Word of warning: do NOT come here if you’re feeling indecisive, because the sheer extent of the selection is mind-boggling. We came here on Friday night with A’s friends, and 7 of us probably took a good ten minutes to read the menu from cover to cover a few times to decide what to order. Check out just 2 pages of the menu, multiply that by another 5 times, and you’ll get some idea of the dizzying array of dishes that are available.
Do note that this is definitely not fine dining, so don’t expect home-made or perfectly al dente pastas. The attraction of this place is the crazy selections and combinations, that will certainly make for a fun and interesting casual dining experience.
A had the Pasta Set, which allows you to choose 2 mini-sized pastas from a selection of about ten. He had the standard carbonara, and something that seems to be unique to Waraku – Japanese-style ‘soup’ pasta. He had the spinach soup version, which was quite interesting but surprisingly quite pleasant. The soup was thin but quite tasty, and overall it was a light and refreshing dish. The carbonara looked promising, with the whole wobbly egg yolk, but taste-wise it didn’t quite deliver. It was a bit lacklustre and flat - I think it needed a little bit more seasoning.
After long agonising minutes trying to decide what to order, I settled on the scallop gratin with a spicy mentaiko mayonnaise sauce. The scallops were a tad overcooked, but the crispy gratin bits on top of the penne pasta were good. I thought the sauce was a bit too creamy though, and lacking a solid hit of mentaiko.
What stole the show for me tonight was the okonomiyaki (the classic Osaka-style pancake) pizza. The thin pizza crust was topped with cabbage, bacon, mayo and a soft boiled egg, and the combination was heavenly. This is definitely something I’ll order again.
The dessert selection is a little less stressful; we went straight for the oreo and banana parfait. The ice cream was soft-serve vanilla – very old-school and perfect with the crushed oreo. The others had the green tea and red bean parfait, which looked very good as well, and the green tea ice cream here is seriously potent.
This place certainly puts the pasta selection at Angus House to shame, but quality-wise it’s not the best, nor does it purport to be. I think it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and you’re just meant to have some fun figuring out what to order, then just sit back and enjoy without too many expectations.
A says:
Great selection of pastas. I wouldn’t say they taste fantastic but they are definitely interesting. While portions are pretty small for the price, I’d rather pay for these than badly made Italian pastas.
Also, the outlets are usually crowded and I’d only recommend this place if you don’t have to wait too long.
Pasta de Waraku
Square 2 (Novena)
10 Sinaran Drive
Tel: 6397-6266
Open daily: 11.30 am to 11 pm (last order 10.30 pm)
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