services industry, so I know sometimes it ain't the service staff's fault. (Don't blame the person who serves the food, blame the person who cooks the food.) So come on Assembly Ground, the table beside us, who ordered like maybe 15 minutes after us, were literally served ALL THREE BURGERS BEFORE US. That's absolute horrific, how could you afford to let three people wait for one dish that's gone missing? And worse still, how on earth can you justify waiting 50 minutes for pasta? Jesus. Doesn't help that it was the birthday girl and I was the one who suggested eating here. You not only made her fun-gry, you embarrased me because I brought them here.

Absolutely disgraceful. Your chefs need to "wake up their idea". If I could rate 0 I would, because I've been absolutely embarrased by you guys, but I can't, so 1 star it is for you.

Good food doesn't mean you get away with absolutely disgusting food service standards. And yes, the waiter acknowledged it was my friend's birthday but only apologised. You guys should do better, at least serve her a coffee or something. MAKE IT UP TO HER. Jesus.

Friends and I had a few different combinations. Personally liked the mentaiko, it was something unique and expertly done to not make the sauce too jelat. We also LOVED the lamb merguez, the sausage parts were absolutely delicious 🤩 friend commented that the vodka flavour wasn’t too noticeable in the “pasta alla vodka”, but I think we all know the real winners 🤪

Highly recommend trying the lamb merguez and mentaiko! With Burpple it’s really worth it and I can understand why there’s such a demand for the place. Queue was definitely starting to show after 7pm. The restaurant isn’t huge either, so it’s best to make a reservation in advance. Had a chat with the lady boss (Michelle) and she was really nice with taking our orders and serving us.

Appreciated the effort made by the team! Keep up the good work. Will definitely be back. Friend also mentions: “Probably better than Tipo.”

Taste: 9/10 (new favourite pasta place due to interesting flavours)
Location: 7/10 (close to Bencoolen MRT and a walk away to Bugis MRT, though fortune centre is a kinda not so common mall I guess)
Value with Burpple: 8/10