Pasta - comfort food

A few well-known places offer pasta for ravenous mouths to devour.

The Western food stall at Banquet food court has Ham and Mushroom Pasta in Cream Sauce. It is not only delicious but the sauce is also not rich. In fact, it tastes like Cream of Mushroom Soup. It is not so fattening subsequently and yet it is filling as well. Still, the waiting time can be rather long.

The food court above NTUC at Toa Payoh Interchange has a Western stall as well. Its Chicken Bacon Carbonara is not too bad too. It is not rich and thick but somewhat like Banquet's in texture. The only problem is that it doesn't really fill the stomach.

The Western food stall at Serangoon Gardens Market serves Spaghetti with Chicken Cutlet. The spaghetti is the thinner version cooked in a tomato-based sauce and liberally tossed with diced vegetables like celery and carrots. This vegetarian pasta is served with chicken cutlet deep-fried in breadcrumbs, though one can ask for fish instead.

Pasta Mania is classy and yet good for those on a budget, especially students. The creamy pastas are really good, especially the Creamy Chicken Pasta. It doesn't have too much garlic and the chicken is finely shredded, making it even more tender and juicy to eat. There are four types of pasta to choose from: Spaghetti, Linguine, Penne and Fuscili. The service is really fast and the portions are filling too. This costs about $7-$8. The Country Baked Pasta is for smaller stomachs. It doesn't really make one full as it is rather light. There is no choice of pasta. They use fuscili. The layer of cheese baked till brown in colour complements the cream sauce. It costs $10.20.

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is known for more than its coffee and cakes. It also has items on the menu good enough for a full meal. Its spaghetti is also good and you can ask for extra toppings to go with its tomato-based sauce. Skinless chicken chunks is my usual choice. It costs $9.80-$9.90 without toppings.

Swensen's also serves spaghetti dishes. The Chilli Fish Spaghetti is 0ne of the recommended choices. It is pasta in a sambal sauce served with slabs of battered-fried fish. There is Spaghetti Aglio Olio for the health-conscious. Spaghetti is tossed in garlic, olive oil and chilli flakes but surprisingly, it is not bland in taste. Black Pepper Chicken Spaghetti is also another option. They cost about $10-$11. Other items on the menu to order are Chicken or Fish Baked Rice, Deep-fried Mushrooms, Cheesy Salsa Burger as well as the ice-creams.

The most expensive pasta I've eaten so far is at Cafe Cartel. The various pasta items cost about $12-$13. I have written about them in a much earlier entry with the subject head as "Serangoon Gardens". However, the cream-based pastas can have too much garlic in them and are too rich. The Beef Lasagne is not too bad really. Its minced beef is easy to eat with the soft lasagne layers in a tomato-based sauce and the baked cheese layer on top.